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    Gaming + Pagefile = ??

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Orochimaru, Sep 14, 2007.

  1. Orochimaru

    Orochimaru Notebook Consultant

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    Quick question-

    What is the optimum pagefile settings to use for computers? I have 1 GB, the pagefile is fixed at 2.5 that amount (2.5GB). Or should I let the system manage it? I'm so sorry for asking these dumb questions. You all are helping me alot.
     
    Orochimaru, Sep 14, 2007
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  2. Adamal

    Adamal Notebook Evangelist

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    let the system manage it
     
    Adamal, Sep 14, 2007
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  3. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    Doesn't really make a difference. In a few cases, you might get slightly better performance by setting it to a fixed size. But I doubt you'd be able to notice the difference compared to letting Windows manage it.

    As for how big?
    The only rule is that it absolutely has to be big enough.
    If the highest amount of memory you're going to need at any one time is 3GB, then you need 3GB or more when you add up RAM and pagefile (which means you need a 2GB pagefile in your case).
    And on the other hand, there's no point in having more than 4GB total (which means a 3GB pagefile in your case), because a 32-bit OS can't address more than that.

    So 2.5GB like you have now sounds fine.
     
    Jalf, Sep 14, 2007
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  4. ronkotus

    ronkotus Notebook Evangelist

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    When you let system do it, the minimum and maximum size of the pagefile are usually different. So the good thing of making it fixed (same min and max) is that it won't get fragmented over time, as it does when the min and max are different. Before setting a new pagefile size also remember to clear the existing one. To do this select the 'No paging file' option and reboot your system. This does two things: deletes the pagefile thus fixing any potential pagefile corruption which can occur after a bad shutdown, and secondly the new pagefile you set will start off as a single unfragmented block on your harddrive, which will remain unfragmented in the future. If you have problems booting up without the pagefile, go to safemode. Make the new pagefile into the first partition of your harddrive.
     
    ronkotus, Sep 15, 2007
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  5. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    But pagefiles are usually accessed in a random access manner, so it doesn't really make a noticeable difference whether or not it's fragmented.

    It doesn't matter what happens to the pagefile during shutdown, because none of it is reused after rebooting. The point in a pagefile is to act as an extension for your RAM, and the point about RAM is that it's cleared when you restart. So if your pagefile had been corrupted (never heard of that happening), it'd be overwritten as needed after you restarted
     
    Jalf, Sep 15, 2007
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