Gaming performance & pagefile windows 7 x64

I've recently started having performance issues in both Crysis and Farcry 2 when loading new areas/bits of the games to the point where they become unplayable, it seems to get worse and worse in Crysis as new areas load and sometimes it just doesn't seem to settle down at all, it feels like it's trying to load new textures from the HDD as they appear onscreen. Farcry is not as bad but does seem to exhibit the same kind of behaviour, sometimes going very choppy for 30 secs when I come in range of an enemy outpost.

I'm running windows 7 RC1 7100 x64 with the following specs in brief

Processor: Phenom II X550 black edition
RAM: 4Gb DDR3
Graphics: HD 4870
HDD: 500Gb Seagate less than 50% full on both partitions

Harddrive partitions - C: windows 7 partition & programs ; D: data (movies, music, pics etc)

I know my graphics card can run both games on max settings with 8xAA on my HDTV 720p resolution of 1280 x 720, the experience is smooth and fast once all loading/page swapping activities have ceased.

So having hunted high and low for a fix I've started fiddling with my pagefile and have found the following:

Default setting - Pagefile system managed on C and off on D

This is the original setting and gives me the performance issues above - Crysis only playable (just) with everything on high rather than very high

Setting 1 - Pagefile = 200Mb starting and 1000Mb max on C, off on D

Better performance in both games but still some loading/stuttering; no windows errors yet (I haven't tried opening loads of apps) - again Crysis settings left on high rather than very high for playability

Setting 2 - Pagefile = off altogether

Superb performance in both games with everything set to max, Crysis runs smooth on Very High for all settings with the pagefile off. However Windows 7 frequently reports that it's running low on virtual memory.

So I seem to have two choices currently, pagefile off for brilliant performance in games but potential system instability/insufficient virtual memory OR pagefile normal, system stability but bad gaming experience. This is not a purely gaming rig, as is probably the case for most people, I use my PC for multimedia, work and gaming.

I don't understand why the pagefile should make such a massive difference when I've got 4Gb of ram on my system, it's almost like I need to be able to tell Windows not to use the PF unless absolutely necessary but I'm guessing that should be the default behaviour in Windows. I'm tearing my hair out over this as I have a good rig that should be fully capable of running games and other applications smoothly, does anyone have an alternate solution or has anyone else had this problem and solved it. Please don't recommend buying new hardware as I don't think that it is required, my HDD is less than 50% full and fully defragmented, and I know that the rest of the system can handle the games as they run beautifully with the PF turned off... I just don't get it!

Cheers,

J

Haven't checked specifically for Malware but I'm running antivirus and haven't been online since I moved house about a month ago whereas the problem seems more recent... So Malware not impossible but very unlikely I think... Also as you can read above, the problem is fixed by tweaking the PF so surely the issue is there?

I hear you, more hardware would fix the problem I'm sure, however I'm looking for a solution using my current hardware as I'm 98% sure that Crysis should run perfectly with max res textures at 720p resolution on 4Gb of RAM... scratch that, I know it should run perfectly because it does sometimes.

Maybe I should rephrase my question to 'how do I stop Windows/Crysis/whatever is running from abusing my harddrive because I feel it is unneccessary and poor memory management in a system with 4Gb RAM'. See I won't accept that I need to buy more HDD space or RAM because I know that I have plenty, consoles run like a dream with a quarter the memory if that and I just sold my PS3 because I built this computer that is WAY more powerful and should run farcry better!

Hya there. I can understand your frustration, let`s try and find some solutions.
Because the hardware is not an issue, as you say, try a bit of a online benchmark, it`s called "can you run it" so you can establish what kind of load Crysis is puttin` on your system. Link here http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/srtest/.
Afterwards you can have a go at a trial from Totalidea http://www.totalidea.com/product.php?Product=Tweak-7. It`s not that comprehensive as a full edition but you can see that it gives you some results tweaking Windows7. Try to eliminate the unnecessary services, google it a bit and you will find out which ones.
Last but not least try to defrag your hard-drive with a decent utility, not the windows one. I recommend Jkdefrag run in command-line mode (i think that now is called MyDefrag). It`s working for x64 Win as well.
Let me know if any of this approaches worked for you .

Firstly, the OP's issue is one of Hard Drive I/O, and not a memory problem.


Secondly: It's common knowledge that XP does not use extended amounts of RAM, except when required. Therefore shutting off the pagefile might have benefits on a system with lots of installed memory and while running programs which do not require a P/F. Why? Doing this tricks the OS into keeping more objects in RAM than it would otherwise.

However, this is NOT true with Vista and Windows 7. These will try to maximize the usage of RAM by default, not to mention the intentional caching features. Microsoft changed the P/F's behavior so that it has more of a Queuing role - essentially maintaing a record/list of what is in memory *plus* what could be useful but isn't at the moment.

These two things being true: Disabling Pagefile can be an option in XP, but shouldn't be a consideration in Vista or Win 7.

Your understanding is outdated - As explained above, shutting off the pagefile may apply to XP but not to Vista and Win 7.

I'm not saying that PF on (or off for that matter) somehow magically solves HDD I/O issues: Sooner or later, the data comes from the hard drive anyhow. This is an inescapable fact. Please refer to my earlier post to the OP saying he may consider a RAID or SSD.

I *am* saying that the "disable pagefile to increase performance by forcing the OS to keep more objects in memory" concept is outdated. Because Microsoft changed the way the OS's work - trying to maximize memory usage by default, instead of trying to keep it to a minimum like XP does. In the newer environments disabling the page file gains you nothing.

Disabling it might bring benefits in XP. Because they keep objects in memory by default, disabling PageFile does nothing for you in Vista or Win 7 - best practice is to leave it alone. If you must, manually set it to a smaller fixed value.