Question Using optane instead of ram - Build a budget pc cheap with high ram + pagefile usage

[ZERRECKO]

Hello,

IMPORTANT NOTE -
To begin with - ( If anyone doesnt want to read my long thread of questions, then please only give me advice on this) -
IF ANYONE KNOWS of a better solution for such usage as mine (heavy browsing with chrome, with pagefile going over 32gb and 45gb +) (- even when currently have 16gb ram), so that the system doesn't become slow, please share with me. ANY HELP regarding this matter. Other than buying too much of the insanely priced rams.

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Sorry for my long thread but I really need help on this.
I am looking to build a budget system which has much memory usage. More than 32gb to 45gb plus usage, as I multitask and do heavy browsing - many chrome tabs. I wont game on this new system.

But price of 32gb plus ram is too much. Recently I have come to know about optane products which from some of the reviews and information I have seen, works very well if used as a page file (I will not use the optane for caching hdd - only for paging). Optane is not very recommended to be used instead of ram for say gaming, but for normal desktop use, optane is said to be OK for pagefile instead of much ram.

I would like to mention here what google search 1st result says for - "OPTANE" -
Intel® Optane™ technology is a new breakthrough in non-volatile memory technology enabling memory-like performance at storage-like capacity and cost.

As such, for using optane instead of ram, please help me in getting a cheap but very fast and responsive system, for my usage, mainly heavy browsing. I use chrome. My current system pagefile keeps going above 32gb to 45gb plus, and the system becomes very slow. At present I have 16gb ram.

So I need a solution for this, and would like to be on safer side for my usage, to buy 64gb optane over 32gb optane (so either a 58gb optane ssd or 2 pieces of 32gb optane memory/1 piece of M10 64gb memory).

I know optane is not as fast as ram, but I Just cant spend for the insane price of 32gb-45gb+ ram.


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I have some really important questions for using optane. Please help me with answers to all of these questions - (If some of you know only about some only of the questions, then too please answer only with those) -

1. For the system, I need advice on the fastest optane product for paging (except 900p and 905p optane ssd) and any compatible budget mobo. Rest of the parts like cpu etc., would be amd ryzen or intel 8thgen i3/i5. Also I wont OC.

2. I want to know which is the fastest optane product to use as pagefile for my use. But please dont say optane ssd 900p or 905p, which are out of my budget.

3. Is optane "MEMORY" (32gb or M10 64gb) faster than optane 800p ssd for using as pagefile ?

4. Also, I would like to know if optane ssd 800p can be used in amd system. I know, optane 16gb and 32gb memory cant be used with amd, but people on amazon.com reviews have stated using optane 800p ssd with amd mobos,

5. For the new system, I would like to go with amd ryzen with optane ssd - if optane MEMORY would be only same fast as optane SSD. But if optane ssd cant be used with amd ryzen system, then only I would buy intel.
So although I would prefer amd system, I can still go for intel - but my main problem needs to be resolved really - that is, to get best, fastest system with 32gb plus paging file. And that at without buying that much ram. I would buy like 8gb-16gb ram.

6. Also I would like to know if optane ssd 800p would fit and work absolutely fine on this AM4 mobo - Gigabyte A320M-S2H ? I am getting this mobo very cheap and also its sufficient for me as I wont OC. It would run fine till I upgrade next year. Cost difference between this A320M mobo and a decent b350 AM4 mobo is quite much.

7. If optane memory is much faster than optane ssd then as I would have to go for intel system, please suggest me a budget intel mobo to use. If optane memory is to be used on it then are there any budget or reasonable intel mobos which can fit 2 optane memory.

8. Would a optane product - be it optane memory or optane ssd, would really be the sufficient and a workable solution for me, in building a heavy browsing system with much paging in low budget ? What is your idea or thought on this ?

9. Also if anyone can advice on - can optane be put in raid to increase speed more. That would make the system more responsive and fast when much paging is there ie. pagefile size is a bit big.

10. REALLY need to know the fastest optane product for pagefile - Between optane memory and optane ssd, which would be faster to be used as pagefile.


Again, sorry for my long post, but if you have any answers then help me on these please.
Thanks.

 

[IntelUser2000]

So your "actively thrashing page count" (*) may not be as high as you think, and any decent SSD should handle that.

Of course this depends a lot on whether its using a lot of its page files or little. If its using a lot like the 2GB system I mentioned above, yes, an SSD is not enough, and Optane might help.

Then again, there's a difference of using it just for a pagefile versus replacing the disk entirely.

 

[Ken g6]

Have you looked into ways to reduce Chrome's memory usage? There's various articles online, like this: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-chrome-ram-memory-usage/

I'd also think an ad blocker would help a lot. I use something like NoScript (in my case, ScriptSafe) to limit scripts, but that can interfere with how sites work, so you might not want that.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

But the problem is when tabs will add up, chrome will again start its ridiculous pagefile usage game ! So need solution for this.

Well, the simplest and cheapest solution is reboot your computer more often.

^^What IntelUser2000 said.

Just closing chrome from time to time will also help. I think you can rig it so your last session is restored on restart, but I can't remember how to on the fly.

Consider an adblocker too. That improves the userfriendlyness of the internet by quite a lot all by itself. NoScript/SafeScript are good, but if you want something simple set-and-forget ublock origin is fine. The sheer amount of adds, 3rd party connections and scripts on an unfiltered browser session is both impressive and utterly terrifying.

There is one other thing you can try, but I'm not sure I should be recommending it. Setting your pagefile to a fixed size might help with ballooning size, but you'll run the risk of out-of-memory errors. Just make sure the size you set is large enough.