what is the best virtual memory setting for me

[Mark Kamoski]

Hi--

Please help.

I have a P4 2.4 Ghz laptop with a 60 GB hard drive (30 GB used and 30 free)
and a 64 MB video card and 1 GB of RAM running on Windows XP Pro (with
latest SPs and Updates installed).

What is the best setting for my Virtual Memory?

This is the setting that I am talking about...

My Computer, >Properties, >Advanced, >Performance, >Settings, >Advanced,
Virtual Memory, >Change

....and these are the options...

....(A) choose "Custom size" and then set (A-1) "Initial size" and (A-2)
"Maximum Size"...

....or...

....(B) choose "System managed size"...

....or...

....(C) choose "No paging file"

....so, which is best?

Of course, if (A) is the choice, then what are the best choices for (A-1)
and (A-2)?

From what I have read, (C) is not really an option because some programs
require a paging file, per MS.

So, it is (A) or (B).


As a related question, if I choose (B) does that mean that I will never get
a "virtual memory too low" message? If not, then what exactly does it
mean-- that is, if I choose (A), then the system automatically seems to
adjust the virtual memory if it gets too low, so I am wondering how this is
different from simply choosing (B).

Note that I have the "Visual Effects" tab set to "Adjust for best
performance".

Note that as of now, I have "System managed size" chosen. The paging file
"Recommended" size is 1531 MB and the paging file "Currently allocated"
size is 1532. This seems just fine and I do not receive any "virtual memory
is too low" errors; but, I am just wondering if I have the best setting.

Note that I did read this article
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/mcfedries/03june16.asp
and others like it, but they suggest what CAN be done. However, they are
too general in the sense that they do not address my situation and actually
tell me what is best.


Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please advise.

Thank you very much.

 

[Nicholas]

Mark --

Virtual Memory in Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

[Courtesy of Alex Nichol, MS-MVP]

--
Nicholas

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

|
|
| Hi--
|
| Please help.
|
| I have a P4 2.4 Ghz laptop with a 60 GB hard drive (30 GB used and 30 free)
| and a 64 MB video card and 1 GB of RAM running on Windows XP Pro (with
| latest SPs and Updates installed).
|
| What is the best setting for my Virtual Memory?
|
| This is the setting that I am talking about...
|
| >My Computer, >Properties, >Advanced, >Performance, >Settings, >Advanced,
| >Virtual Memory, >Change
|
| ...and these are the options...
|
| ...(A) choose "Custom size" and then set (A-1) "Initial size" and (A-2)
| "Maximum Size"...
|
| ...or...
|
| ...(B) choose "System managed size"...
|
| ...or...
|
| ...(C) choose "No paging file"
|
| ...so, which is best?
|
| Of course, if (A) is the choice, then what are the best choices for (A-1)
| and (A-2)?
|
| From what I have read, (C) is not really an option because some programs
| require a paging file, per MS.
|
| So, it is (A) or (B).
|
|
| As a related question, if I choose (B) does that mean that I will never get
| a "virtual memory too low" message? If not, then what exactly does it
| mean-- that is, if I choose (A), then the system automatically seems to
| adjust the virtual memory if it gets too low, so I am wondering how this is
| different from simply choosing (B).
|
| Note that I have the "Visual Effects" tab set to "Adjust for best
| performance".
|
| Note that as of now, I have "System managed size" chosen. The paging file
| "Recommended" size is 1531 MB and the paging file "Currently allocated"
| size is 1532. This seems just fine and I do not receive any "virtual memory
| is too low" errors; but, I am just wondering if I have the best setting.
|
| Note that I did read this article
| http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/mcfedries/03june16.asp
| and others like it, but they suggest what CAN be done. However, they are
| too general in the sense that they do not address my situation and actually
| tell me what is best.
|
|
| Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please advise.
|
| Thank you very much.
|
|
|

 

[AzamSaghir]

I also asked this question in a forum and received the following reply:

As a rule your paging file should always be 1.5x the size of your installed
ram. However this rule is bogus. The more physical ram you have installed
the less pagefile you will need. If you have a lot of physical ram you don't
need a lot of paging file because you don't want to have applications
swapped to the page file which will be slower if you can use the ram which
will be faster. However I never recommend someone not having an pagefile. I
recommend something like this:

128MB ram = 384MB pagefile.

256MB ram = 512MB pagefile.

512MB ram = 128MB pagefile.

768MB ram or higher = 64MB pagefile.

However if you have 2GB of ram installed in your machine, unless you are
doing CAD, you really don't need any pagefile. Using Virtual Ram as opposed
to physical ram when you have so much is plain silly.

Also when setting your pagefile, always make it a fixed size. Do not make
the minimum and maximum different sizes, this causes fragmentation. When you
try to defragment your drive that will lock the pagefile in multiple places
and it cannot be moved. Keep it the same size so it sits in the same place
on the disk, so when you defragment you wont have it all over the place.



I have 512MB ram installed on my Pentium 4 (2GHz) PC with 80GB hard disk (D:
22GB free, C: 10GB free).

I initially set my page file to 128MB but I found that I got 'Low Virtual
Memory' prompts occasionally. I do use Adobe Photoshop which puts the disk
caching process through its paces a lot so I started to increment the
pagefile size 32MB a go. I believe the correct setting depends on what
applications you run and also if you have more than one user account set up
on the PC. Anyway, after incrementing the page file size I ultimately
settled for 256MB as the optimum size for me. This for me is sufficient to
not give any low memory errors.

I have the 256MB page file located on C: drive and this is not fragmented.

Good housekeeping is essential to extract the best performance from your pc.
It does pay to defragment the hard drive daily, keep anti-virus definitions
updated daily, run chkdisk & disk cleanup maybe weekly. Also, rid your PC of
any spyware daily.

I download all Microsoft Windows Updates whenever they become available and
'touch-wood' I have a trouble free system which is lightening fast.

Oh yes, on an annual basis, open up the PC case and carefully blow out any
dirt/dust collected inside especially around the CPU and fan assemblies.

Good luck.

Azam

 

[Walter Clayton]

Bad advice. Very bad.

Min pagefile setting determines fragmentation under normal use.
Max pagefile setting sets upper limit of performance.
Each VM in an NT kernal is allocated 4G of addressability with 2G by default
set aside for application use.

Your recommendations lower the performance threshold and will tend to force
premature system throttling when the system is under duress.

Most of the time the best setting is system managed. Period. Other than
that, it's purely an individual setting that has no relation to the amount
of real memory installed but rather the work load of the system.

I have 512M or real with 4 system managed pagefiles spread across 4 HDs.
Currently allocated pagefile space exceeds 2G with room to grow.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org