*How To Get The Pagefile On RAM The Right Way*

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,108
5
81
I mentioned this in an old post as a reply but it didn't get any attentio and I just forgot about it.

Anyway, make sure you have 512mb or more of RAM than you need.

Now, you have to create a RAM Disk Drive. You can search for this on google or anyplace but it needs to support 512mb sizes. I don 't know for sure but I know Tweak XP software allows making a RAM Disk Drive but I don't remember what size. Linky To Tweak XP Program

Once you ahve that done, using Tweak XP, find and change the location of the page file directory to the RAM Disk Drive you created, usually drive letter "Z."

Reboot and now your pagefile is on the RAM and windows considers it a hard drive! I don't know for sure how this will work because I don't have that much RAM to use and if I did I'd try it. I ask that you first backup your system using something like Norton Ghost and make an image of your HD with it because I will not be held responsible for any damage it causes as I have never tested this myself.

This is all theoretical and so it may or may not work. If anyone wants to fund this testing and sends me 2x 512mb PC3200 Cas2 sticks, I'll test it, assuming I get to keep the RAM ;)

I'd appreciate if someone tried this and tell me how it goes because if it does work, I'll save up $200 and get a gig more of RAM so I can use my own idea.... hehe
 

BmXStuD

Golden Member
Jan 17, 2003
1,474
0
0
Originally posted by: letsgopens
Why not just disable VRAM and use all the physical RAM?

B/c we are ATOT'ers and try alot of things to mess up our pcs.
 

DeeK

Senior member
Mar 25, 2000
700
0
0
Yes, people have tried it. The result? It's a complete waste of time.

Read this post for an explanation by someone who writes drivers for a living and therefore knows more than a little bit about how memory management works.
 

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,108
5
81
Originally posted by: DeeK
Yes, people have tried it. The result? It's a complete waste of time.

Read this post for an explanation by someone who writes drivers for a living and therefore knows more than a little bit about how memory management works.

That post is way too long for me to read. Maybe in a few months I'll just buy a ton more RAM and try it out for myself...
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Seems to me that filling up your RAM with the page file is a stupid idea. The whole idea behind having a page file is to have a place to store info that won't fit in RAM. If you reduce the amount of RAM you have available, more info will have to be paged. So lets say you have 1024 MB of RAM, and you've set 512 as a RAM drive for the page file. So now you only have 512 MB of RAM available for Windows and programs to use. And if you have a program that actually does need 1 GB of RAM, it will have to ad extra steps to page that extra info to the pagefile on the RAM drive. Why not just leave all the RAM available for Windows and programs to use, and have it all in RAM, and have to page a whole lot less information? That sounds logical to me.
 

jjyiz28

Platinum Member
Jan 11, 2003
2,901
0
0
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Seems to me that filling up your RAM with the page file is a stupid idea.

"""The whole idea behind having a page file is to have a place to store info that won't fit in RAM. """"

If you reduce the amount of RAM you have available, more info will have to be paged. So lets say you have 1024 MB of RAM, and you've set 512 as a RAM drive for the page file. So now you only have 512 MB of RAM available for Windows and programs to use. And if you have a program that actually does need 1 GB of RAM, it will have to ad extra steps to page that extra info to the pagefile on the RAM drive. Why not just leave all the RAM available for Windows and programs to use, and have it all in RAM, and have to page a whole lot less information? That sounds logical to me.

jeff, if that was true windows would work perfectly fine with 1 gb of ram and no virtual page file set. but certain if not all programs require virtual memory no matter how much physical ram you have in your system. if you have 128mb of ram, no point really to set up a ramdisk for you page file since you're strapped on memory as it is. but if you have 1gb of ram or more, it makes sense to put your pagefile on ramdisk since no way i go above 500mb of total memory usage(combined physical memory used + virtual memory) even during gaming. but if you do use a lot of ram, such as running a server, virtual desktops, etc.. then that 1gb is better used not being split up like that.

im still mixed on whether pagefile on ramdisk works in real world, but in theory it seems like it should.
 

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,108
5
81
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Seems to me that filling up your RAM with the page file is a stupid idea. The whole idea behind having a page file is to have a place to store info that won't fit in RAM. If you reduce the amount of RAM you have available, more info will have to be paged. So lets say you have 1024 MB of RAM, and you've set 512 as a RAM drive for the page file. So now you only have 512 MB of RAM available for Windows and programs to use. And if you have a program that actually does need 1 GB of RAM, it will have to ad extra steps to page that extra info to the pagefile on the RAM drive. Why not just leave all the RAM available for Windows and programs to use, and have it all in RAM, and have to page a whole lot less information? That sounds logical to me.

What if I go out and buy 4x 512mb sticks? I'll have 2GB, I can make 1GB page file on the RAM and the other GB can be for normal RAM usage. Even if there is a program to use more than 1GB in this case, so what if it goes over and has to use extra steps? That'll still be way faster than to a normal 7200rpm IDE drive.
 

jjyiz28

Platinum Member
Jan 11, 2003
2,901
0
0
Originally posted by: DeeK
Yes, people have tried it. The result? It's a complete waste of time.

Read this post for an explanation by someone who writes drivers for a living and therefore knows more than a little bit about how memory management works.

reading, i mean scanning through 2cpu's forum, this guy jeh seems to know what he's talking about. he's saying its bogus. his reasoning is that virtual memory cannot be turned off, paging file can be but thats different. and even then, windows will create a paging file if you decide to turn it off after rebooting.

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=2370f1b2cd9a4711152f9a632c1f2c27&threadid=10062