Virtual memory settings

[cowboy]

Does anyone have any suggested settings for the Virtual memory.
In the setting page the; "Automatically manage paging file size" is checked,
if you uncheck it, you can then customize the Initial and Max size.

Anyone have experience with this and what the benefits might be ?

I'm thinking this may help my freezing and hangups, that I get from time to time.

Here is my system info.

Vista home premium - service pack 2
Intel (R) CPU 2160 @1.8 Ghz 1.8 ghz
Memory 3.0 GB
32 bit

 

[Lexluethar]

Microsoft suggest 1.5 times your installed memory. So your's would be 4.5 gb for your paging file (or virtual memory, same diff).

I would suggest that amount. An easy way to tell would be to check your memory usage while gaming and doing other activities. If it is freezing and you are constantly using around 80% or more of your installed memory i would consider increasing your paging file.

 

[cowboy]

Thanks,
Just checking now, I seem to be using 70%

So the 4.5 would be the Initial setting, any suggestion for the Max ?

Any idea on what the shortcomings of the "Automatically manage paging file size" setting are......
Seems like in a perfect world thats what you would want, of course we all know that "Auto-majic" things never seem to work as advertised.....

 

[Lexluethar]

You want to avoid using the page file as much as possible because its actually using your hard drive for space. While you may have a ton of space to spare using your hard drive for extra RAM is extremely slow. Your hard drive is the slowest piece of equipment in your PC so making your OS us it for RAM will slow the PC down.

I guess there is no limit, but it will only be used if your RAM is almost used up and the additional RAM requests cannot be met because RAM is full.

A better solution would be to get more RAM. Realize that if you are using a 32 bit system your PC will only see 3.5 GB TOTAL - which includes video cards. Looks like you are near that limit now looking at your signature.

I would suggest allowing windows to dictate how much ram you use. If you want to increase it by a Gig or so it won't hurt anything.