Hw much virtual memory do I really need?

[laars]

You can monitor it in the performance monitor by adding the paging file object

[Bad_Motha]

Originally Posted by MmmBacon

Some applications will not run without a pagefile. Generally I would set it to a static 2 gigs (min and max) for anything over 8 gigs of RAM.

^This

BTW are we so hard-pressed for drive space that we really need to mess with it anyways? Sure I like to set it manually myself too. But I think 2GB (min/max) is more than reasonable. If you want to gain some space, rid your system of the Hibernation file (hibersys.sys), which you can do very easily.

> Winkey + R = RUN
> type CMD enter
> when command prompt pops up, type POWERCFG -H /OFF enter
> Done, now you've rid your system of that file and saved yourself a decent large chunk of hard drive space (depends on amount of installed RAM)


Cheers!

[YahooElite]

Originally Posted by CrawlingChaos

With that much RAM, you could set it to zero.

I Agree with this.

Disabling the PF will make it use Physical RAM instead of Hard Drive space. i cant imagine wasting 32GB of HD space just because of the PF.

Ive had my PF disabled for a few months now and i only have 8GB of RAM, encountered no problems at all in the form of games or apps because of it being disabled.

Infact i believe the system responds better with it disabled also, Afterall System RAM is faster than any Hard Drive.

[lridium]

Originally Posted by Bad_Motha

^This

BTW are we so hard-pressed for drive space that we really need to mess with it anyways? Sure I like to set it manually myself too. But I think 2GB (min/max) is more than reasonable.

To me it's more the question of ms-order response times vs. ns-order. Why sacrifice the performance if you don't have to.

[FreemanForPrez]

Originally Posted by Bad_Motha

^This

BTW are we so hard-pressed for drive space that we really need to mess with it anyways? Sure I like to set it manually myself too. But I think 2GB (min/max) is more than reasonable. If you want to gain some space, rid your system of the Hibernation file (hibersys.sys), which you can do very easily.

> Winkey + R = RUN
> type CMD enter
> when command prompt pops up, type POWERCFG -H /OFF enter
> Done, now you've rid your system of that file and saved yourself a decent large chunk of hard drive space (depends on amount of installed RAM)



Cheers!

Well for my part, I have my Windows 7 on a SSD now, but it's only 128 GB, and there are a few certain programs and 3D content folders I want on that drive in addition to Windows.
And as I mentioned, I have 32 GB of RAM, and I knew I didn't need anywhere near that amount of virtual memory, but wasn't sure what a good safe size was.
I have gotten rid of the hibernation file too, but it's cool of you to post the instructions here as well.

As for setting it to 0, that would be a bad idea for some programs. ZBrush, for example, is only 32 bit right now, and although it is LAW, it still needs a page file or it can't do its thing past the RAM limit. Which it can quickly reach.
It gets around the memory issue by using a page file and is somehow able to use more memory than most 32 bit apps, even those that are Large Address Aware.

I have settled on 4K, and it seems fine that way.

[dosbox]

Originally Posted by Bad_Motha

^This

BTW are we so hard-pressed for drive space that we really need to mess with it anyways? Sure I like to set it manually myself too. But I think 2GB (min/max) is more than reasonable.

This ++

Disabling the page file has no benefit, increases risk, and reduces functionality. 2GB of storage is nothing for improved reliability and peformance.

Good to see the OP saw sense.

[darkradeon]

Originally Posted by MmmBacon

Some applications will not run without a pagefile. Generally I would set it to a static 2 gigs (min and max) for anything over 8 gigs of RAM.

tell me one name.

[dosbox]

Originally Posted by darkradeon

tell me one name.

Older versions of Photoshop.

[Bad_Motha]

Some older games do too. For example, if you try installing STALKER games (not sure if all 3 do it, but I know for sure SoC does this) and you have your PF totally turned off, the install will ask that you have 2GB minimum set for the PF. And if you have PF setup during the installer, but later turn off PF altogether, the game has issues running properly, or runs into random crashing issues due to PF being disabled.

I've never seen an app ask for more then this (for minimum) so 2GB min/max has always worked for me, since the Win2k days. Regardless of your RAM, as long as you have 6GB minimum of physical RAM, 2GB (min/max) for your PF should be plenty. But overall I wouldn't completely turn it off. If you have an SSD and are trying to save space, first disable PF and then reboot (this rid your drive of the PageFile.SYS file), then designate the PF be stored on another drive (like your fastest mechanical HDD that you have) and then manually set to 2GB (2048 min/max).

Overall you're better off leaving this amount for your PageFile and then doing the command to rid your system of the Hibernation file, if you're looking to gain drive space. Especially with an OS running off an SSD. When you run the command to rid your system of the Hibernation file, that option is no longer available via your OS' Shutdown Menu listing. Thus you won't run into an issue of you or another user clicking Hibernation Mode, when that file isn't on the system.

If you are someone who burns Bluray movies, I would suggest setting the PF to 4GB (4096 min/max).

[MmmBacon]

Originally Posted by darkradeon

tell me one name.

Dawn of War 2 in my experience.

Googling info about the pagefile, there is almost virtually no noticeable performance gains. I rather have a 2gig file that is just there for those rare occasions where an application needs a pagefile. No issues and no need to change anything.

[NotYourHero]

Windows will ♥♥♥♥♥ if you turn off virtual memory. I have 12gb ram and I turned mine off. Windows kept complaining and yet I never use more than 50% ram.

On another note. How much better is page file on a second HDD instead of the main? I just switched my page file to my 500gb WDC Black instead of my spinport F3 main HDD. I thought that may give the main HDD less stress.

[laars]

Originally Posted by dosbox

Older versions of Photoshop.

How old? What version exactly?

I am asking, because 10 years ago it wasn't a requirement.

[nrnoble]

Originally Posted by FreemanForPrez

I do a lot of 3D work and often have several RAM-hungry programs open at once, but even so, the most RAM I ever use routinely is about 12 GB. I wanted the extra so I can do a lot more, but I doubt I'll ever realistically go over maybe 24 GB.

Just got to chuckle because basically no matter how much ram you install, it doesn't take long before you're close to using it all; been that way since they invented RAN. Same goes for HDD space. I remember doubling my RAM from 64K to 128K in Apple IIe, and thought that was a mind boggling huge upgrade.

Currently I like to run 1-2 VMs, so that pretty much gobbles up free ram running several OSs.

[dosbox]

Originally Posted by laars

How old? What version exactly?

I am asking, because 10 years ago it wasn't a requirement.

Photoshop 6 wouldn't run, Photoshop 7 just complained about it.

Regardless, the posters above you provided two more recent examples, so I'll ask again - why sweat over the use of 2GB?

[DoYouCareBro]

I've disabled it completely. No problems so far, except for one old game about tennis... Forgot it's name. Games/Films/Music/Web.

Anyway, clean Windows 8 on a SSD with pagefile disabled = quick as a flash.