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How much ram do you really need?

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nudone:
I do this on all boxes with 512meg or more of memory
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f0dder, have you not experienced any problems from these machines? i've just read elsewhere that some programs start complaining if there isn't a pagefile at all - i can't honestly remember the details but it might have even been photoshop that didsn't like it.

i've never tried disabling the pagefile so i can't talk from experience - i like the sound of it but most recommendations i've seen have always been to leave it on auto.

maybe i'll try doing away with the pagefile when i get the new system together - or maybe the pagefile access will be more efficient on a raid 0 stripe setup.

i'm totally ignorant of what this may be like so replies would be appreciated.

AbteriX:
Its depend how many RAM you have:
for up to 512MB RAM you could set your pagefile on 1,5 times of RAM amount.
From 512MB till 1GB RAM i would set it to 1 to 1 (but depends on what apps you use).
Over 1GB RAM i would set the pagefile size to 1GB fix.

f0dder:
f0dder, have you not experienced any problems from these machines? i've just read elsewhere that some programs start complaining if there isn't a pagefile at all - i can't honestly remember the details but it might have even been photoshop that didsn't like it.

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Nono, I do not turn off the pagefile - it still have a merry 1gig pagefile.sys. The registry setting only makes windows keep the kernel and drivers "locked" so they aren't discarded/swapped out.

Disabling the pagefile is something else... I've done it on occasion, and it does result in a bit less disk activity. Unfortunately, even with a gig of ram, games like PainKiller will occasionally crash. And just about no Adobe products will work, because Adobe products suck (up your ram :)). Heck, even with 2 gigs of ram, I would expect Photoshop to have problems without a paging file.

Again: DisablePagingExecutive does not turn off the paging file, it just stops windows from swapping the kernel/drivers, resulting in a smoother experience when you stop a very memory-hungry app (like most games).

nudone:
ah, right, thanks for the clarification.

i'll be using 2 gig of ram but your tip for 'locking' the drivers and kernal sounds like a handy one to use - i'll give it a go when the new build ready and working.

f0dder:
Also, there's a LargeSystemCache=1 setting which lets windows use a lot of ram for filesystem cache - this gave me some okay speed boosts back when I used it. However, DO NOT USE IT WITH ATi VIDEO CARDS, the drivers are bugged and it will result in data loss that may even look like a physical harddrive error (clicking drive-head sounds, spinup problems, etc.)

On Win2k, you had to do this setting manually. On XP, you can find it in System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> "Memory Usage = System Cache". The bug only happens on "some" systems if you're to believe ATi, but I'd stay away from it.

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