Safe to disable pagefile?

Anfield82 · **Safe to disable pagefile? -** 05-04-2012, 13:32 | posts: 1,099 | Location: UK

Hi guys,

I'm currently running a force 3 120GB SSD and was wondering is it safe to completely disable pagefile or is it worthwhile to just keep it?

Thanks.

WhiteLightning · 05-04-2012, 13:38 | posts: 20,445 | Location: Netherlands

depends on what applications and games you run really. its trial and error.

personally ive got it enabled since i ran into problems

just try it for a week or so

Anfield82 · 05-04-2012, 13:51 | posts: 1,099 | Location: UK

Okay, thanks. I don't do anything extraordinary, I just play games lol. No video editing or anything like that.

Phragmeister · 05-04-2012, 14:04 | posts: 1,159 | Location: UK

Decent article on the pagefile, worth reading - http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10...g-without-one/

With 12GB RAM, I still prefer to keep a small pagefile enabled, it's currently set to 128 - 2048MB. Plus, some games do rely on the pagefile, such as Company of Heroes.

Pagefile Current / Peak Usage: 54 MB / 61 MB

Bradders684 · 05-04-2012, 14:15 | posts: 204

I have my page file disabled but i only use my PC for gaming and the internet, i have only ever had a problem with Star Wars The Force Unleashed 1 & 2.

Darren Hodgson · 05-04-2012, 14:21 | posts: 9,682 | Location: England

I'd recommend having at least a 2 GB page on one of your non-SSD drives as there are some games that will refuse to run with the pagefile disabled.

Agent-A01 · 05-04-2012, 14:22 | posts: 5,623 | Location: USA

Nope i disable it. No games i have require it an the ones that do youcan get around it

Pill Monster · 05-04-2012, 14:25 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Yeah you can disable it.

TechFreaK · 05-04-2012, 14:28 | posts: 155 | Location: TechLand

The only game that must have PF is Codemasters FUEL; -nopagefile command line doesnt work.

Anything else doesnt need it..

Phragmeister · 05-04-2012, 14:37 | posts: 1,159 | Location: UK

If you haven't seen the thread already, there's a huge discussion about the pagefile here.

deltatux · 05-04-2012, 14:39 | posts: 18,773 | Location: Toronto, Canada

I leave a 16 MB - 512 MB pagefile on a RAMDisk that I created. There's really no need for a pagefile but it's for compatibility sake and so that Windows stop complaining that I don't have one for recovery purposes.

deltatux

ibitato · **Memory**: 4x2GB@1080 5.5.5.15 5:6

8GB RAM with NO PAGEFILE CLUB or TOPIC

893 posts on the matter. Must read

LMAO

IPlayNaked · 05-04-2012, 14:50 | posts: 6,559

Can you disable it? Yes. Is there a reason to? No. Is there a reason not to? Yes.

If a program gets out of control, or takes up a lot of memory for whatever reason..it can crash. Is there permanent harm? Of course not. But, as I said, there's no reason to disable it.

The people who tell you Windows is faster are completely full of **** and cannot show you a single benchmark that proves otherwise.

Anfield82 · 05-04-2012, 14:52 | posts: 1,099 | Location: UK

Thanks for all the replies, I don't recall seeing that other topic so sorry for posting this one. After reading all your comments I'll probably just leave a small page file to keep Windows happy.

Pill Monster · 05-04-2012, 14:57 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPlayNaked

Can you disable it? Yes. Is there a reason to? No. Is there a reason not to? Yes.

If a program gets out of control, or takes up a lot of memory for whatever reason..it can crash. Is there permanent harm? Of course not. But, as I said, there's no reason to disable it.

The people who tell you Windows is faster are completely full of **** and cannot show you a single benchmark that proves otherwise.

Wrong.
http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10...g-without-one/

Phragmeister · 05-04-2012, 14:59 | posts: 1,159 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Wrong.
http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10...g-without-one/

Result: Difference is statisically insignificant.

Pill Monster · 05-04-2012, 15:07 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phragmeister

Result: Difference is statisically insignificant.

You obviously didn't read the whole thing.
With PF off, boot & shutdown times were faster and Crysis had a higher benchmark score.

I'll just add I've had mine disabled for about 10 years, and the ONLY time I ever ran out of memory was while playing BF3 with 4GB ram.

WhiteLightning · 05-04-2012, 15:10 | posts: 20,445 | Location: Netherlands

From that article

Does running without a pagefile improve performance?

Based on my observations there is no performance benefit to running without a pagefile.

It is possible that gaming performance might be improved marginally (but not significantly) without a pagefile BUT:

1 – It will depend on using game intensive enough to really push your hardware, especially memory.

2 – It will take benchmarks on that specific game to tell what difference if any it will make.

So what is gained without using pagefile?

For the average user there is little to nothing to be gained performance wise by running without a pagefile.

If disk space is a concern then lowering or eliminating the pagefile can be done if you have enough RAM

Mikedogg · 05-04-2012, 15:14 | posts: 2,872 | Location: The Freak Show - Earth.

What would be the best drive to have it on, my os, or my games drive. I currently have 4gb on my games drive, and when I use a program it seems to lock at 100%. If it was on my os drive, the pagefile tends to balance out a bit more.

I heard it's better to have it on a non os partition.

ibitato · **Memory**: 4x2GB@1080 5.5.5.15 5:6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikedogg

What would be the best drive to have it on, my os, or my games drive. I currently have 4gb on my games drive, and when I use a program it seems to lock at 100%. If if was on my os drive, the pagefile tends to balance out a bit more.

I heard it's better to have it on a non os partition.

only if you are continouslt running out of RAM and swapping a lot.

Srsly, ppl, just leave pagefile fixed to 1GB and forget that exists.

Phragmeister · 05-04-2012, 15:25 | posts: 1,159 | Location: UK

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

boot & shutdown times were faster

Difference: 31108.66 – 30112.33 = 996.33ms (or 0.99633 seconds)

C'mon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Crysis had a higher benchmark score.

Difference: 16.11 – 16.05 = .06

Stop it now lol.

Pill Monster · 05-04-2012, 15:30 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phragmeister

Difference: 31108.66 – 30112.33 = 996.33ms (or 0.99633 seconds)

C'mon.

Difference: 16.11 – 16.05 = .06

Stop it now lol.

Do you have a point or are you just trolling?

Phragmeister · 05-04-2012, 15:39 | posts: 1,159 | Location: UK

Nah, I don't do trolling. Just emphasizing on what I previously mentioned.

Ciao.

Pill Monster · 05-04-2012, 15:50 | posts: 20,464 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phragmeister

Nah, I don't do trolling. Just emphasizing on what I previously mentioned.

Ciao.

The difference is 3% faster with PF disabled, and regarding Crysis "A closer look reveals significantly higher minimum fps without a pagefile ( 9.30 to 6.54)"

I really don't care if it's faster or not, that's isn't why mine is disabled.
I was illustrating that there are actually benchmarks that show a performance comparison between enabled/disabled PF, contrary to IPlayNaked's comment.

k1net1cs · 05-04-2012, 16:17 | posts: 3,320

Oh, here we go again...is this a repeat performance or some sort?
Just keep the debate on its own thread; you guys probably freaking the OP out.

@Anfield82
If you're using SSD, it's advisable to either use another HDD (if present) to put the page file in, or disable it completely.
Another option is to put the page file on a RAM disk, which would mean you don't have to put the page file on your SSD but programs and Windows will still have a fast page file.
If you want to know a way to do that, check my thread.