Troubleshooting Performance Tip: Page File Size and Performance.

Performance Tip: Page File Size and Performance.

Ok, so you ask.. What the heck is a page file?

Well, in the simplest of terms.. its how windows allows you to have more "volatile" memory that what is on your system board.

Basically, Windows figured out how to use your computers hard drive as "Virtual Memory".. (if you have ever recieved the "out of virtual memory" error, its because your page file size is too small) What this does is allows your computer to place the lower priority files into the hard drive, and save the system RAM for higher priority files. Because the HD is slower that system ram, it is generally used only for those lower priorities.

How does this affect your system you may ask? Well, by placing files on the hard drive as virtual memory, your computer is able to re-rout data more effectively to allow for faster, smoother program functions. It takes slightly longer for some programs to load initially because of this, but the end result is worth the few extra seconds worth of wait.

Now, for the kicker. The setting of the paging file. What you must understand first is the proper numbers to use... and your hardware configuration... Page files work best on a secondary or slave hard drive. If you have 2 hard drives on your computer, do not put the paging file on the same drive that you installed your Operating System. If you only have one drive, then you can still use page files, but will not see as great a performance boost as those who have two.

Now, to figure out some numbers. First, you need to know how much system RAM you have. Find this number by Right Clicking your "My Computer" Icon and going to properties. Click on the "General" tab (it should already be there) and look down towards the bottom under the "system" section. In there it tells you how much ram you have.

Now, break out the calculator. Take the number you see, and multiply it by 1.5 This is your minimum size. Now, multiply your minimum size by 3.. this is your maximum size.

There are a few other formulas out there that people suggest you use.. this is the one I have found to work the best.. but feel free to use any formula you run across.

Now, for the how to...

Right click your "My Computer" Icon and go to properties.

Click on the "Advanced" tab.

Click on the "Performance" button

Click on the "Advanced" tab

The bottom section is "Virtual Memory" Click on the "Change" button.

Now, if you have multiple hard drives (NOTE: If you see a D:\ Drive that is a "System Restore" drive, this is NOT a second hard drive, rather it is a partition on your main hard drive. Do NOT use this as a second hard drive")

Click on the C:\ drive and click "No paging file"
Click on your second hard drive and click on "Custom Size"
In the initial box, put the minimum value you came up with above
In the maximum, put the maximum value from above.
Click on "Set"

At this point, you will more than likely be told to restart your computer.. just close out all of the programs and restart your computer and you are done.. have fun with a faster computer.

If you have a SINGLE hard drive.. follow the directions above, except you will set your paging file on your C"\ drive.

Now, I strongly reccomend that you Defrag the hard drive you will be using for the paging file BEFORE you set it. If you already set it, go ahead and set it to "no paging file" and then defrag, then set it again.

This keeps the paging file in one area on your hard drive, and prevents your hard drive from having to seek constantly, which slows things down even more.

Anyway, thats the basics.. good luck and have fun.

 

good tip there. stickied.

 

Josh, not sure what you mean by that... It is Ideal to set page files on a secondary or slave HD instead of your main hard drive. Its actually less effective on a single hard drive system that it is on a multiple hard drive system. Having the page file set on a secondary IDE is better than having it as a on a Slave Primary IDE.

Please clear up what you mean for me.

Thanx

 

I'm confused.

 

actually its quite safe. worst someone could do is set the page file size too low and when windows tries to offload whats in the ram into the page file, it will warn about the page file size being too low and will increase it anyhow.

and to clear the confusion about the single/double hard drives:

Page files work best on a secondary or slave hard drive. If you have 2 hard drives on your computer, do not put the paging file on the same drive that you installed your Operating System. If you only have one drive, then you can still use page files, but will not see as great a performance boost as those who have two.

 

Lots of good info covered there. But something has been omitted that I am curious about... What about systems with a very high amount RAM (1GB+)? Would it be beneficial to disable the swap file completely? I've heard mixed opinions about disabling the swap-file. Because, in theory, it should make everything faster because nothing will be paged to the disk and everything can be accessed directly from RAM. Or... Is it one of those things that Windows XP needs for optimal funcionality? Like, it works better with the swap file because without it, it's lost an confused and has know Idea what the heck is going on because of the way it was programmed... Any thoughts?

 

id say that it would be safe to disable it. in any case, if xp needs more space, it will warn you about the virtual memory being low and will reenable the swap file anyways.

 

It is common sense, that you put the page file on a second harddrive, in case there is one
The performance gain results from the computer being able to page on one drive while load/save program-specific data on another drive simultaneously
Another thing I would recommend: set the page file MIN and MAX to the same value(obviously the MAX value
So you prevent the page file from becoming fragmented over time
-le