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Thoughts on Windows 10 pagefile size?

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brotherS:
Since I like to have lots of stuff open at the same time (in addition to Chrome with 150+ tabs) - and let Windows run for as long as possible without a reboot - I recently upgraded from 8 to 16 GB RAM.

I then changed the pagefile setting from 8 GB to 2560 MB. That's the recommended value I found somewhere (for 16 GB RAM) after looking through many Google results on that topic. The system does feel like it's running more smoothly than before (so that's great), but I'm interested in hearing what you guys have learned about the topic. Maybe I can optimize it even further. :)

tomos:
I dont think changing the pagefile (again) would optimise further.

AFAICS the great pagefile debate is whether it's necessary to have one at all (presuming you have enough memory). You do need it for a windows dump file (not sure I have the name correct there...) when there is a problem with your pc. Setting your pagefile, you can set a maximum and minimum size. Some say you should make these the same, so the file is always there and there's less of Windows messing around on your hdd.

I now have 16GB RAM on two machines. Was considering removing the pagefile, but found both arguments for and against very convincing, so I just set it to fixed size in the end (cant remember offhand what size exactly).

Ath:
First thing I'd do is switch to Firefox, when having that many tabs open in a browser, Chrome isn't really good at that, consuming lots of memory and CPU when the tab-count goes up. I'm running one of my Firefox instances with 300 tabs, without trouble, but I do turn off that computer at the end of my workday.

I try to never touch the pagefile size, at least not since the Windows 2000 days, back in the Windows NT 4.0 days it seemed to make sense to tune it, but after that it usually got worst whatever way I tuned it away from the Windows optimal/automatic settings. Theoretically, Windows running on a 16 GB system should be able to do without any pagefile, but I've found that Windows can get really instable that way, so that's IMHO a good reason not to touch it.

brotherS:
I dont think changing the pagefile (again) would optimise further.

AFAICS the great pagefile debate is whether it's necessary to have one at all (presuming you have enough memory). You do need it for a windows dump file (not sure I have the name correct there...) when there is a problem with your pc. Setting your pagefile, you can set a maximum and minimum size. Some say you should make these the same, so the file is always there and there's less of Windows messing around on your hdd.

I now have 16GB RAM on two machines. Was considering removing the pagefile, but found both arguments for and against very convincing, so I just set it to fixed size in the end (cant remember offhand what size exactly).
-tomos (June 07, 2020, 06:45 AM)
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I read those warnings regarding removing the pagefile too, so I didn't. I'm curious to see how this reduced pagefile size will affect the next crash, previously the crash dumps took quite a while, even with the SSD.

brotherS:
First thing I'd do is switch to Firefox, when having that many tabs open in a browser, Chrome isn't really good at that, consuming lots of memory and CPU when the tab-count goes up. I'm running one of my Firefox instances with 300 tabs, without trouble, but I do turn off that computer at the end of my workday.

I try to never touch the pagefile size, at least not since the Windows 2000 days, back in the Windows NT 4.0 days it seemed to make sense to tune it, but after that it usually got worst whatever way I tuned it away from the Windows optimal/automatic settings. Theoretically, Windows running on a 16 GB system should be able to do without any pagefile, but I've found that Windows can get really instable that way, so that's IMHO a good reason not to touch it.
-Ath (June 07, 2020, 06:51 AM)
--- End quote ---
I've tried Firefox again and again over the years but currently prefer Chrome with all of the extensions I'm using. RAM usage is pretty bad, yes, but CPU not so much. Right now the CPU is at 10%, and even when it's a bit higher I can live with that. :)

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