Virtual Memory / Paging

mercurial said:
The article's fine etc... but my point is that action speaks louder than words.
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Yep - can't argue with you there. so Why Don't Microsoft recommend you turn off Virtual Memory then, if you have 4 "massive" Gigs of RAM ?
 
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Grouter, interesting stuff there - I never knew it will put on a "manual overide" if you stuff up the settings....lol

1 question though. If I disable it on my C: but enable on D: and E:, etc - it won't create one on my C: will it? it only creates if you have < 1 pagefile's, right ?
 
Keeper said:
Grouter, interesting stuff there - I never knew it will put on a "manual overide" if you stuff up the settings....lol

1 question though. If I disable it on my C: but enable on D: and E:, etc - it won't create one on my C: will it? it only creates if you have < 1 pagefile's, right ?
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Right.
 
I turn mine off and my system runs 100%.

Not sure why you need a massive page file when you have 4 gb of memory. Instead of reading articles and blah blah blah why not turn it off and see for yourself.
 
killadoob said:
I turn mine off and my system runs 100%.

Not sure why you need a massive page file when you have 4 gb of memory. Instead of reading articles and blah blah blah why not turn it off and see for yourself.
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Did you read the quote in post #20?
 
killadoob said:
I turn mine off and my system runs 100%.

Not sure why you need a massive page file when you have 4 gb of memory. Instead of reading articles and blah blah blah why not turn it off and see for yourself.
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I wouldn't dare do it on the apps I use, I need loads of gigs. :p

like Grouter said, your paging file is created even if you turn it all off - This is microsoft stepping in to fix the mess you are making :D it's still there.
 
Disable, defragment, then enable a fixed size based on the "recommended" value Windows gives you.

...if you have more than 2GB of ram.
 
Aqua_lung said:
Disable, defragment, then enable a fixed size based on the "recommended" value Windows gives you.

...if you have more than 2GB of ram.
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So why couldn't you have seen this thread an hour or two ago, been the first to reply to the OP, and saved us all a load of arguing and typing? :D
 
killadoob said:
Did you read that i do not run a pagefile and have not since i got 4gb memory in the xp days?

Stability problems? I have no clue what that is about my system is rock solid.
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The relevant bit:

"Microsoft learned from this mistake. So the pagefile was designed to always exist, and at the amount needed, regardless of manual settings. If you think you see a perf increase after "disabling" the page file, rest assured that it's only an illusion…because the pagefile is still there. And don't believe that forcing a small pagefile will work and place more of the load on the RAM: if the pagefile is too small, Windows will dynamically make it larger.
"

I too can be assertive if I need to be.
 
Grouter said:
The relevant bit:

"Microsoft learned from this mistake. So the pagefile was designed to always exist, and at the amount needed, regardless of manual settings. If you think you see a perf increase after "disabling" the page file, rest assured that it's only an illusion…because the pagefile is still there. And don't believe that forcing a small pagefile will work and place more of the load on the RAM: if the pagefile is too small, Windows will dynamically make it larger.
"

I too can be assertive if I need to be.
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What version of OS is this for. Just tested XP SP2 by deleting the PF and the machine just ran out of RAM and did not create a PF?

From Mark Russinovich's Blog, and everything you need to know about Virtual Memory:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

Some feel having no paging file results in better performance, but in general, having a paging file means Windows can write pages on the modified list (which represent pages that aren’t being accessed actively but have not been saved to disk) out to the paging file, thus making that memory available for more useful purposes (processes or file cache). So while there may be some workloads that perform better with no paging file, in general having one will mean more usable memory being available to the system (never mind that Windows won’t be able to write kernel crash dumps without a paging file sized large enough to hold them).
 
Conradl said:
What version of OS is this for?
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Not sure to be honest. I never saved the source - it was copied from somewhere on The How-To Geek's site some time ago.

Edit: On reflection, probably vista.
 
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I disabled my xp FP and never ran out memory, don't see how i could with 4gb of it. Even though i disabled it in windows 7 there is still a paging file.
 
killadoob said:
I turn mine off and my system runs 100%.

Not sure why you need a massive page file when you have 4 gb of memory. Instead of reading articles and blah blah blah why not turn it off and see for yourself.
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also killer, when you disable the pagefile, and windows creates one for you, it's gonna be default settings.

so you're gonna sit with 1 pagefile on C: and it will probably be windows managed as well so it's gonna grow and shrink - not good.

rather put in the right settings. 1 one each drive, at a specified size (minimum and maximum size must use the same value) and delete the one on C.

Remember folks - the option to delete it is not so you can delete them all, it's there so you can remove it from C and add one on D if you have 2 or more drives.
 
Keeper said:
Remember folks - the option to delete it is not so you can delete them all, it's there so you can remove it from C and add one on D if you have 2 or more drives.
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+1
 
Keeper said:
Yep - can't argue with you there. so Why Don't Microsoft recommend you turn off Virtual Memory then, if you have 4 "massive" Gigs of RAM ?
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Most people only have a basic amount of RAM, which is not suitable for turning PF off. Perhaps MS is playing it safe by telling people to leave it on. Imagine they decided to advise everyone to start turning their PFs off, and then people's PCs get borked. Everyone would nail them for ill-advising them. I think they say what they say to protect themselves/play it safe.
 
mercurial said:
I think they say what they say to protect themselves/play it safe.
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Nah, I actually studied this stuff for 2 years (MCSE) :p

Anyway - I just summed it all up for the guys interested, and for those that don't know. take the advice, or leave it.

for the guys turning it off completely - you are only fooling yourselves and getting a default settings pagefile, so you gonna be worse off with a ever-changing pagefile on your C: Drive, competing for access-time on your HDD against windows itself, and any other games on the C: Drive you might want to run as well. :D :D Read it up - it's all there on teh internetz
 
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