Virtual Memory

[TazZ_Nc]

What should i set my virtual mem to if i wanna change the drive its set on? I have 512mb ram, and i wanna move it from a 8gig HD to a 80gig 7200rpm drive. atm the current settings are as follows:

custom size, min: 768mb

max: 1536mb


i think i read taht they should both be set to the same number, but i cant rem . a lil help here would b much appreciated

thanks

TAZZ

[Cricket]

A basic virtual memory setting would be 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM in your system...so about 768MB for the minimum amount. But I don't think I would set a maximum amount just so Windows don't hit a wall if it needs more swap file space.

Cricket

[TazZ_Nc]

so do i set my max and min to both 768mb on the new drive?

cheers

tazz

[Cricket]

WinXP handles memory usage much better than Win9x and I would just let it do it's thing without making any adjustments to the virtual memory settings...or just set the minimum and let the maximum go as big as WinXP needs.

Cricket

[TazZ_Nc]

wouldnt it b better to run off a larger faster drive? if so when i change the drive - the settings dont carry over...should i use the same settings when i chose the new drive?

[Cricket]

Here's the deal...if you have lots of physical RAM, Windows doesn't have to use virtual memory as much. With 512MB of RAM, your system probably isn't going to the swap that much anyway...so tweaking the virtual memory setting might be doing nothing anyway.

On my WinXP box, I have 512MB of RAM and haven't touched the virtual memory settings. The system hardly ever goes to the swap file and even when it does, it doesn't really affect system performance that much (none of that hard drive chugging you would experience in a Win98 system with only 32MB of RAM).

Cricket

[alcelc]

As long as I can remember, it seems that U should put it at 2.5x of the RAM installed. Of course U could set it smaller or larger as per yr actual need.

In fact, as Cricket said that having 512Mb physcial ram installed swap memeroy would rarely be used. But if U work on a lot of graphic etc U may need more. Normally system utitilies program will ask U to set at 2.5x as a norm.

And U should be better to set the min & max the same. It could improve yr HDD's framentation condition.

[mike breck]

Yes,

Setting the minimum and maximum to the same size will reduce fragmentation. So just set both to 768MB. You could probably get away with less, so if you want to experiment, then set it to 500MB and see how that affects your performance and applications.

Ideally, you should put the Page File on it's own little partition; however, if you don't have a separate partition, then put it on the faster HD.

HTH

[reboot]

2.5 times RAM is totally outdated. I have a gig, should I set swap at 2.5 gig? I think not. Even 1.5 gig is way too much.
The break point is 512 meg of RAM. If you have 512 or more, then set min at about 2 meg more than the max usage, and max at whatever you want. It's dynamic anyhow, and will resize (up or down) if it's really needed by something else (full hard drive).
Moving it to the beginning of the fastest drive in the system is a good idea, and XP just loves to have 768 as the min. Set max wherever you feel comfortable, and if you ever get an "out of mem" error, just increase the max a bit.
Here's a breakdown of what really works in most cases, your mileage may vary.
64-128 meg of RAM = swap size min 256 meg.
128-256 RAM = swap size min 384 meg.
256-384 RAM = swap size min 512 meg.
512 and up = swap size min 768 meg.
Just because you have more than 512, does not mean you need a swap that's 1.5x it's size, that becomes ridiculous.
These numbers are only for XP, and do not really apply to Win98, which is best left up to windows.
Even XP manages the swap better than 98, and should just be left alone.
If you MUST move the swap somewhere, then keep the numbers the same as Windows default. It's that way for a reason.

[Tuf]

If you move the swap to another drive put it on it's own partition. I have been making a partition about 2GB for this purpose on the computers I build.

My new workstation has 2GB of RAM and a 2GB partion for the swap. I create rather large 3D AutoCAD files and have yet to have a problem. I do think it is better with XP to let WIndows mange the swap file as opposed to setting the figures like you did under 9X.

When rendering and merging files I have seen the swap go as high as 1.5GB.

[reboot]

Putting the swap on it's own partition is fine, however, you will not notice any increase in speed, unless it is on the first portion of the fastest drive in the system.
Just moving it to F: if you have C, D, E, F, and G, will actually slow things down, because a hard drive is filled from the outside in, and C is always formost on the outer edge of the drive.
If you make a 1 gig partition C, and put Windows on D (or E, or whatever) and then move the swap to C, there will be some slight change in speed. You probably won't notice though.
The only way to really speed up a computer with an operating system that uses a swap file, is to buy more RAM, and not use the swap at all.
If you're like Tuf and use apps that require huge amounts of RAM, then too small a swap can give errors. For most users, 1 gig is overkill, unless you only have 64 meg of RAM.
Even if you have 512 meg, a 100 meg swap should be plenty for most uses, however Windows insists on a 768 minimum, so best to leave it at 768 minimum, no matter where you put it.
The idea is that it's there if needed, but with enough system RAM, and FREE RAM (unused, yes, shut down those taskbar icons/programs!) the swap probably won't get used anyhow.
Windows XP likes to load it's services on startup, and then move them to the swap, as they'll likely not be accessed. This takes up about 80 meg (your mileage may vary), and seems to stay there, no matter how long the session, nor what, nor how many apps you use at one time.
Bottom line: Instead of worrying about where to put the swap, how big or small it should be, and what settings to use for a given amount of RAM, let Windows handle it, and go buy another 256 meg of REAL RAM.

[Blakhart]

Having a swap partition on every physical drive (up to 16 in 2k and in xp, I think) in the box is the way to ensure best bandwidth during swaps. Placing that partition on the outer edge of a drive (say a 2 gig c: partition) ensures fastest transfer due that part of any drive being the fastest transferwise. Besides, swapping to a partition is nicer.



Forgot to say that if you set the min and max swapfile the same, or set any max, and you ever need more, you will get the BSOD, I tend to let xp manage the swapfile. I select the partition tho.

[Blakhart]

For much more than you ever wanted to know about swapfile stuff/M$ os (well, their real os's) workings, search 2cpu.com.

Jeh is a trove of info on like subjects, and a nice guy.