Thoughts on Windows 10 pagefile size?

[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)

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)

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.

[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)

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'

[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'

-Ath (June 07, 2020, 07:51 AM)

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)

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?   

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.   

[brotherS]

Thanks for all the input!

If you tweak it try to measure your performance gains, otherwise go for stability.

-x16wda (June 07, 2020, 02:31 PM)

Yes, that's what I'll do.

[Contro]

I use Firefox for opening a lot of tabs.
I have 16 GB RAM memory in the laptop and 32 GB ram memory in the desktop. But I bought this memory for working with virtual machines really.

I also use an addon in firefox OneTab for opening tab collections.

Under windows 10 i haven't configure yet anything about pagefile size. have no problems opening tabs yet.