Pagefile with SSD. On or Off?

[PierceScott]

So basically I just built this gaming system

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1NiUB

OS is Windows 7 Ultimate

My only storage is a 256GB SSD (All I need, not asking for feedback saying I should have a seperate mechanical in there as well. For extra storage I have many externals I prefer to use over internals)

I went overboard on RAM. Could have easily done with 8GB but was told this would reduce writes to my SSD thus prolonging it's life.

I've read many articles that say turn it off if you have enough RAM it won't affect performance to disable it. However I've also read many articles stating to keep it on due to modern SSD's lifespans being able to handle the load etc etc etc

So basically I wanted to see what the general consensus is on this issue.

Thank You =)

 

[Tradesman1]

Some programs require a page file so I suggest keeping a minimal one and redirecting to a platter style drive, if enough DRAM shouldn't really have a need for one, but might, and may have apps that want one.. Since writes to a SSD are it's bane, I always put the page file on a platter drive and redirect temp and cache directories to that drive also

 

[PierceScott]

ahhh I didn't know that some programs require one and that's a very good point about the temp files and cache directories. Although wont moving all those heavily accessed folders to a significantly slower drive reduce the systems performance? I'd rather not sacrifice any significant performance, was hoping to maybe just reduce wear for free? =D lol

 

[Jaxem]

I haven't run into any programs that explicitly required a pagefile, but i always left mine on the minimum recommended size in case i got a crash, so i could get dumps. Someone in this forum recently pointed me to a hotfix microsoft released that lets you turn off the page file completely, but still get crash dumps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716542/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14019

...this is assuming Windows 7

 

[PierceScott]

I haven't run into any programs that explicitly required a pagefile, but i always left mine on the minimum recommended size in case i got a crash, so i could get dumps. Someone in this forum recently pointed me to a hotfix microsoft released that lets you turn off the page file completely, but still get crash dumps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716542/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14019

...this is assuming Windows 7

yes it's Windows 7 sorry should have included that. Will update the original post

 

[USAFRet]

I've reduced mine to 1024MB min and max, just in case some application requires it.

128GB SSD, 16GB RAM.

 

[Jaxem]

I haven't run into any programs that explicitly required a pagefile, but i always left mine on the minimum recommended size in case i got a crash, so i could get dumps. Someone in this forum recently pointed me to a hotfix microsoft released that lets you turn off the page file completely, but still get crash dumps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716542/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14019

...this is assuming Windows 7

yes it's Windows 7 sorry should have included that. Will update the original post

I guess i should add that after being pointed to this hotfix i disabled the pagefile on all my rigs and have never had a problem...i defer to Tradesman's knowledge because he knows his stuff, but i'm kind of curious which programs need the page file?

 

[Tradesman1]

In all honesty, I haven't run into any problems with anything yelling it needs one, have heard on different forums that some apps do, but most all my builds are generally 16GB as a minimum, I started moving the page file to a platter drive back about 2008 when I started using SSDs and it's always been a part of what i do when optimizing for a SSD

 

[Jaxem]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

 

[PierceScott]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

wow I never thought of that...Could prove to be an inexpensive way to have the best of both worlds =/

 

[Guest]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

By flash drive you mean a pen drive? I have always wanted to put the download folder & temp files of some apps on a pen drive. But I was worried about the longevity of the drive.

How long will it last?

And how fast does a page-file perform on a pen drive? Similar to a HDD?

Will a 32GB pen drive with 70MBps Read & 30+MBps write speed be enough?

 

[Jaxem]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

wow I never thought of that...Could prove to be an inexpensive way to have the best of both worlds =/

That was my thought when i first did it, i didn't want to waste writes on my ssd, but i wanted something with faster random/small file reads and writes than my hdd would. it's worked great so far...

 

[Jaxem]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

By flash drive you mean a pen drive? I have always wanted to put the download folder & temp files of some apps on a pen drive. But I was worried about the longevity of the drive. How long will it last?

It obviously depends on how much is written how often, but the first machine i did it on has a 16 GB OCZ flash drive in it that i put there probably a year and a half ago and it's not showing any signs of trouble. Honestly, just being the download directory and browser caches, it probably gets written to less than the one on my keychain

 

[Guest]

i use a usb header to female converter and put a flash drive inside my machines where i put caches, the download folder, and other often used stuff like that, perhaps i'll re-enable the page file and just put it there

By flash drive you mean a pen drive? I have always wanted to put the download folder & temp files of some apps on a pen drive. But I was worried about the longevity of the drive. How long will it last?

Is a 32GB or 16GB pen drive with 70MBps Read & 30+MBps write speed enough for a page-file?

 

[Jaxem]

That'd be plenty big, i don't think a page file needs to be any bigger than a GB or two personally...though i did just turn it off on all my machines, but i usually left it at 600 MB or so when i did have it on

 

[Guest]

That'd be plenty big, i don't think a page file needs to be any bigger than a GB or two personally...though i did just turn it off on all my machines, but i usually left it at 600 MB or so when i did have it on

I have always disabled my page-file. Never had a problem with it disabled. I was just asking that question out of curiosity. (Incase I needed a page-file if I ran out of RAM)

 

[Guest]

That'd be plenty big, i don't think a page file needs to be any bigger than a GB or two personally...though i did just turn it off on all my machines, but i usually left it at 600 MB or so when i did have it on

I was gonna use that pen drive for downloads & temp file too. Thats why I would have chosen one with a higher capacity.

 

[Jaxem]

Yeah, i have 16 in one rig, and a 32 in my main rig, but i never get anywhere close to filling it