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RAM / Pagefile Query

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  • Memory
  • RAM
  • Pagefile
Last response: in Memory
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July 13, 2014 8:43:55 AM

Hi, this is probably a total noob question, but thought I'd ask here as Google didn't come up with the answer.

I was messing about the other night with the MSI AB OSD while gaming (Tomb Raider) just to see what was being used in my system. Now I can't remember the exact numbers but it basically said I was using X amount of RAM and X amount of Pagefile. The amount of RAM that was being used was no where near the max (16GB DDR3 1600Mhz), though I can't remember the exact amount. It also said I was using about 3GB of Pagefile.

My question is why would I be using any Pagefile if I was using no where near my max amount of RAM? I always thought Pagefile was only used if the RAM limit was it.

Cheers :) 

More about : ram pagefile query

a b } Memory
July 13, 2014 8:50:41 AM

Some data gets paged either way.

It should not effect your game play.
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a b } Memory
July 13, 2014 8:57:09 AM

I'm bad at explaining these things so I like to link videos:
Spoiler
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a b } Memory
July 13, 2014 8:57:54 AM

When applications make large memory reservations, Windows reserves those against available swapfile space until the memory actually gets used. This way, if a different application reserves memory and actually starts using it first, Windows can immediately give it some of the unused RAM instead of having to swap pages out from the other program first.
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a b } Memory
July 13, 2014 9:00:37 AM

Eduello said:
I'm bad at explaining these things so I like to link videos:
Spoiler

Linus :) 

InvalidError said:
When applications make large memory reservations, Windows reserves those against available swapfile space until the memory actually gets used. This way, if a different application reserves memory and actually starts using it first, Windows can immediately give it some of the unused RAM instead of having to swap pages out from the other program first.

Very good.
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