Paging file size in windows XP.

With 512 MB of ram, what do you think i should set it to? I have 3 partitions, C where my system files are located, D where most of the programs that i use frequently are located, and E where i keep stuff like documents.

I currently have a 1536 initial and maximum sized paging file located soley on E. Is this a good thing?

 

ideally it shoul be set to 2X the amount of RAM you have[ot]and do NOT let Win have control of the swapfile size[/ot]set the minimum to1024Mb & the maximum to 1024Mb[ot]as you have 512Mb RAM[/ot]

 

Any particular reason for 2x?

 

no idea, i used to set old Win9x to 2.5X but with XP you set it to 2X[ot]and don't let Win manage it, of XP will spend a lot of time resizing the swapfile[/ot]

BTW: maybe someone will tell us both why!

 

That is what Vista does by default.

The screen where you can set the page file has the text Recommended:. I always use that size
[ot]I got 2048 MB of RAM, and I'm using 3096 MB of swap file[/ot]

 

it said "Recommended" on Win9x too, but it wasn't a good idea


when i was useing XP i just assumed it was the same, well it froze less, don't know about vista, never used it[ot]& don't want my brain removed, to risk trying it[/ot]

Edit: try useing it both with vista in control & try it with a fixed size swapfile / pagefile[ot]realisticly what would be faster, XP or vista continually resizeing the swapfile of keeping it the same fixed size[/ot]

@RH you'd be better with a fixed size of 4096Mb, set it to a fixed amount by assigning both the min & max to 4096Mb

 

A fixed pagefile is always better. The maximum-setting should be about double the page file you've set. If it isn't enough, it can then resize the page file if absolutely neccesary.

 

yes and no, yes it is better fixed, and no it should be double the ammount of installed RAM

 

[OT]
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobl demanded that i set the swap file to 2GBs! (it refused to start until i did) the windows machine i was playing the game on only has 512MB (the minimum amount according to the box).
[/OT]

 

So i should set it to min 1024/max 1024?

What if i set it higher? Is this a bad thing?

 

yeah, until you upgrade your RAM

well, it won't do any harm, but you won't see any better performance, you'll just be wasting HDD space[ot]try it, you'll see[/ot]BTW:you'll need some :swear:ing good benchmarking software to see any difference

 

You mean if i set it to more than 1024 the comp wont use more than 1024?

 

no, set it to double the amount of RAM you have installed[ot]that's why i said:

as when you upgrade your RAM, you will should also set the minimum and maximum to double the new amount of RAM installed[ot]when i used XP i had 256Mb RAM so the pagefile was set to (both min & max) 512Mb if i'd had 1Gb (1024Mb) i would have set the pagefile to 2Gb (2048Mb)[/ot]

 

RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile and all that stuff