Virtual Memory Settings

[J_man202]

ok guys i need some help with this i have 2 gigs of XMS3500 ram in my system and I am not sure what I should set the virtual Memory at. right now it is 1500-3000 between that.

 

[mpjesse]

Let Windows manage it. But it should be at 3GB.

 

[himji]

Yes, let Windows deal with it if it's xp.

If you really want to set it, then the amount of memory in your system + 10% max. the more vm yo uhave the more swapping that can go on thus slower system. Better you have out of memory errors than sa slow system

 

[ShortyNumber45]

Add the recomended size to the minimum allowed size and that should be the initial size and the maximum size should be double that of an initial size.

 

[mpjesse]

What? That makes no sense to me. Read that aloud to a family member or something. lol.

The correct amount should always be 1.5x your physical memory. That's how Windows configures VM. If that's what you were saying... then yeah- right on.

-mpjesse

 

[RichPLS]

I have no problems running with 2 gigs RAM and a 1 gig swapfile on another drive.
I have also tried no swapfile, a 300 meg sf, a 2 gig and a 3 gig.
I really do not detect much difference, so I chose 1 gig.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPMyths.html

 

[FlyGuy]

There is a lot of debate about this now. 1.5x system memory used to be the rule of thumb. I say let XP do it if you're not in need of disk space.

You can check the usage of it in task manager. Windows will always use some of it no matter what. :roll:

 

[RichPLS]

It is definitely better to set a value with min and max limits the same. That value you can determine, as it seems to be insignificant as long as it is over 300MB's or so if you have 1 or 2 gigs RAM.

 

[Covered_in_bees]

Read the following article if you want to understand Virtual Memory settings in more detail: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

There's a section on 'How big should the page file be?' which provides some recommendations.

hth

 

[Covered_in_bees]

He failed to mention that you can determine which pagefile size to set by starting off with a large static one(e.g. 800MB) then using something like CachemanXP to monitor the porportion of pagefile used. This is used to decide which is the best size to set in the future thus save disk space.

He also failed to mention the "larger cache" and "disable executive paging" which are handy speed tweaks for systems with 1GB+ RAM.

My apologies. I wasn't trying to compete.

The article is intended 'for general users' as described in the Introduction, and I felt it would give the original poster a better understanding of how Virtual Memory works in WinXP, and maybe help him to decide on his settings.

I also use 'disable paging executive', but I'm not sure that such tweaks are within the scope of the article.

 

[FlyGuy]

Yes, static swap file size is best. I think the argument of 'how big' it should be is a moot point after 1GB or so. If you have 2GB of RAM and set it at 1.5x your ram and only use 600MB you're wasting disk space. Then again, if you have a 500GB drive who cares.

So I think the best question should be, 'What should I set my swap file to for optimum performance?' :!:

 

[RichPLS]

I believe generally, 1 to 2 gig(s) RAM does good with somewhere between a 500MB to 1000MB static swap file.

 

[RichPLS]

And basically, if you never get a system stop due to insuffiecient memory, it just may be set larger than needed.