Pagefile Question

[Boyo]

I have read several articles on pagefile optimization and there seems to be a lot of opinions on the best way to run it.

I am running a WD 74GB Raptor and a WD 320GB Caviar SE16, with 2x 1GB of Corsair PC3500LLPRO. I use the Raptor for my OS ond applications only. Should I turn off my pagefile on the Raptor and move it to the Caviar?

What are some of the opinions on this board as the best way to run the pagefile?

 

[imported_Ned Flanders]

I don't run a pagefile with 1Gb of RAM. It runs fine - Save the harddrive space and disable it since you have 2Gb.

 

[ValuedCustomer]

leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

But it's not 1337 until it's halfway broken

 

[nweaver]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

But it's not 1337 until it's halfway broken

lol, spoken like a gentoo ricer

 

[Boyo]

Thanks for all the advice. I will leave well enough alone and let Windows manage it.....

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

But it's not 1337 until it's halfway broken

lol, spoken like a gentoo ricer

lmao

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
I don't run a pagefile with 1Gb of RAM. It runs fine - Save the harddrive space and disable it since you have 2Gb.

Yeah.. I'm going to start this again...

You really think you have disabled it?

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

But it's not 1337 until it's halfway broken

lol, spoken like a gentoo ricer

lmao

I got a chuckle out of that.

 

[lxskllr]

Oh boy, I haven't seen one of these threads in awhile

I have 2 hds and I keep a 2gb page file on my secondary drive, and a 200mb pagefile on my primary drive. I think that may give a very small performance boost having the main pf on the least used drive, but if it does it's a very small difference. The only way I think you could tell is to bench the system with a couple of different configurations(which I haven't done) to see if there's anyu change.

 

[Markbnj]

You really think you have disabled it?

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the 2006 Anandtech Windows XP Pagefile Post-off.

Remember to proofread your post before hitting the submit button. The last three winners of this event have included links to arcane blog entries by ex-Microsoft employees, so you might want to hit Google before you decide on your submission.

Good luck!

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Markbnj

You really think you have disabled it?

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the 2006 Anandtech Windows XP Pagefile Post-off.

Remember to proofread your post before hitting the submit button. The last three winners of this event have included links to arcane blog entries by ex-Microsoft employees, so you might want to hit Google before you decide on your submission.

Good luck!

It's quite simple, really. I'll let Mr. Flanders explain to us how he is running without a pagefile first. Then I'll promptly show him and whoever else wants to see it, that indeed his pagefile is not disabled.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: dnuggett

Originally posted by: Markbnj

You really think you have disabled it?

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the 2006 Anandtech Windows XP Pagefile Post-off.

Remember to proofread your post before hitting the submit button. The last three winners of this event have included links to arcane blog entries by ex-Microsoft employees, so you might want to hit Google before you decide on your submission.

Good luck!

It's quite simple, really. I'll let Mr. Flanders explain to us how he is running without a pagefile first. Then I'll promptly show him and whoever else wants to see it, that indeed his pagefile is not disabled.

Are you sure you don't mean you are going to show him that "virtual memory" is not disabled? That's the typical argument, although rediculous, because it is just arguing semantics.

 

[nervegrind3r]

if you have 2gb physical ram, I doubt you come close to using it all. IN THAT CASE, you can disable the page file completely. IF you actually do some serious work where you go over 2gb ram, then'll you need to enable it, but I wouldnt let Windows do its whore job of managing it.

 

[funkbass81]

you. cannot. disable. virtual. memory.

 

[Boyo]

Yikes. What have I created? I'll be honest and tell you that I'm just going to leave the pagefile alone.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: Brazen

Originally posted by: nweaver

Originally posted by: ValuedCustomer
leave. the. pagefile. alone. seriously.. you don't need the space, there's no need to mess w/ the settings. Windows manages the pf for you. some people don't run w/ one and get away w/ it but the vast majority of people who start tweaking it end up screwing something up. You have nothing to gain and only stand to lose so why mess w/ it?

good advice...

like the 2GB pagefile will matter much when you have 400+ GB space

But it's not 1337 until it's halfway broken

But why stop at halfway-1337? Put it on a ramdisk!!

 

[bendixG15]

Originally posted by: Boyo
Yikes. What have I created? I'll be honest and tell you that I'm just going to leave the pagefile alone.

Got any questions to post ?...... LOL :laugh:

 

[Nothinman]

That's the typical argument, although rediculous, because it is just arguing semantics.

It's not semantics at all, the pagefile and virtual memory are completely seperate and distinct things.

 

[imported_Ned Flanders]

Originally posted by: dnuggett

Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
I don't run a pagefile with 1Gb of RAM. It runs fine - Save the harddrive space and disable it since you have 2Gb.

Yeah.. I'm going to start this again...

You really think you have disabled it?

I'm well aware it isn't fully disabled.

and, yes I was talking about Virtual Memory.

I know what a page file, a page, page fault...you name it is.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Ned Flanders

Originally posted by: dnuggett

Originally posted by: Ned Flanders
I don't run a pagefile with 1Gb of RAM. It runs fine - Save the harddrive space and disable it since you have 2Gb.

Yeah.. I'm going to start this again...

You really think you have disabled it?

I'm well aware it isn't fully disabled.

and, yes I was talking about Virtual Memory.

I know what a page file, a page, page fault...you name it is.

Ok, cool. Glad we cleared that up.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: nervegrind3r
if you have 2gb physical ram, I doubt you come close to using it all. IN THAT CASE, you can disable the page file completely. IF you actually do some serious work where you go over 2gb ram, then'll you need to enable it, but I wouldnt let Windows do its whore job of managing it.

Incorrect, the pagefile cannot be disabled completely. You can adjust the settings to "0" but, you cannot disable it.

 

[dclive]

Net-net tho you want at least a small pagefile of 300-500MB or so on your %windows% directory, with kernel memory dumps enabled, so that you can capture a dumpfile if your box bluescreens. Otherwise, if you have no pagefile on your Windows partition, no dumpfile is made, and when your box crashes you'll have no idea why.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: dclive
Net-net tho you want at least a small pagefile of 300-500MB or so on your %windows% directory, with kernel memory dumps enabled, so that you can capture a dumpfile if your box bluescreens. Otherwise, if you have no pagefile on your Windows partition, no dumpfile is made, and when your box crashes you'll have no idea why.

The above is not the main reason to leave your pagefile "on". The main reason is Windows will continue to page, but turning the pagefile off just forces it to page to areas containg such things as code and mapped files. This slows down execution of code and hurts the file cache.



Thus you never really have the pgefile off, by setting it to zero it is moved to the worst place it could go, and is no longer contiguous.


People- for the love of all things technical; YOU DO NOT STOP WINDOWS FROM PAGING, PERIOD.


As a side note to dclive- I think thats awesome that you are willing to help people read the dumps. I'm certain that 99.9% wouldn't and don't know where to start on doing that, and that's why I suggested that it's not the #1 reason to leave your pagefile on. It is certainly a good reason to.