optimum swap file size?

[Wigwam]

OS: xp pro sp1a
ram: 1gb
hdd: 120gb
[full system spec as per signature]

with the earlier versions of windows i understood that that it was best to set a permanent swap file size of around 2-2.5 x system ram for optimum performance. how much of this remains true for xp and given that machines have more ram and larger hdd? should i/ would i need to set a permanent swap file of 2gb?

 

[Nohr]

Use the Windows Task Manager to see your swap file usage and decide for yourself. 2GB is overkill though, that 2-2.5x rule is outdated. You'd probably get along fine with a 512MB swap file, or 768MB just to be safe.

 

[Nothinman]

Use the Windows Task Manager to see your swap file usage and decide for yourself

Task Manager lies, most of what it reports as pagefile usage is just reservations made by the kernel 'just incase' it needs to swap things out, especially if you have 512M or more memory.

with the earlier versions of windows i understood that that it was best to set a permanent swap file size of around 2-2.5 x system ram for optimum performance

The size doesn't affect performance, but if it's too small and you run low on memory allocations will fail and things will crash.

 

[rainypickles]

fwiw, i have 512mb ram and set the page file minimum (initial) to 256 and i rarely see slowdowns. i had it at 64 at first, but it would have to increase in size whenever i played bf1942. so setting it to 256 min is enough. if it is not enough, a tray icon appears and tells you so and you can increase it then.

 

[vtqanh]

i have 1GB and i turned off swap file

 

[Nothinman]

i have 1GB and i turned off swap file

Doubtfull. It's quite a bit of work to get Windows to completely not use a pagefile with no benefits. If you just set the min/max sizes to 0 chances are Windows created a ~20M pagefile and didn't tell you about it, because it knows it's stupid to run Windows without a pagefile.

 

[HarryAngel]

The benifits to run without the page file (assuming that you have 1024MB DDR266 upwards)are somewhat controversial. Some enthusiasts claim that 1024Mb on a XP (NT5.1) system is the "sweetspot" other say there is no benifit at all. As far as NT4 and Nt5 leave the page file on. On Nt5.1 you could disable it completely. Test it playing BF1942 and see how it works for you 😀

Windows created a ~20M pagefile and didn't tell you about it

NT4 not NT5.1

 

[Nothinman]

No, NT 4 won't create one for you, it'll just BSOD on bootup.

 

[BFG10K]

Leave the setting at the default OS setting. If you start playing with it you can cause problems, especially if you try to "disable" it.

(I say "disable" because you can't really disable it at all).