Ok, Heated Debate Time..Paging File......is Yours Turned On Or Off???

Don't let Crossfire see that - he may relegate you the stupid noob section as well....

Originally Posted by [G3D]CrossFire
You are supposed to have like 1.3 - 1.5x the Pagefile as your RAM.
I.E: I have 1GB RAM so I use 1800MB Pagefile just to be on the safe side.
Turning Pagefile off is completely stupid and noob decision. When you turn onn Pagingfile Windows sets a max ammount of RAM for a program to use.
I.E: Battlefield would normally use 500MB (This is just for instance) when you disable pagefile it sets a max usable to 300MB... What do you think happens? You're screwed!!

 

Do you know which services use the PF when it's turned off?

 

Based on the replies here I reduced my pagefile to 1.5 time the ram (i.e. 3 gigs) No performance difference I can see. But I did get a gigabyte of HDD back, so that's a plus.

 

4GB or RAM, PF is off and so is that damn Vista service that grinds your hard drive to hell loading in programs, I can't remember what it's called at the moment but it starts with an S.

It''s Superfetch

 

your ram limit per 32 bit program is 2 gigs.

if you use the /3GB boot option, it is 3 gigs.
You also have to compile the program with the large memory support option enabled to go be able to malloc()/new over 2 gigs.

xp 64 and the like also have a 2 gigs limit that is raised with the /3gb option when running a 32 bit exe. (or so i heard from another developer when i was looking over his shoulder while he messed around with xp64)

not sure about a 64 bit exe on 64 since i haven't had to write anything that goes over 2 gigs and is 64 bit.

there is no windows imposed max ram limit, other than the 2 gig cap boundary. and that's only there because windows partitions your memory into user memory and system memory.

the /3gb option just takes the boundary line from where user memory ends and system memory starts, and shifts it by one gig. (2gig user + 2 gig system -> 3 gig user + 1 gig system).

virtual memory is only there because it's a tool for allowing your machine to exceed the memory limits of your ram.
if you have enough ram, having virtual memory enabled is not an issue.

honestly, with 8 gigs of ram, EVEN if i ran a 32 bit app that used the entire 4 gig gamut of it's address space, i would still have a few gigs free to play around with. why should i care about running virtual memory?
especially when my system doesn't wait on paged disk access to go from app to app.

i increase the life span of my hard drives, i make my system more responsive, and with a large system cache enabled i only need to read most files once and they stick in memory for ages.
ever seen a game load out of ram? it kicks the crap out of loading it from hard drive.

-scheherazade

 

i've read that the core of windows likes to keep little notes. (meybe kernel level, i don't know honestly)
don't know if it is a service thing or not.

-scheherazade

 

Meh. I personally would never go with it off, i don't see the reason too.

I use 768 cause CoH wouldn't start with anything less!

For me it comes down to HDD space.

 

off for xp and on for vista.
when i get 4gig i may turn it off in vista aswell.
i too played bf2 and found the pf off option the best with 2gig and xp.

 

In THEORY, if you have plenty of RAM, it would SEEM to "make sense" to turn off the pagefile. BUT, it is unwise to do so because some apps are designed to use a pagefile and some will not even run without it (i.e. Photoshop). RAM is more 'volatile' than the pagefile, i.e., if another app suddenly needs it, it will wipe out whats held by the previous application(s), the pagefile however may keep it just in case it may be re-used.

Windows allocates whatever program or process' to RAM according to its priority, less priority or 'older held' stuff goes to the pagefile. You will not get any benefit from not having a pagefile, in fact it may be less beneficial as the less priority stuff is just chucked out of the RAM and will have to be reloaded next time it is used. Even worse, in games that demand a lot of memory, (STALKER loads up almost 2gb into memory), your RAM may not be enough to cover it without a PF and you may get crashes. However, this may not happen though because Windows (smartly) over-rides whatever user mistakes or settings in the virtual memory have been made, so if you set it to no PF, Windows will create and use a PF when needed to maintain stability I believe.

You know, this is so basic, so simple for anyone to "assume" I dont need a pagefile because I have "enough" RAM. You think those thousands of programmers and specialists at Microsoft were so dumb they werent aware of the practicalities or pros and cons of no pagefile vs only RAM? Ha ha...

P.S. fwiw, I have 4gb RAM and use a PF.

 

Guys, most of you have it all completely wrong!
You don't need a BIGGER pagefile the more RAM you have! Think about it!

Example situation:
You have 1 GB ram, but to run a specific program, windows needs to use 1.5GB
RAM... Windows starts loading the resources into your RAM, then oops! There isnt
enough space! Windows then UNLOADS resources it is not currently using (ffrom the RAM) into the
pagefile. When those files are needed by the program, it EXCHANGES them for
other un-used resources. So let's say you had a gig as you PF. Now, you
decide to upgrade your RAM and add another gig... (2GB RAM) Do you need to double your
pagefile? No! Of course not! In fact, you could halve it, and if you don't have
any super-intensive programs that require more than 2 gigs of RAM, turn your PF off!
Programs dont actually run off the files stored in the pagefile, they're
just conveniently stored in the PF so it can be retrieved back into the RAM to be used.

Hope that cleared it up...

For the love of god, please, save disk space and reduce that pagefile . You
should also notice a faster start-up with a smaller pagefile, since each time
you startup windows, it has to check the WHOLE pagefile. It makes me cringe
to think how long it takes to read 6 gigs of empty space

Check tweakguides' Tweak companion, everything's in there :approval:

EDIT: Above post also sums it up quite nicely And to answer the original
question, my PF is on, and it's at 384mb atm. No problems so far.

 

I can see the pros and cons, I know I had it off in W98 after testing in 3DMark01 showed it faster off, and I continued the same way with XP, however I did do some testing again and found there to be no difference in performance this time, but after I installed Photoshop I didn't have a choice, so I have it on, and on system managed I think (can't remember, at work, I know I used to have it manually set).

 

I just installed Windows XP x64 and the default was on "No Paging File". OS is smooth as a bells whistle.

*Off Topic, can't wait to upgrade to 4GB.. oh yeah!

Mike.

 

Ok then guys, i have vista what should i have mine set too?
I only have 2gigs and i know that vista uses 500mb so i have 1.5gb left, i have many games ranging from Armed assault, stalker, bf2 etc.. now i have reinstalled vista lately due to new motherboard so it is at default from install. Should i change it? would i see any gain?

 

64bit systems manage memory a bit differently. Also XP isnt the memory hog Vista is, so 2gb in XP will go a long way. When I moved from 1gb to 2 in XP, I noticed a dramatic drop in PF usage, from hundreds of MB down to almost zero (measurable with this app: XP Pagefile Monitor, works in Vista too). And my PF was enabled, but it was hardly used. This bascially demonstrates how wisely Windows uses your RAM for maximum benefit and only writes too the PF when it needs to. So it makes sense for (32bit users at least) to always keep the PF enabled. There may be some memory hogging apps (i.e. Photoshop) or texture rich games that may near your RAMs limits and where it would have to write to the PF, but when it doesnt need to it wont, so better to err on the side of caution than not.

 

1 GB fixed page file has worked for me since the beginning of time.

Anyone who gives a magic rule that it should be 1.5x times the size of your physical ram is mugging you off. It should be as big as you need it to be. If you're constantly working on gigapixel Photoshop files then sure set it to eleventybillion gigabytes , otherwise it is a waste of time and space.

In short , you need to have it. Just don't be stupid and set it to more than you will ever need. Makes me cringe to see people with 6GB pagefiles.

 

Hmm unless you are running Vista you must have way too much stuff running in the background to need 6GB PF to run TDU smooth when you've got 2GB RAM. Ive got 2GB and it runs just fine on XP. XP only uses about 280mb of memory when it first boots on my system.

 

hello all,
iam into large amounts of page file,have a raid 10 in 4 partions and have system managed page file on all partions...2x2 disk with 4x page file.
running windows media centre operating system.:smoke:.

 

LOL:smoke: