Paging File

[GodPigeon]

I found something on my computer ive never seen before. Paging File where the computer uses some Hard drive space as if it were RAM. I put it up quite high and have noticed a really big difference. It was at 620 when i started, but i raised it to 2400mb Is this OD or am i safe. I have a 160GB hard drive so Space isnt the problem.

[Agozer]

I'll just stick to whatever default values Windows gives me, not that I'm saying that you shouldn't increase it if you have the space for it.

 

You found out about the paging file (well, swap file actually) just recently? Ok.

[Gryph]

I just leave mine at default.

[GodPigeon]

You guys prb have more RAM then i do, i have 512mb. Im just trying to figure out if it will do any damage raising it so high??

[megaman_zer0]

It really should not. btw I only have 256

[GodPigeon]

It really should not. btw I only have 256

o0o, im going to upgrade to 2GB soon, after night school finishes and i get a job. I also want to upgrade to Media Center Edition. Make use of the Streamzap Control im buying.

[Robert]

On this computer I have 512mb ram and 500mb swap file, but it's used for internet stuff only, no games.

 

The other computer has 4gb of ram and therefore no swap file is needed.

 

When you get your 2gb of ram you could get rid of your swap file, imo.

[ken_cinder]

I have 512MB of ram and I use a 1GB pagefile on a dedicated partition on my 2nd drive. 2GB isn't "too high", but I would suggest monitoring it's usage, as theres no need for one larger than you need.

Your pagefile can fragment just like any other file, and the larger it is the harder it will be to defrag (You have to defrag it at boot). Also a larger pagefile can mean that your disk is accessing a wider range on the disc and just like any other access, it will take longer and can actually hurt performance.

 

I'd suggest you fire up your most intesive program, such as a higher end game, hit the Windows Key to force it to minimize. Then open the task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and see "PF Usage" under the performance tab. Then adjust your pagefile accordingly, with a bit of breathing room.

[Shibathedog]

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysintern...PageDefrag.mspx

 

2. Optimize the Paging File

"In modern operating systems, including Windows, application programs and many system processes always reference memory using virtual memory addresses which are automatically translated to real (RAM) addresses by the hardware. Only core parts of the operating system kernel bypass this address translation and use real memory addresses directly. Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system. All processes (e.g. application executables) running under 32 bit Windows gets virtual memory addresses (a Virtual Address Space) going from 0 to 4,294,967,295 (2*32-1 = 4 GB), no matter how much RAM is actually installed on the computer. In the default Windows OS configuration, 2 GB of this virtual address space are designated for each process' private use and the other 2 GB are shared between all processes and the operating system. Normally, applications (e.g. Notepad, Word, Excel, Acrobat Reader) use only a small fraction of the 2GB of private address space. The operating system only assigns RAM page frames to virtual memory pages that are in use. RAM is a limited resource, whereas virtual memory is, for most practical purposes, unlimited. There can be a large number of processes each with its own 2 GB of private virtual address space. When the memory in use by all the existing processes exceeds the amount of RAM available, the operating system will move pages (4 KB pieces) of one or more virtual address spaces to the computer's hard disk, thus freeing that RAM frame for other uses. In Windows systems, these "paged out" pages are stored in one or more files called pagefile.sys in the root of a partition." - Source

 

Default - Windows XP by default uses a system managed paging file that works well for the majority of users and will automatically set the paging file to the following size based on how much RAM is in your system:

 

- Initial size (MB): 1.5 x the amount of RAM in your system

- Maximum size (MB): 3.0 x the amount of RAM in your system (PF Size Limit = 4095 MB)

 

Gaming - If you frequently use memory intensive applications (such as High End Games) it is possible that the paging file will resize during application use, this can affect performance. A properly configured paging file will not resize (increase) so long as the Initial size is set large enough. Allowing the paging file to resize is recommended for unforeseen memory intensive situations and will prevent "Out of Memory" error messages from occurring. Any resizing will reset to the default Initial size upon reboot and will not cause any permanent fragmentation of the paging file. Setting the Initial size too large has no negative impact on system performance except to waste disk space if it is not used. Since disk space is usually plentiful it is safer then setting it too small. All arguments about setting the paging file smaller are to conserve disk space and have nothing to do with performance. It is recommended to increase the Initial size by increments of .5 x until the resizing stops.

 

Instructions - Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System", "Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" section select "Settings", "Advanced" tab, in the "Virtual Memory" section select "Change". Change the values to:

 

- Initial size (MB): 2.0 x the amount of RAM in your system

- Maximum size (MB): 4095 MB

 

Then select "Set" and "OK" and reboot.

 

A permanent solution is to add more RAM to your system. It is a good idea to have at least 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM in a PC today. A simple test to determine if you need more RAM is to use you PC for a whole day without rebooting, then look at the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete), Performance tab. If the "Commit Charge - Peak" is ever higher then the "Physical Memory - Total" your system could benefit from adding more RAM. When you change the amount of RAM in your system, you have to adjust the paging file size if you adjusted it manually. If you left it at System managed, Windows XP will adjust this for you.

 

Optimization - "Moving the paging file to a separate physical Harddrive (not partition) from the boot partition will increase paging file performance. However, if you remove the paging file from the boot partition, Windows cannot create a dump file (Memory.dmp) in which to write debugging information in the event that a kernel mode Stop Error message occurs. The optimal solution is to create one paging file that is stored on the boot partition, and then create a second paging file on a separate physical Harddrive (not partition) Windows will use the paging file on the less frequently used partition over the paging file on the heavily used boot partition. Windows uses an internal algorithm to determine which paging file to use for virtual memory management." - Source

 

Advanced - The ultimate solution is to have a dedicated high speed Harddrive with a defragmented paging file set to 4095 MB for both the Initial size and Maximum size.

 

Source: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

 

(BTW that is a GREAT website, everyone should read over that)