The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Should I turn off my virtual memory?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Ttime20, Aug 4, 2008.

  1. Ttime20

    Ttime20 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    43
    Messages:
    795
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    The laptop I bought has 4 GB of RAM in it so is it really necessary to have virtual memory on the hard drive? If I turn it off will I get any better gaming or every day performance since it is using the fast RAM instead of slow memory off the hard drive? If it won't affect anything I will just leave it on default or whatever.
     
    Ttime20, Aug 4, 2008
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    No! Some programs still need it.

    A computer will only resort to using it if you need more than 4GB of RAM or a program was made to use it anyway, so there is no performance penalty.
     
    Greg, Aug 4, 2008
    #2
  3. shoelace_510

    shoelace_510 8700M GT inside... ^-^;

    Reputations:
    276
    Messages:
    1,525
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I wouldn't turn it off if I were you... not only because of what Greg said, but sometimes your computer NEEDS RAM even if it isn't necessary for that program all the time...
     
    shoelace_510, Aug 4, 2008
    #3
  4. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    679
    Messages:
    3,291
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Not this again... yeah, don't do it. It won't help, and if it does anything, it will hurt.
     
    sirmetman, Aug 5, 2008
    #4
  5. Ttime20

    Ttime20 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    43
    Messages:
    795
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Alright thanks for your quick responses ... so what should I have it set to then ... I remember old guides back about 5 years ago the last time I was wondering about virtual memory on my desktop said to have it about 1.5x as much RAM as you have. But that's 6 GB of HDD space ... so is that right or should it be less?
     
    Ttime20, Aug 5, 2008
    #5
  6. sirmetman

    sirmetman Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    679
    Messages:
    3,291
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    You have a 250GB HDD. Hell, go for 12GB, it's still only about 5% of your HDD space.
     
    sirmetman, Aug 5, 2008
    #6
  7. Harleyquin07

    Harleyquin07 エミヤ

    Reputations:
    603
    Messages:
    3,376
    Likes Received:
    78
    Trophy Points:
    116
    Windows by default does a good job allocating virtual memory on its own so there's little need to change the setting manually unless a game or application specifically has a problem running.
     
    Harleyquin07, Aug 5, 2008
    #7
  8. yoyo1299

    yoyo1299 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    68
    Messages:
    517
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I have 250gig hdd, so i just set my virual memory at like 10 gigs. I'm never going to need those 10 gigs! so whatever.
     
    yoyo1299, Aug 5, 2008
    #8
  9. fabarati

    fabarati Frorum Obfuscator

    Reputations:
    1,904
    Messages:
    3,374
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    I set it to a range of 128MB-2GB. If it needs it, it will dynamically allocate it, otherwise, it will keep a small footprint on my laptop.
     
    fabarati, Aug 5, 2008
    #9
  10. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

    Reputations:
    21,580
    Messages:
    35,370
    Likes Received:
    9,878
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Just let Windows manage it. End of story. Don't set it at a specific amount, otherwise it's wasting valuable space.
     
    HTWingNut, Aug 5, 2008
    #10
  11. stirfriedsushi

    stirfriedsushi Confuse a Cat LTD

    Reputations:
    60
    Messages:
    744
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    agreed, don't screw with it.
     
    stirfriedsushi, Aug 5, 2008
    #11
  12. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

    Reputations:
    4,745
    Messages:
    8,513
    Likes Received:
    3,823
    Trophy Points:
    431
    My virtual memory has been turned of for a couple of month`s and i have had no problems.
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Aug 5, 2008
    #12
  13. synic

    synic Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    131
    Messages:
    849
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Don't turn it off. What I usually do, if it's not set already, is go into the virtual memory options and set the "initial size" to what is recommended, and then double the initial size and make that number the "maximum size."
     
    synic, Aug 5, 2008
    #13
  14. Vash the Stampede

    Vash the Stampede Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    2
    Messages:
    129
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    mines turned off... and i have 4 gigs of ram. and iam completely fine... i run source engine with ease and it never taps into the harddrive for virtual memory.

    if you got alot of ram space... you might as well leave it off. so you will actually know when your bottled neck.. and when that time comes.. just flip it back on to harddrive virtual memory.
     
    Vash the Stampede, Aug 5, 2008
    #14
  15. DannyWestfeld

    DannyWestfeld Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Unless it's an EEEPC, I wouldn't turn it off
     
    DannyWestfeld, Aug 7, 2008
    #15