Page File Question

[JimGoose]

Hi, if I have 2GB of memory do I still need to set a page file? Someone told me it's best to keep the page file on a non-OS drive, so I have it set to 3GB on a partition of an HD that isn't where my OS is installed. I have my OS installed on a faster Seagate Barracuda 7,200.10 NCQ 16mb and the page file set to an "archive" use partition of a Maxtor MaxLine III 7,200 16mb.

Any tips on what I should change with my page file setup to get the best performance out of it?

Thanks 8)

 

[casemods]

I seriously doubt you need any page file with 2 gigs of ram.

Try turning it off on all drives, if it tells you virtual memory is low, or you experience problems, set it back to system managed size.

 

[JimGoose]

cool, that's what i initially thought. i will try it and see how it goes

 

[fattony]

hehe well well, what you doin' posting in my territory jim...

you don't "need" it, but paging is part of windows memory architecture and should allocate something to it anyway, yes it should be on a seperate partition other than your windows and yes it should be probably on a whole different drive on a seperate ide / sata channel so your transfers don't get queued up on the same bus lines

http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/314482/
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sag_mpmonperf_15.mspx?mfr=true

i'd put at least a 128mb pagefile so if your memory gets full one day your machine doesn't blue screen, you'll get the warning about your page file expanding since your physical memory is full, where you'll have a chance to do a graceful restart