Paging File size

[jabarnutcase]

Hi friends-

I know this subject has been covered before, but I wanted some opinions on setting my swap file.

I am running XP Pro with 768mb of Ram. Disk space is not a problem.
Now for the question-
I have read various opinions on this. I know that if you allow windows to manage this file, it generally allocates approx. 1.5X your Ram (or around 1152MB in my case).

I have read opposing views. I have heard that setting both the min. and max. to approx. twice my ram would work well- (And would prevent Windows from constantly resizing it depending on what programs are running), thereby improving performance.

I have also seen recommendations for making it smaller or, even more amazing, disabling it all together when you have as much Ram as I have!
Then again, I have read that disabling it completely is NOT a good idea.

What is your take on all this?
Should I stop this horrible habit of trying to mess things up and let windows run it? Or try one of the above?
As always, I value your opinions.
http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
"The perfect computer has been developed. You just feed in your problems and they never come out again"

[jabarnutcase]

Ya know- One thing I like right off the bat is the Views column.

That way I can tell if people just haven't looked, or if they're ignoring my question altogether:D

Just kidding, I know I'm a pain in the neck;)

[Fruss Tray Ted]

That way I can tell if people just haven't looked, or if they're ignoring my question altogether

What? :eek:

Selective hearing in use....{:)} headphones on LOUD!!!

I'm not ignoring you, I just don't have XP (yet) so I just watch and listen.. keeping my :cool:

[jabarnutcase]

Hey ...Ted!

I was just kidding around:)
But, Look- It worked!

Someone replied:D

Have a great evening!

[mjc]

tweaking the pagingfile/swapfile is always one of the areas of needing to find out what works best for the way you do things.

A fixed size will decrease fragmentation of the drive it is on, but so will dedicating a partition to it.

Eliminating can be done on systems with large amount of memory, but there are certain applications that expect one to exist and will not run without one.

As for setting a size.....1.5GB does seem a little high, doesn't it. Probably the best way is to set up a performanc monitor and monitor how big it gets under your normal usage and the set it with a comfortable pad...say you run for two or three days and you only use 100MB at most then you could probably get away with making very small, but say you peak out a couple of times over 512MB then.....

[john5211]

Jab,

If you would like to increase the performance of your PageFile, and you have multiple hard drives (that are all fast), then you might try splitting the pagefile up between different drives (that is, having more than one).

For details on how to do this, look at MSKB article Q208417 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308417).

Again, just to be clear, this only makes sense if you have multilple physical drives.

Good Luck,

John

[jabarnutcase]

Thanks for the replies guys-

I am using only one hard drive.

I think I will monitor my usage for a while like mjc suggested and take it from there.

The amazing thing with me, (and probably a lot of other people here), is that my computer is running great with a "System managed" swap. Yet I just have to mess with things all the time.

I learn an awful lot that way- And I also mess a lot of things up that way:eek:
But hey, thats all part of the FUN -Right?

Thanks again:D

[mjc]

The only reason I set mine to a fixed size in 98 is the greatly reduced fragmentation. Even after a couple of weeks to a month I am still in the lower single digits (1-3%), while before it would get to 5% in a week. I haven't tinkered with it on any NT kernel OS, but generally I have found it better managed there.

[jabarnutcase]

Thanks mjc-

I see why this thread was moved to Performance SIF -Makes more sense.

Still trying to get used to all the new stuff:D (Gotta read the fine print:) :)

[hiredgoonz]

What do you use the system for? I disabled paging in my last system (WinXP Pro 768mb ram) and my current one (WinXP Pro 1gb ram) and have yet to run into a problem...even editing huge photos doesn't bring me much over 500mb memory usage.

As far as monitoring your memory usage, you may already know this, but windows task manager is the easiest way. In the bottom left corner of the performance tab, look at Peak. If you're never at or above 500mb, you'll be fine disabling it...

If you're really worried about it, I would create a 256mb pagefile (minimum and maximum size) just to be ultra safe...you do NOT need anything bigger than that unless you're editing video, unbelievably huge photos or using a few other extreme applications

[jabarnutcase]

Thanks hiredgoonz (Ha, I like that- have you really "Hired Goons"?):)

Anyway, thanks. Yes, I'm very familiar with windows task manager. Don't look at it much till lately.
I don't do a lot of monumental stuff at one time, and rarely is my peak even over 250mb.

I'll monitor things a little more closely for the heck of it, and probably make a set size for both min and max like you mentioned.

Even though disabling it would probably work fine like it did for you, I'm more of a coward :eek:

Take care!