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    How much pagefile for 8GB of ram?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by spacelordz, Jul 4, 2011.

  1. spacelordz

    spacelordz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have alienware m17x r2 with windows 7 pro. Will turning it off completly give me more fps in games? If I need to turn it on, how much do I need for 8GB of ram?
     
    spacelordz, Jul 4, 2011
    #1
  2. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    What do you run your OS from SSD or HDD?

    Some programs out there are written to utilize a certain amount of pagefile so if you run Windows off a HDD set a small value (turning it off won't make any difference) Windows will not access it if it doesn't need it.

    However, if you have a SSD turn it off !
     
    katalin_2003, Jul 4, 2011
    #2
  3. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    You won't hit the pagefile very often at all with 8GB of RAM. Maybe 1GB to account for crash logs and such.

    That said, if you have an SSD that's an even better drive for a swap file than spinning drives. But definitely cut down the size to 1-2GB or less no matter what.

    From the linked article:
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 29, 2015
    Pitabred, Jul 4, 2011
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  4. atbnet

    atbnet Notebook Prophet

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    I'd get rid of it completely.
     
    atbnet, Jul 4, 2011
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  5. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Notebook Virtuoso

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    I have 4GB of RAM... running without a pagefile. No need for it, I've never had an Out Of Memory popup or anything.
     
    Hungry Man, Jul 4, 2011
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  6. xeroxide

    xeroxide Notebook Deity

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    some apps don't like this, i keep one just for those.
     
    xeroxide, Jul 4, 2011
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  7. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    It depends entirely on your use. I have 8GB on my desktop and I've run into low-memory situations when I have lots of things going on.
     
    Pitabred, Jul 4, 2011
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  8. spacelordz

    spacelordz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a 250 GB non ssd drive with win 7 pro 64 bit. Right now I put the pagefile at 512MB initial and 512MB max. Is this safe to use?
     
    spacelordz, Jul 4, 2011
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  9. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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    I have read up a lot due to this thread, I think 512 is fine depending on how may programs you run at the same time. You can always make it bigger if you get any errors related to Virtual memory (AKA page file, AKA swapfile)
    I should have asked 1st, how much ram do you have?
     
    JOSEA, Jul 4, 2011
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  10. spacelordz

    spacelordz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am the op. I have 8 GB of ram. Will games like gta iv get more fps if the pagefile is very low to 0 MB?
     
    spacelordz, Jul 4, 2011
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  11. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Notebook Virtuoso

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    It likely won't effect it at all.
     
    Hungry Man, Jul 4, 2011
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  12. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    I have 16 GB ram and I can't seem to use more than 5 or 6 GB of it.
     
    olyteddy, Jul 4, 2011
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  13. MAA83

    MAA83 Notebook Evangelist

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    The nearest I ever get to using all 8 is when I have a VM running and numerous other applications. I use no swap.
     
    MAA83, Jul 4, 2011
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  14. The0ne

    The0ne Notebook Consultant

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    Yes, some apps don't like not having a pagefile. Turn off if you don't know and back on to minimal settings ~1Gig if you run into programs that needs it. 8Gig usually doesn't require a pagefile at all.
     
    The0ne, Jul 6, 2011
    #14
  15. Marecki_clf

    Marecki_clf Homo laptopicus

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    Some games, like Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War II/Chaos Rising/Retribution require a pagefile of minimum 1,5GB to run.

    I have 8GB of RAM, I have set the pagefile size to be fixed at 2GB.
     
    Marecki_clf, Jul 7, 2011
    #15
  16. Bullit

    Bullit Notebook Deity

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    Turn it off just to try it. Just be careful to not use anything important.
     
    Bullit, Jul 7, 2011
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  17. shakennstirred

    shakennstirred Notebook Evangelist

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    just let windows sort it
     
    shakennstirred, Jul 7, 2011
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  18. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Set a range. Lowest to 256MB, and max to 2048MB (2GB) and it will resort to the lowest one. With 8GB RAM you shouldn't need one in 99% of cases. And if you do, well with a ranged one, at least it will only consume minimum most of the time.
     
    HTWingNut, Jul 7, 2011
    #18