What shall I set my Pagefile to in Windows 8?

[Berryracer]

I have 24 GB RAM

Windows 8 automatically allocated 6 GB as a page file

In the past, on Windows 7, I had 16 GB RAM and I always disabled the page file with 0 problems

what do you guys think of Windows 8 now?

I dont play games, just surfing and watching movies

Shall I disable the page file or set it to a fixed 1 GB Min / Max or leave it as it is?

Bear in mind that I am upgrading to 32 GB RAM next week to to have dual channel in all RAM slots because now 1 slot is empty making the second RAM slot run on a single channel

 

[blankslate]

Leave it as is.

The page file is there because some programs still are written to behave as if it exists and if there is a crash that is where the event log for it is stored as I understand it.

Windows 7 and 8 have very good memory management and given todays HD and RAM capacities that are attainable the performance there's not much gain to be had from turning it off vs. letting the system manage it.

http://www.tweakhound.com/tweaking-windows-8/11/

http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10/the-windows-7-pagefile-and-running-without-one/

in the second link the author details testing and benchmarking a computer with this configuration

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Inspiron 530
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, 2400 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB DDR2(PC2-6400)
Video ATI Radeon HD 5670
Sound SoundBlaster XFI Fatality
Drives:
OS drive – 2 x WD Raptor 150′s in RAID 0 (modded BIOS for RAID 0)
Other drive – Seagate Barracuda ST31000333AS 1-TB

with the page file off and with it system managed.

In most the difference was less than 1% and the only major difference that I noticed reading over his benchmark results was the Crysis Benchmarks with and without a Page File

This system is older and probably 1/2 as fast as your system in your sig if that.

Based on what I understand from the article is that the downside is that if your system crashes then no crash dump file will be created.

However, the more RAM you have the less pagefile space you need. And 32 Gigs of RAM may eliminate the need for a pagefile.

But with your system specs there may be no real noticeable performance gain by disabling the page file.


The article in the second link is interesting and informative. Comments to it suggest that with more RAM there is less gain from disabling the pagefile. However you may want to disable the page file on your SSD (to reduce reads and writes to it) and create one on your HDD.

or experiment without one, if you never read crash dump files after a crash anyways.

 

[Berryracer]

thanks for this informative post man!

cheers

 

[Carfax83]

I say disable it. With superfetch enabled, Windows will use most of that memory as a massive cache to store and retrieve information much quicker than getting it off the hard drive.

Also Windows 8 is even more memory efficient than Windows 7, so if you never ran out of memory or had any issues in Windows 7, you're even less likely to do so in Windows 8.

Still, one is curious. Why so much memory if you don't use your computer for anything remotely intensive?

 

[Berryracer]

I say disable it. With superfetch enabled, Windows will use most of that memory as a massive cache to store and retrieve information much quicker than getting it off the hard drive.

Also Windows 8 is even more memory efficient than Windows 7, so if you never ran out of memory or had any issues in Windows 7, you're even less likely to do so in Windows 8.

Still, one is curious. Why so much memory if you don't use your computer for anything remotely intensive?

Okay I've disabled it because I have 17 GB RAM Free according to the resource monitor even after many of it was cached.

Why so much memory ?

Well, I always buy gaming laptops although I dont play games because I like having the best performance. I want a 17.3++ screen so my choices were limited to the Alienware MX18 which costs an arm and a leg, seriously you can buy a good used car for the price of that thing after you properly configure it.

So i went with what I can afford, and that is ASUS

Now I don't know why are the ASUS engineers drunk to put such an odd number as 24 GB, they should've gone with either 16 GB or 32 GB to keep dual channel mode in all slots, I dont know why they chose this weird configuration, it's not like one more RAM chip is gonna break the bank for them or the customer.

So in order to have dual channel in all slots and not only the first 2 slots, I am getting another 8 GB PC12800 1.28V SODIMM to have dual channel in all slots

Why so much specs if I dont game? Beause I use SVP (Smooth Video Project) to play all my videos @ 60 FPS, the better your hardware, the smoother and more constant your 60 FPS is.

Watching a movie with SVP is like being in the movie! it's better than going to the Cinema

 

[jkauff]

Why so much specs if I dont game? Beause I use SVP (Smooth Video Project) to play all my videos @ 60 FPS, the better your hardware, the smoother and more constant your 60 FPS is.

Well, that's partially true. SVP performance will be better with a fast CPU (because ffdshow benefits from a fast CPU), but the real bottleneck is always the graphics card. The more powerful your GPU, the better SVP will perform, and it sounds like you've got that covered.

All that memory won't make a difference, though, so maybe you could use some of it for a RAM drive if that would be useful for you.

 

[Cerb]

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx

Read it all the way through the processes and threads section.

Make a decision. How much ram you have is BS. It's how much committed memory you might need that matters. Period.

Also, look at the Tweakhound benchmarks carefully. Despite recommending that disabling it does nothing, even that old article shows a 42% improvement in Crysis .

But, if you can use up your memory, you'll be hosed. So, there is no one else's recommendation that matters, but your willingness to learn the trade-offs and decide.

 

[mikeymikec]

Windows 7 HP's maximum RAM capacity is 16GB.

Win8's is 128GB.

(Both 64-bit versions)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx

 

[Cerb]

Windows 7 HP's maximum RAM capacity is 16GB.

Win8's is 128GB.

How is that remotely relevant? The OP's limit is 512GB, which I'm pretty sure is impossible to have in a portable computer, today (and probably for the next 10-15 years).

 

[jkauff]

I still use a paging file, but I control its size and location. I do this because I monitor my memory use, and although no more than half of my 8GB is ever in use, I see activity in virtual memory. I have no idea what programs or processes are using it, but they are. For that reason, I'd be careful about disabling virtual memory.

 

[mikeymikec]

How is that remotely relevant? The OP's limit is 512GB, which I'm pretty sure is impossible to have in a portable computer, today (and probably for the next 10-15 years).

I think so, despite your antagonistic tone Post #2 mentions Win7 HP 64 and also surmises that 32GB may be enough to not need a swap file. From which someone may think that Win7 HP 64 can handle 32GB RAM when it can't. As I had already posted the first bit, the second thought occurred to me and I edited my post quickly to ensure that people had the facts and make my post as relevant to the topic in hand as possible.

 

[blankslate]

Also, look at the Tweakhound benchmarks carefully. Despite recommending that disabling it does nothing, even that old article shows a 42% improvement in Crysis .

I did note the fact that while Tweakhound's benchmarks showed in general no real difference between having and not having a page file that the exception that stood out noticeably to me was the game..

In most the difference was less than 1% and the only major difference that I noticed reading over his benchmark results was the Crysis Benchmarks with and without a Page File

Berryracer, however, has state that he doesn't game so it might not be as relevant as the other information

 

[blankslate]

Okay I've disabled it because I have 17 GB RAM Free according to the resource monitor even after many of it was cached.

Why so much memory ?

Did you take note of the maximum commit charge of the memory with and without the pagefile?

I'm curious.

 

[Nothinman]

I have 24 GB RAM

Windows 8 automatically allocated 6 GB as a page file

In the past, on Windows 7, I had 16 GB RAM and I always disabled the page file with 0 problems

what do you guys think of Windows 8 now?

I dont play games, just surfing and watching movies

Shall I disable the page file or set it to a fixed 1 GB Min / Max or leave it as it is?

Bear in mind that I am upgrading to 32 GB RAM next week to to have dual channel in all RAM slots because now 1 slot is empty making the second RAM slot run on a single channel

Leave it system managed just like you should've been doing on your other systems all these years.