Pagefile question for XP sp2

[needlove]

Hello,

There seems to be a rule-of-thumb for manually setting page file size. That
is an initial size of 1.5 times the amount of installed RAM and a maximum
size of three times the amount of RAM.

I have 1,536MB's of RAM and given the rule-of-thumb that makes for a very
large page file with an initial size of 2304MB's and a maximum of 4095 MB's
(to actually amout to 3 x installed RAM it would need to be 4608 MB's but
windows only allows a maximum of less than 4096 MB's.

Do I need a page file that big for fairly intensive 3-D applications?
My VGA has 256 MB's of its own RAM.

The next question has to do with another rule-of-thumb,

quote:
If you do put the file elsewhere, you should leave a small amount on C: - an
initial size of 2MB with a Maximum of 50 is suitable - so it can be used in
emergency. Without this, the system is inclined to ignore the settings and
either have no page file at all (and complain) or make a very large one
indeed on the C: drive.
end quote

When I try to do this Windows does not recognize a page file on C:\.

I'm playing with different pagefile sizes now. System managed size is not an
option I'm comfortable with.

Are these rule-of-thumbs outdated for the on-going increases in physical
memory sizes and changes to Windows, ie (DEP, SP2, Dx9.0c etc..)

 

[Jabez Gan [MVP]]

Your answer can be found here:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

[Gerry Cornell]

The outdated understanding of the default settings you
mention most likely originate from this Article

How to set performance options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/en-us

Even though reviewed in November 2005 it no longer
represents the best advice available on virtual memory.
Some is still true but some is no longer considered best
practice.

The Article by Alex Nichol updated over time is a much
better statement.
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with
Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

If you get anything much more than 50 mb virtual memory
usage for most users ( not if video and photo editing etc
done ) this means you need to add RAM memory. The
system uses virtual memory for a limited number of tasks
rather than RAM memory.

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[needlove]

Thanks for the updated information. The page file tool from Bill James works
great and I was able to see a maximum "session peak usage" of 98 MB's.
Adding ~20 MB's to that for the initial page file size is a far cry from the
2,304 MB's I used with the other method (and seems to make more sense). I'm
not expecting much of a performance increase but, I'm happy to know that an
unnecessary burden is not being placed on the machine and operating system.