Windows Paging File

[Questi4110]

I just bought 256 ram (now i am 256ram)
windows XP PRO always says that Virtual Memory Low increasing paging file
is there any benefit if i do this? or should i just let windows do this?
how do i do it if there is a benefit?

 

[theXing]

A paging file is essentially RAM on your hard drive. Windows automatically increases the size as it needs room. This will slow down your system. As a result you can make it static. I run W2K and I have 318 Mb of RAM and have a paging file of 600 Mb I have never ran out of memory and my computer never has to resize the file. The file will also become defragmented slowing the machine even slower. I would suggest 2.5x what your physical RAM is. With all modifications to the OS there is always a possibility of breaking things. In my 6 years of Windows computing I have never had any problems with this. Best of luck,

theXing

 

[gopunk]

2.5?

i always heard it was 1.5x physical memory, for if you have over 128mb.

also, there's a program called memturbo that works great for freeing up ram and defragmenting it.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Those old rules of using multiples of your actual RAM amount to determine your page file size aren't valid anymore (and they never really were IMO). The whole point of adding more RAM is to use less swap file. Just take the ideal amount of memory you'd like to have, in this case we'll say 768 megs, and subtract the amount of actual RAM you have from it, 256, and set the page file size to whatever you get, 512. Also, I'd stay away from memory defraggers if you are using a fixed page file size. Most of them don't actually free any memory up, they just dump the RAM to the page file, then Windows loads the pertinent stuff back into RAM leaving the junk in your page file. Do this a couple of times and your page file gets slam full of junk with no room for anything else and no way to increase it's available size. Can you say memory errors?