5.8GB of 8GB Usable

Hi there, I have a laptop with 8GB and dedicated NVidia GPU and I just noticed that It's saying that Garuda is saying that I only have 5.8GB usable of 8GB of Ram ... I already tried switching completely to GPU instead integrated... but this didn't solve the problem... anyone knows?

Thanks in advance

How did you switch? Unless there's a setting in the BIOS it's possible the iGPU is still reserving system RAM.

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in system tray there's a button to change, to integrated, hybrid or nvidia, I thought it was enough

That switches the Xorg configuration between hybrid, integrated, and discrete configurations - it does not alter hardware-level settings.

Means that this Ram not showing the all 8GB only with Garuda isn't because of the Graphics?

Wait, what?

No, it's because the iGPU is reserving system RAM. It will reserve system RAM unless you switch to discrete graphics in the BIOS (or reduce the amount of reserved RAM).

It's quite possible your laptop doesn't provide those options so there's no fix - you simply have 2GB reserved and unusable, and you know not to buy the same laptop next time (or complain to the manufacturer).

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How much is reserved for zram?

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but using other OS it shows all Ram, that's why I'm quite confused


Maybe you're right... I didn't check this

Yes, zram comes out of your regular ram. Maybe your other distros do not use zram.

ZRAM doesn't reserve anything, it essentially overlays the existing RAM.

Which OS, and where does it show the available RAM?

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I tried Kali, Blackarch, Windows, and some others, manjaro too for instance and was showing 8GB available

Where, specifically?

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In Specs, normally using a inxi -F or in system properties in windows

so if I remove this everything should work... I'll take a look too

Could you boot a live installer environment of something like Manjaro and provide the output?

Or a screenshot of this?

This won't make any difference, but you can find that out for yourself. :grin:

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I would not advise removing zram unless you have really looked into it. It is more or less regular ram with compression. Most systems benefit from it and can even eliminate using swap.

well at the moment of this comment I wasn't using the same PC I'm using another one with Radeon card, and with windows it shows 8GB

Ram instalada Means Installed Ram

Hi @NYX , First of all provide output of

inxi -Faz

As text enclosed in ~~~
To get further assistance.

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Yes, and you do have 8GB installed (we have established this already). There's another area in Windows where it tells you the available RAM.

OK, it's the same place, perhaps I have a newer version of Windows:

image

When I have hybrid mode active ("switchable graphics" in the BIOS) this number takes into account how much RAM is being used by the iGPU.

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