which HD to install games on?

[minmaster]

i have 2 HDs. the smaller one i have the OS and some programs installed and a big drive i have all my other data like music and movies.

i have the paging file allocated on the bigger non-OS HD

which HD should i install games on for maximum performance?

 

[SergeC]

the one that does not contain the swap file.

 

[minmaster]

thanks. damn i just installed one on the swap file drive...

 

[deamer44]

what is a swap file?

 

[GullyFoyle]

Originally posted by: deamer44
what is a swap file?

Google is your friend.

 

[FuryofFive]

swap file... is the same as page file.. just answer the man lol.
its virtual memory. the HDD creates Virtual memory to make up for the lack of physical memory you may not have. it is bad, because it can create texture thrashing,slowdowns,choppy gameplay.
but i digress. if u have enough memory just disable it

 

[minmaster]

i have enough memory (2GB on xp) but i read its not recommended to disable virtual memory. you sure about disabling VM? are you saying you have 0mb paging file?

 

[FuryofFive]

yeah i disable mine but u can set it to auto so windows can make it based on how much u need.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
yeah i disable mine but u can set it to auto so windows can make it based on how much u need.

/facepalm

You don't know much about Virtual Memory (hint: it's not the same as the pagefile). You shouldn't be setting your pagefile to 0 even if you have 64gigs of ram.

 

[FuryofFive]

if u have more than enough memory then pagefile just makes up for that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_file

read it "In computer operating systems that have their main memory divided into pages, paging (sometimes called swapping) is a transfer of pages between main memory and an auxiliary store, such as hard disk drive.[1] Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementation in most contemporary general-purpose operating systems, allowing them to use disk storage for data that does not fit into physical RAM. Paging is usually implemented as a task built into the kernel of the operating system"

 

[minmaster]

i know that most of us have enough, but setting it to 0 is something not recommended according to everything i read. btw, how much memory are you saying is enough to have no pagefile? i'm getting really confused!!!!

 

[Smilin]

Thanks for the link but I know what Virtual Memory and a pagefile are.

You cannot disable Virtual Memory in Windows.

Disabling your pagefile though (setting it to 0) will always be detrimental to your OS. At the minimum it will cause long unused memory to consume physical ram rather than disk. You're basically making it so that all virtual memory on the machine (sans program images) must be backed by actual ram. It's a terrible thing to do.

This is a pretty beat-to death topic though so I don't want to get too involved in it.

If you are brave enough go post in the OS forum that you disable your pagefile and see what happens.

 

[FuryofFive]

thats why i said. if he has enough memory. if he does then all is well. i have 2gb, and most things i do dont require me to use alot of page file. im at work, so i cant tell u what i have mine set at.
but the advice to have the pagefile on a different drive is corret

 

[minmaster]

yeah everywhere i looked says it's best to set 1.5x your physical ram, meaning for 2gb, you set it at 3gb. i've been using that rule for years. leave 50mb on OS drive and set the 3gb on another drive. tell me if this is wrong.

 

[Smilin]

The gospel:

Let Windows manage the pagefile. Just set that radio button and let it be.



The detailed discussion of why would be 50 pages long. As for where to install your game, yes installing on a disk other than where your OS and pagefile are located has some benefits. note: installing on a different partition on the same disk does nothing. The advantage comes from that 2nd spindle.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
thats why i said. if he has enough memory. if he does then all is well. i have 2gb, and most things i do dont require me to use alot of page file. im at work, so i cant tell u what i have mine set at.

Your pagefile is getting used all the time even if your memory requirements are coming nowhere near the limits of your physical ram. The pagefile is not simply a spill-over location when the OS needs more memory.

but the advice to have the pagefile on a different drive is corret

yes.

 

[minmaster]

if i let windows manage it, i can't control which HD it will place the pagefile right?

 

[shortylickens]

I have a single terabyte hard drive and these things are no longer an issue for me.
Had to sell off a bunch of lesser hard drives to friends but it was worth it.

 

[minmaster]

ok..thanks for sharing that...

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: FuryofFive
thats why i said. if he has enough memory. if he does then all is well. i have 2gb, and most things i do dont require me to use alot of page file. im at work, so i cant tell u what i have mine set at.

Your pagefile is getting used all the time even if your memory requirements are coming nowhere near the limits of your physical ram. The pagefile is not simply a spill-over location when the OS needs more memory.

but the advice to have the pagefile on a different drive is corret

yes.

yeah but to his defense it is a widely misviewed topic.

And in his signature he only had 2gb of memory. Some games use that alone.

Also when you look at task manager you see that some page is being used despite there being over 3gb of free memory. I think its a complex issue that I will let windows handle, for now...

 

[wanderer27]

Originally posted by: minmaster
yeah everywhere i looked says it's best to set 1.5x your physical ram, meaning for 2gb, you set it at 3gb. i've been using that rule for years. leave 50mb on OS drive and set the 3gb on another drive. tell me if this is wrong.

Rule of Thumb I've always seen is 1.5x Physical Memory.

Ideally have your Pagefile/Swapfile on a drive other than your Games for best performance.

I'm not too sure about splitting it up though, I always leave mine intact on one drive.

I also have mine set to flush out (empty) the Swapfile whenever I shutdown - it's a Registry setting.
It's a bit slower on shutdown but reduces the chance of internal Pagefile fragmentation.

 

[FuryofFive]

Originally posted by: minmaster
if i let windows manage it, i can't control which HD it will place the pagefile right?

u can..u just have to tell windows which one ud like to control it

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: wanderer27
I also have mine set to flush out (empty) the Swapfile whenever I shutdown - it's a Registry setting.
It's a bit slower on shutdown but reduces the chance of internal Pagefile fragmentation.

That registry key is really for security purposes not so much for fragmentation.

It can also be set via group policy. Run gpedit.msc and goto Computer | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options and look for "Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile"

If using XP/2003 or above I *think* your built in defragmenter will handle the pagefile for you. If not you can use sysinternals pagedefrag from Microsoft:

http://technet.microsoft.com/e...nternals/bb897426.aspx


To clarify earlier statements:
1. The overall rule is to let Windows handle it.
2. If you have more than one drive you will see the tiniest of benefits by having the pagefile on a separate spindle from your OS/Programs. Separate partition on a single drive does *not* count. Even on a separate spindle the benifit will take a benchmark to see and you still won't see it under most normal operating loads.
3. With Vista at least (I can't believe I've been using it so long I'm rusty at XP) you can still do "system managed size" on a per drive rather than per system basis.
4. Be aware that pagefile settings can have an impact on your ability to obtain a memory dump. My rules on this: If you know how to load windbg make sure you can get a dump. If you are configuring a production server make sure you can get a dump. Anything else you needn't be concerned much.
5. Even with multiple spindles...unless you are configuring a high load SQL server it's probably not worth the hassle to get the tiniest of fractions of performance. See #1.
6. If you ever turn off your pagefile you're a retard. Don't argue this unless you've done your research (at which point you will concede and turn it on) and you are ready to bring your A-game to the argument.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: minmaster
yeah everywhere i looked says it's best to set 1.5x your physical ram, meaning for 2gb, you set it at 3gb. i've been using that rule for years. leave 50mb on OS drive and set the 3gb on another drive. tell me if this is wrong.

That rule of thumb doesn't make any sense. Lets say you're on XP with 256mb of ram(runs ok for light tasks). That would mean your page file should be 384mb based on that "rule". You'd get out of memory errors doing anything more rigorous than Notepad.

If I remember right(not in front of main comp atm). I have an initial size set to 1.5gb, and let Windows manage the rest. I keep a small page file(256mb-512mb) on my O/S drive for memory dumps in case of crash, and my primary page file is on a secondary drive.

 

[Cutthroat]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: minmaster
yeah everywhere i looked says it's best to set 1.5x your physical ram, meaning for 2gb, you set it at 3gb. i've been using that rule for years. leave 50mb on OS drive and set the 3gb on another drive. tell me if this is wrong.

That rule of thumb doesn't make any sense. Lets say you're on XP with 256mb of ram(runs ok for light tasks). That would mean your page file should be 384mb based on that "rule". You'd get out of memory errors doing anything more rigorous than Notepad.

If I remember right(not in front of main comp atm). I have an initial size set to 1.5gb, and let Windows manage the rest. I keep a small page file(256mb-512mb) on my O/S drive for memory dumps in case of crash, and my primary page file is on a secondary drive.

Many years ago when I had 256MB in my PC my page file was set to 384MB. Windows has always pretty much always followed that rule that I can remember.

Point is a PC with 256MB RAM will not be running apps that need more RAM than that (I hope). If you try running a modern app on that you might have worse problems than OOM errors.

Also, if you set Windows to manage your pagefile, it will grow larger if needed.