Win XP Home Virtual Memory set at?

~~BMG_Cya=-~~ · Aug 6, 2003, 07:45 AM

For Win XP Home under Control Panel/System/Processor,Memory settings/Virtual Memory/Paging file/...
What is the best setting for this? The recomended setting? I've heard if you lower the Virtual Memory size, it makes programs use more
of the Physical memory, and supposedly run better. By raising the size of Virtual Memory, it makes the system lazy, and all porgram code
is written to the slower HDD/Virtual Memory instead of the Physical memory, which is faster.

PC specs in sig below:

Thanks...

Logla · Aug 6, 2003, 08:22 AM

I usually just leave windows to do its own thing.

Don't think I've had any problems with it.

Judas · Aug 6, 2003, 01:04 PM

depending on what i'm doing... standard settings, i set a max of 512...and a min of 256..... but if i'm doing some heavy graphics or whatnot... i've set it at 768 or 1024 as the max..and up the min to 384... (this is with 256mb of ram... if i have more ram.... i set it lower but...to a similare ratio....

Dyre Straits · Aug 6, 2003, 01:20 PM

I have my min/max set to 768. That's 1 1/2 times the amount of DDRAM I have installed.

The only time I've had that cause a problem is on my son's recent attempt to render a HUGE Highly Detailed image he's working on in Lightwave 7. (Topic posted in Technical forum.) Keeping both Min and Max at the same setting reduces fragmentation....from what I've read.

ZzzombieBunny · Aug 6, 2003, 01:28 PM

Im using a constant size pagefile, for example 800mb min/max, before putting it on i disable the windows pagefiling, restart, defragment, then apply the pagefile... that avoids it being splittered up in several small pieces which slows down the system as it has to acess a pagefile thats split all around the hd.

Some defrag programs automaticly adjust the pagefile so it doesnt become defragment in that way. Like Diskeeper

**MIG-31** · Aug 6, 2003, 01:47 PM

i have 1024mb let windows set amount and use little,shouldn't need much either for amount you have at 512mb.you only need say recomended 256mb for xp.no games yet require more than 256 system ram to play so i'd say leave windows to it.i have asked the same questain as you have some time back and received the same reply.

dipstick · Aug 6, 2003, 02:16 PM

I recommend you specify the min/max size, this will be alittle faster because windows won't be resizing the file in the middle of a game or something. You can also play around with the sizes, but I haven't had use for more than 512mb. Currently I have 1Gig of ram installed and run a 256mb pf, haven't had a problem yet.

sinjin · Aug 6, 2003, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dyre Straits
I have my min/max set to 768. That's 1 1/2 times the amount of DDRAM I have installed.

Keeping both Min and Max at the same setting reduces fragmentation....from what I've read.

what he said.

BavonWW · Aug 8, 2003, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZzzombieBunny
Im using a constant size pagefile, for example 800mb min/max, before putting it on i disable the windows pagefiling, restart, defragment, then apply the pagefile... that avoids it being splittered up in several small pieces which slows down the system as it has to acess a pagefile thats split all around the hd.

Some defrag programs automaticly adjust the pagefile so it doesnt become defragment in that way. Like Diskeeper

Agree, important to defrag. Also put pagefile on another drive if possible or another partition to your operating system. Ditto TEMP INTERNET FILES.

What I'm wondering is, is it better to let WINDOWS XP decide the file size? I've always ignored this option and gone for a fixed file but recently I am finding that XPs built in features do work rather well (once you can decipher the arcane help files) so I'd welcome comments from anyone who is using this option...