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Thoughts on Windows 10 pagefile size?

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Ath:
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.
-brotherS (June 07, 2020, 06:59 AM)
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I've got other stuff running besides my browsers, and I want max available of my CPU and memory to go there, the browser is only a view on my working environment, not 'the only thing in the world' ;D

brotherS:
Sure, the browser isn't 'the only thing in the world', but when Chrome + everything else only uses 10% (or even 20%) CPU, that's ok for me. :)

Shades:
I've got other stuff running besides my browsers, and I want max available of my CPU and memory to go there, the browser is only a view on my working environment, not 'the only thing in the world' ;D
-Ath (June 07, 2020, 07:51 AM)
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An enlightened view nowadays.

Anyway, After I found out how much RAM is available to the PC, I  create a page file with a minimal size of: 2 x <available RAM>  and a max size of: 2 x <available RAM>. If possible, I have made a partition on the hard drive that has a size of: the pagefile + 20%.   For this creates a continuous block of data and keeping from the Windows partition it won't contribute to fragmenting the Windows partition.

The rationale behind the size of the pagefile is simple. If your system has a runaway process/application that really needs all your available RAM, it must have enough on twice the amount of storage in the pagefile. And if more is really required, either you or your application/process is doing something so terribly wrong that the damage must be contained by hard limits.

While Windows and the NTFS file system do RAM and file management quite well in modern versions of Windows, having blind faith in these systems is not warranted. 

My systems are also providing temporary files with a separate partition, user data a separate partition and if possible even for the installed software a separate partition. This reduces fragmentation of files significantly, makes backups much simpler and if crap really hits the fan, much easier to reconstruct your setup. However, this setup does require the user to have more discipline in daily use and is therefore not for everyone.

x16wda:
I don't ever trust Windows to set the page file size properly. Too many times I work on a server that is wonked out and I see it is set to "let Windows manage my page file size" and it the size is like 1200mb even when the "windows recommended size" is like 6144. Put it on a separate partition if you can, but manually set the low and high limits to be identical, if you have space to make it the same as your memory size then do that. If you tweak it try to measure your performance gains, otherwise go for stability.

MilesAhead:
I don't ever trust Windows to set the page file size properly. Too many times I work on a server that is wonked out and I see it is set to "let Windows manage my page file size" and it the size is like 1200mb even when the "windows recommended size" is like 6144. Put it on a separate partition if you can, but manually set the low and high limits to be identical, if you have space to make it the same as your memory size then do that. If you tweak it try to measure your performance gains, otherwise go for stability.
-x16wda (June 07, 2020, 02:31 PM)
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I found it curious that when I let Windows manage my virtual memory in XP Home the starting pagefile size was insanely small.  After the machine was a couple of years old the OS was hosed by malware.  A good excuse to reformat the drive and install XP Pro.  Boy was I surprised when after the install was completed accepting the default suggestions, the pagefile initial size as installed by MS was the size of ram with the max size set to twice the size of ram.  Why should I take MS advice when they ignore it themselves?   8)

I will be glad when I can get a desktop where the only traditional HD storage is stuff rarely accessed like old movies or whatnot.  But we may all be running OS/3 by then.   :)

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