Paging File Size... how big?

[DilLy]

I am running XP with 512 mb of RDRAM (PC800). I do a lot of Photoshop work and gaming (as well as other more common tasks).

I was wondering what paging file size everyone recommends. I currently have it set to 768max/768min. This is what XP recommends and I have had no problems (I did have to change the maximum setting to match the minimum for performance reasons). I am really wanting to go as small as I can, without experiencing any problems.

What do you think?

[doctorgonzo]

I have 512 MB of SDRAM and my pagefile is 300 MB running Windows XP, and things run well. I think that keeping the pagefile size constant is more important in order to eliminate wasteful dynmaic resizing of the pagefile.

[DilLy]

What do you use your rig for gonzo? What do you think of me going to 384 or similar?

anyone else have any suggestions?

[doctorgonzo]

I use it for mainly internet, word processing, database design and programming, and some light gaming.

You may want to get a utility that can tell you how much of your pagefile is in use when you are doing your normal activities. Then set the file size to slightly above the maximum.

[DilLy]

yeah I use Cacheman, I will try what you suggested.

[mosquito]

I do a lot of photoshop too, and I have a 1Gb page file on every drive in my machine (4 drives). Also make sure you spread the photoshop scratch drives over all your disks.

If you make high resolution images in photoshop you really need a huge amount of memory.

[GreyFalcon]

"When you place a paging file on its own partition, the paging file does not become fragmented, and this counts as another definite advantage. If a paging file resides on a partition that contains other data, it may experience fragmentation as it expands to satisfy the extra virtual memory that is required. An unfragmented paging file leads to faster virtual memory access and greater likelihood of a dump-file capture that is free of significant errors. " There is a lot of information in Microsoft Q314482 about paging files, and size alone is not the most important thing.

[DilLy]

Thanks GreyFalcon.

[Blakhart]

Do not set a maximum swapfile if you use photoshop and other video editing apps. The app may require more than one thinks.
As I never use anything like that on this system, I always set my c: partition to 300 max and min. Runs good.