Changing virtual memory

[Syphanx]

Hey guys,
I was just browsing through my control panel looking for something when I stumbled across the virtual memory adjustments.
(Control Panel - System - Advanced - Settings under performance - Advanced)

Just wondering what would happen and it more importantly what it actually does making the "Total paging file for all drives larger"? It is currently set at 384mb.

Also will I notice any major difference if I change the "Processor scheduling" from Programs to Background services? It says that this will make the processor commit more to either Programs or Background servies (depends with what you choose).

The same with the memory usage? It is currently set on Programs but can be changed to System cache.... do you think that I should change it?

Remember guys I've only got 256mb if that makes any difference?

Thanks guys,

-- Michael --

 

[Inaris]

Don't change them. You will get only worse performance from making the changes you are asking about. The onlything that might help would be the Pagefile, but not enough to do it. If you increase the page file you just tax your harddrive more.

 

[Syphanx]

Ok thanks for the help Inaris, I didn't think it would do much in the first place, but it's worth a try.
Shouldn't the Total paging file size for all drives be set at 256mb instead of 384mb? because that's how much memory I've got??? help me out here I probably don't really know what I'm on about lol.

Thanks,

-- Michael --

 

[didi]

Physical ram is difference from paging file. I agree what Inaris said, but larger paging file doesnt mean that better performance.
U should increase your ram to at least 384MB or 512MB better.
Cosz Window XP take up a lots of resources after boot up.
If 256MB ram, after boot up it only left 128MB or less.
Or u can close some startup program or services that r not important or useful to free more ram.

 

[Inaris]

you want to have your paging file set to 150% of the total availble ram. It is a rule of thumb. You can do this upto about 2 GB of Ram and then there really is no need for a page file anymore. But if you do 3d rendering or highly complex drawings, it might be benificial to keep the page file just in case you need it. There are times that it will help performance, but then there are times it will not.
my 2 cents

 

[Syphanx]

Ok thanks for the help guys.
I don't really want to touch the windows start up programs because I don't really know what I'm doing with them and how important each one is.
Just a question... Will increasing my physical ram to 512 make windows start up faster? I know windows start up time has something to do with the specs of your hard-drive... but what about ram?

Thanks,

-- Michael --

 

[smartech]

Sure! Increasing the size of your RAM will increase you boot-up speed, and speed of loading games/programs, it wil also increase perfomance when running a lot of programs at the same time.

By the way, I have 448 Mb of ram, and my page file size is also 384 - 786 Mb on C: only, should I increase it too (I have 80 GB hard drive, so it is no free space problems).

 

[CrashAbbott]

Inaris is on track,,

Your Pagefile, (swap file),, should be 1.5x the amount of available memory..now I have also studied and read forums where 2.5x is acceptable as a standard. So, you may test which works best for you .. will only take two reboots to evaluate.

Your choices, with 256 mb of ram,, are either
a) Min 384- Max384 (1.5x)
b) Min 640 - Max 640 (2.5x)

The reason for the Minimum and Maximum being set as a Constant helps to decrease the amount of fragmentation that may occur on the HD. This is by-passing Window's "Sliding Window" architecture when dealing with Temporary Files. In other words,, it gives a set size of swap area on your drive.

I would suggest the B) option if you are working with Graphics,, and gaming,, the reason,, your physical ram may only hold so much, the larger swap file allows for rendering to occur on the HD as well as in the ram..

For normal use, I would say A) as your configuration.

Regardless,, I would move to 512 mb of Ram, as this is a sweet spot for most XP users..you will see a good improvement in performance with this move.

Hope this helps ,,,,

cheers

 

[smartech]

Thanks, CrashAbbott, you sounds understanding this thing. I also find line with "recomended size" it tells me 670 (1.5x of my RAM). But , as I use my comp generaly for gaming, I think I will go with 2.5x. Also, I saw an option to allocate page file size for both drives (I have 1 Hard Disk that has 2 virtual drives). Should I set it for both drives?

 

[Syphanx]

Yeah thanks for the help CrashAbbott, you really do seem to know what your talking about lol!
I'll give option B a try and see what it's like. I do however only play some games so I don't know if it's worth changing and of course I don't really want to be changing my virtual memory all the time
But yeah I'm upgrading to 512 asap! might even be upgrading to 768mb (which is even better, 512+256) then when I get some spair $$ I'll buy another 512 stick which will boost me up to 1gb and that should be sick.
But yeah thanks for the help again man, much appreciated!

-- Michael --