YASWT How much?

[techs]

Those who have worked with computers for years have heard the mantra that 1.5 minimum to 3 times ram maximum is the ideal swap file size for Windows since Windows95.
Yet with the huge amounts of ram in many computers nowadays I don't know if its still valid. I have been reading some articles that seem to suggest if you have over 1gb of ram on WinXp and don't do anything special like work with huge video or audio files that a permanent swap file of 1.5 times ram is optimal. I have also heard that letting Windows manage the swap file when you have a lot of ram will slow you down as Windows dynamicaly marks off ever larger portions of the drive at it increases the swap file size.
So has the optimum swap file size changed for most users from a user managed min .1.5 max 3 times ram file(which I have used for years) or a Windows managed file or a user managed fixed 1.5 times ram size optimal for MOST users?
Opinions welcome!

 

[Xsorovan]

In my personal experience taking control away from windows and setting functions manually is almost ALWAYS a good idea. It's just that much less time windows has to think about things. However the difference between 1.5 and 3 times the ram amount... I can't say as I've seen any serious kind of improvement between those 2 numbers. The real difference I've seen has been putting the swap file on a separate hard-drive. (That only acts as a swap file) Then you can set it as big as you like and not need to worry about it taking too much room, as well as not having to worry about it using the same bus for the information.

So it boils down to my vote being it doesn't matter between 1.5 and 3 times because it's better if it's on a different HD entirely.