[Warpy]

Just upgraded to 2GB RAM, I've read a fair bit on the net about the varying opinions on the size of the Windows XP Swap File.

Anyone using 2GB RAM that can shed some light on this for me?

[Sandok]

I got two giga and I'm in the same dilema as you... Some input from someone far more intelligent than me would be helpful!

[IvanV]

It depends on your needs. An average user with that amount of RAM doesn't need a big swap file. Even about 512MB should suffice, and you definately shouldn't need more than 1GB. But don't disable it, from all I've read no matter how much RAM you have swap file should exist, as Windows is made to use virtual memory. I'd set it at about 1GB.

[Warpy]

I need it for Bf2

[Judas]

reguardless of what you do... a swap file is always going to be nessary.

Although it won't have to be nearly as much, don't forget, everything works to a ratio/scale. Alot have figured that the more physical memory you have, the tighter you can make the swap file, however, they neglect that games/programs and windows itself is also increaseing in complexity due to having that extra ram available.

Rule of thumb has officially made sence to me now, the 3 times that of your current total ram. Really, it does make sence, however, due to windows (32bit) not being able to address more then 4gb (4096mb) on a single partition, that's it's max (reason 64 bit computer was introduced by amd so quickly, as we have hit the peak on quite a few things).

Now i still find if you are using windows 32bit..... making a seperate partition dedicated to swap file @ 5gb in size is best. 5gb partition, with the swap file set to the maximum. Set the initial to something that is generally out of reach. For example, running your most widely used games and programs, ends up with a value of say 699mb of swap file used MAX at any time, then it would be best to be a few dozen mb bigger, such as 768mb initial. This prevents swapfile fragmentations and generally worse preformance as the swap file will have to resize to compensate for the what is needed.

NEVER, Turn swap file completely off, there are way to many programs out there that rely on it completely yet. Even more recent programs need that swap file more then you could know, even with 3/4 of the ram available, they still need it. For Example, Adobe Photoshop.

[Zardon]

After many years of playing with swap files, and various ram configurations. Then trying around 20 applications to alter the sizing, the location and almost everything else. Ive found the answer.

Let windowsXP handle it for you, just leave it alone.

[Zardon]

Originally Posted by Judas

NEVER, Turn swap file completely off, there are way to many programs out there that rely on it completely yet. Even more recent programs need that swap file more then you could know, even with 3/4 of the ram available, they still need it. For Example, Adobe Photoshop.

Generally that comment is correct but Adobe Photoshop uses its own ram allocation system and virtual memory system called SCRATCH DISKS.

This basically pages out data to the hard drive(s) you select via

EDIT/PREFERENCES/Plug-ins and Scratch Disks. you can have up to 4 scratch disks and for best performance dont use your windows/boot drive as the first scratch disk. If you are using many layers when you work this is used quite often even if you have large amounts of memory.


When Photoshop starts, it allocates, or sets aside, a portion of RAM, the size of which is based on the amount that is designated in the Photoshop Memory & Image Cache preferences. While this RAM is reserved for Photoshop processes, it may be used by other applications when it isn't actively in use by Photoshop, and is released when you quit Photoshop. The default RAM allocation settings are 70% for Mac OS, and 55% for Windows. These settings should be optimal for most users. To get the ideal RAM allocation setting for your system, change the RAM allocation in 5% increments and watch the performance of Photoshop in the Performance Monitor (Windows) or the Activity Monitor (Mac OS). You must quit and restart Photoshop after each change to see the change take effect.

The available RAM shown in the Memory & Image Cache preferences already deducted an amount that is reserved for the OS at any given time from the total RAM in your machine. You shouldn't set the percentage of RAM to be used by Photoshop to 100%, because other applications which run at the same time as Photoshop (for example, Adobe Bridge) need a share of the available RAM. Some applications take use more RAM than you might expect. For example, web browsers can use 20-30 MB of RAM, and music players can use 20-50 MB RAM. Watch the Performance Monitor or the Activity Monitor to view the RAM allocations on your computer.

Watch your efficiency indicator while you work in Photoshop to determine the amount of RAM you'll need to keep your images in RAM. The efficiency indicator is available from the pop-up menu on the status bar of your image and from the Palette Options on the Info Palette pop-up menu. When the efficiency indicator goes below 95-100%, you are using the scratch disk. If the efficiency is around 60%, you'll see a large performance increase by changing your RAM allocation or adding RAM.

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

1GB fixed has been the best setting for me with 1GB or 1.5GB of ram make sure you
set /diable pageing excutive and I useally set allways unload dll's

To have a windows maanged size you need to create another partition for the swap file
only but windows managed will still use alot...

[Warpy]

Well Judas and Zardon thanks for the input. I think I am going to just leave it alone and use the "System Managed Size" option. I'll just make sure I use perfect disk regular too.

[Judas]

Originally Posted by Zardon

Generally that comment is correct but Adobe Photoshop uses its own ram allocation system and virtual memory system called SCRATCH DISKS.

This basically pages out data to the hard drive(s) you select via

EDIT/PREFERENCES/Plug-ins and Scratch Disks. you can have up to 4 scratch disks and for best performance dont use your windows/boot drive as the first scratch disk. If you are using many layers when you work this is used quite often even if you have large amounts of memory.


When Photoshop starts, it allocates, or sets aside, a portion of RAM, the size of which is based on the amount that is designated in the Photoshop Memory & Image Cache preferences. While this RAM is reserved for Photoshop processes, it may be used by other applications when it isn't actively in use by Photoshop, and is released when you quit Photoshop. The default RAM allocation settings are 70% for Mac OS, and 55% for Windows. These settings should be optimal for most users. To get the ideal RAM allocation setting for your system, change the RAM allocation in 5% increments and watch the performance of Photoshop in the Performance Monitor (Windows) or the Activity Monitor (Mac OS). You must quit and restart Photoshop after each change to see the change take effect.

The available RAM shown in the Memory & Image Cache preferences already deducted an amount that is reserved for the OS at any given time from the total RAM in your machine. You shouldn't set the percentage of RAM to be used by Photoshop to 100%, because other applications which run at the same time as Photoshop (for example, Adobe Bridge) need a share of the available RAM. Some applications take use more RAM than you might expect. For example, web browsers can use 20-30 MB of RAM, and music players can use 20-50 MB RAM. Watch the Performance Monitor or the Activity Monitor to view the RAM allocations on your computer.

Watch your efficiency indicator while you work in Photoshop to determine the amount of RAM you'll need to keep your images in RAM. The efficiency indicator is available from the pop-up menu on the status bar of your image and from the Palette Options on the Info Palette pop-up menu. When the efficiency indicator goes below 95-100%, you are using the scratch disk. If the efficiency is around 60%, you'll see a large performance increase by changing your RAM allocation or adding RAM.

i and my sister have ran into the issue that if i completely disable the swap file, and even if i increase the scratch disk size and even make a few extra scratch disks. The program will at some point start to report program errors and refuse to do filters or just about everything else. Even save. Only reason i mentioned it....

[Ðamage™]

I've disabled mine and find my computer runs great and very stable, but It all depends on what you use your computer for. Mine is mostly for gaming and video/audio sampling & conversion. But I've heard/seen so many people with different views about the page file that I think you just need to tailor it (page file) to your own needs. Try with and without it and see what you like best as far as performace, for me it's disabling it.

[DamentZ]

Dont overkill your harddrive, since you have lots of memory, why would you make a big swap file? I have 512mb of ram and a 768mb swap file, that makes 1280mb of total memory. You have 2gb of ram so i would suggestt maybe 200mb of swapfile or somewhere around there. That would make 2200 mb of total memory. Unless your trying to play doom 3 and farcry with max details while playing with photoshop at the same time, i see no reason why you would be raising your swap file that high

[PangingJr]

Most of the time the best paging file setting is system managed. Period.
Other than that, it's purely an individual setting that has no relation to the amount
of real memory installed but rather the work load of the system.

In all cases you should have the possibility of paging file space so that those programs that ask for large allocations of virtual memory can have these assigned to potential file space.

For "Custom size" settings, the Min paging file setting determines fragmentation under normal use. the Max setting sets upper limit of performance.
lower the performance threshold should not be interpreted as a good recommendation.

each virtual memory in an Windows NT kernal is allocated 4 GB of address ability with 2 GB by default set aside for application use.
For people who likes to have a bigger paging file than 4 GB (Judas ?) you can create multiple paging files on one volume to overcome the 4,095-MB limit...
on the drive or volume you want to hold the paging files, create folders for the number of paging files you want to create on the volume.
for example, X:\pagefile1, X:\pagefile2, X:\pagefile3....
then using Registry Editor, locate the following key...

HKLM\SystemCurrentControlSetControlSession-ManagerMemory-Management

and find the value named "PagingFiles",
remove any existing values, and add the following values:
X:\pagefile1\pagefile.sys 3000 4000
X:\pagefile2\pagefile.sys 3000 4000
X:\pagefile3\Pagefile.sys 3000 4000
.....

Click OK and quit Registry Editor. Restart the computer to cause the changes to take effect.
Check the properties of the paging file...
In this example, the initial size of the paging files is set to 3000. Because they are used in the order they appear, you could save disk space by setting the initial size of the extra paging files to 0 so that the space is used only if needed. The initial size of the paging file is initialized to the minimum size when the computer starts. If the initial size is 3000, that space is reserved on the disk regardless of whether or not it is being used.

Note-- The Virtual Memory property sheet does not reflect multiple page files. Multiple Page Files continue to be used on the same volume until a user clicks OK on the Virtual Memory property sheet. When the user clicks OK on the Virtual Memory property sheet, it causes the system to use one-page files displayed in the Virtual Memory property sheet.

[Zardon]

Originally Posted by Judas

i and my sister have ran into the issue that if i completely disable the swap file..

Thats why I mentioned not to touch windows virtual memory settings.