Windows 7 x86 reports memory wrongly

[dishwara]

I was aware that windows x86 only supports up to 3GB RAM even if you have more RAM installed.
I have 2 PC, in one PC, 2*2GB RAM is installed & In another PC, 1*4GB RAM is installed.

I am suing windows 7, 32 bit since it is released & have seen my memory in Mycomputers->properties that windows shows, 4.00GB (2.97 GB usable).
I also tried tweaks which enabled x86 to use up to 128GB RAM.

But now after some updates & also after sp1 update, RAM in BOTH system shows 4.00GB(2.00GB usable).
First i thought 1 RAM was fault, but not now, coz another PC has only single piece 4GB RAM & half of it can't go bad physically.

I uninstalled & reinstalled & again uninstalled SP1 & also most of the updates prior to SP1.

But still, i can see only 2GB RAM instead of 2.97GB RAM in both my PC.
Also, interesting thing is i never saw windows rounding up & showing.
Instead of 1.98 or something, it shows exactly 2 GB RAM usable.

Anyone using Windows 7, 32 bit(x86) also faces similar problem?
If not can you please give me your screen shot of installed updates, so that i can compare & find what update causing this STUPID behavior of windows.

[chiropteran]

On a 32 bit windows, you are limited to a 4GB address space.  Most hardware devices require address space for their memory.  For the most part, this is insignificant, but on a video card there is often 512MB, 1GB, or even 2GB of address space required- this cuts into the 4GB originally available.

I'd guess that when you went from having about 3GB free to 2GB free you either added a 2nd 1GB card, or a 2GB video card to your system.

[dishwara]

Thanks.

Seems, exactly the same as you mentioned.
I had only one 1 GB graphics card before, & now i added another graphics ward with 1GB.
2 cards in my PC now, Zotac 9400GT 1GB & Sapphire HD 6870 1GB.