Uh-oh. Moved my 30GB SSD, from C2Q w/8GB RAM, to X6 with 16GB RAM

[VirtualLarry]

And the swapfile seems to have doubled in size.

My free space on the SSD went from 8-9GB, down to 0.5GB free.

Ouch!

I had planned on buying a 256GB SSD, when I can afford it, for this machine.
But it looks like, size-wise, I'll have to ditch the SSD and go back to a HD in the meantime.

I already have hibernate disabled.

Edit: I tried setting pagefile to a custom size, 2048MB min, 2048MB, and it said it had to reboot, so I clicked the thing that said "Reboot Now", and when it booted back up, pagefile.sys in C: is still 16GB. What gives?

Weird. I had to do it again, it didn't stick the first few times I tried it.

Now I have 15.8GB free.

 

[tynopik]

nevermind

 

[fffblackmage]

With 16GB of ram, maybe you should just move the entire pagefile into a ramdisk.

 

[wpcoe]

I tried setting pagefile to a custom size, 2048MB min, 2048MB, and it said it had to reboot, so I clicked the thing that said "Reboot Now", and when it booted back up, pagefile.sys in C: is still 16GB. What gives?

Are you *sure* you clicked the [Set] button? I can't tell you how many times I went through the motions to change page file settings but forgot to click [Set]. Give it another try: "Just to be sure!"

Another thing you can try: Set the page file to a minimum of 256MB, maximum of 2048MB. Then (after rebooting and verifying that your settings were saved), periodically check the size of your pagefile.sys. If it never changes from 256MB, then you aren't needing anything bigger. I was surprised to learn that if the page file ever needs more than that 256MB, the file size will increase and remain at the increased size until the next reboot resets it to 256MB. If you always see it at 256MB, then it has never been bigger than that.

When my system had "only" 8GB RAM, I set the page file to a minimum size of 128MB, and have never seen it increase. I currently only allocate 128MB-1024MB on my C: (SSD) drive, with a supplementary page file of 512MB-4096MB on a spindle hard drive, "Just In Case." YMMV, but it's worth a shot.

 

[KingFatty]

Has there been a benchmark done to show how such a reduction in pagefile size will affect windows performance?

I've heard anecdotal whisperings here and there, about maybe it doesn't affect anything, maybe it does, placebo effect here, sprinkle fairy dust there, but nothing difinitive showing cause/effect relationships etc.

Anyone know how your performance is affected when you make this change to reduce the pagefile size, specifically when you are using an SSD?

 

[KillerBee]

With 16GB of ram, maybe you should just move the entire pagefile into a ramdisk.

lulz - at least I hope it was a joke

 

[skillyho]

I just turn pagefile off (as well as hibernate and sys restore) on my SSD's. Most any machine I put a SSD in has 8+ GB of RAM anyway - never encountered a problem.

 

[modestninja]

The only problem with having your pagefile < RAM amount is that if your PC crashes, you don't get a memory dump (if that would be useful to you at all is a different question.) I just put my page file on a spindle disk and allow it to grow big enough if needed. Like others have said though, it hasn't grown from the 1GB I set it to initially.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

With 18,000 posts, and seeing you post in the storage forum so often, I find it impossible to believe that you wouldn't know that Windows would create a 16GB page file on a computer with 16GB of RAM. /boggle

 

[VirtualLarry]

With 18,000 posts, and seeing you post in the storage forum so often, I find it impossible to believe that you wouldn't know that Windows would create a 16GB page file on a computer with 16GB of RAM. /boggle

I was surprised, because I thought that it only created the pagefile, when the OS is installed, not that it resizes it every time the OS boots, depending on your RAM. But I guess that's what "OS managed" means.

And I think that the size of the pagefile, relative to your RAM size, depends on the OS release too.

 

[wpcoe]

Has there been a benchmark done to show how such a reduction in pagefile size will affect windows performance?

I've heard anecdotal whisperings here and there, about maybe it doesn't affect anything, maybe it does, placebo effect here, sprinkle fairy dust there, but nothing difinitive showing cause/effect relationships etc.

Anyone know how your performance is affected when you make this change to reduce the pagefile size, specifically when you are using an SSD?

The way it was explained to me -- and this could all be "junk science" -- is that if you set a small size and give Windows the option to dynamically increase the size, but Windows doesn't increase the size, then Windows doesn't need any larger disk space.

I also read that the main reason to keep a token small page file is that some apps will refuse to install and/or run if they detect the lack of a page file. Not that they need the page file, they simply are programmed to check for the presence of a page file, and if they don't find one, they screech to a halt.

 

[Makaveli]

With 18,000 posts, and seeing you post in the storage forum so often, I find it impossible to believe that you wouldn't know that Windows would create a 16GB page file on a computer with 16GB of RAM. /boggle

This!!

Must have just been an off day for you happens to all of us

 

[kbp]

You can turn it off. If windows needs one it will create a temp one. (SSD's)

 

[ArchAngel777]

Yep, the first thing I do when installing Windows on a fresh SSD is set a customer page file size of 2048-2048 or 4096-4096. Just a habbit, I guess. When I had 24GB of ram in my X58 system and installed Windows on my 64GB Samsung 830 I had only like 8GB of space free... heheh...

 

[Obsoleet]

I'd just disable it with 16GB of RAM. I demand a lot of SSD space though, I feel my 160GB G2 is minimum size.. I'd pickup a 256 or 512GB drive.

 

[BFG10K]

I ran a 1 GB page-file with 4 GB on Windows 7 (64 bit) for a while and I didn’t have any problems. Even on a mechanical HDD there’s no need to waste space. Also having a small first partition moves all the other partitions closer to the platter edges.

Now I have 8 GB and the 1 GB setting stuck. I might experiment more in the future with other settings. I’d never disable it as you can have issues with it disabled, even if Windows never actually uses it.

 

[KingFatty]

The way it was explained to me -- and this could all be "junk science" -- is that if you set a small size and give Windows the option to dynamically increase the size, but Windows doesn't increase the size, then Windows doesn't need any larger disk space.

Do you recall what special setup this involves? I see there is an option to set up the pagefile as custom, with an initial value and a max value. However, should I remove the old pagefile entirely (e.g., set to no paging file) and reboot, and then go in and add a custom pagefile with max/min? What's a good value for max min? I would just think putting min of zero and max of [RAM SIZE], then see how big it grows on its own. Let my pagefile grow like a chia pet. ch-ch-ch-chia.

Yep, the first thing I do when installing Windows on a fresh SSD is set a customer page file size of 2048-2048 or 4096-4096. Just a habbit, I guess.

Ah, so you forced the pagefile to be frozen at one size - will that provide any benefit, or is it OK to let the pagefile grow/shrink in size because the number of writes to it will be the same? Perhaps the approach that SSDs use for garbage collection etc. would benefit from a pagefile that is not changing sizes?

I ran a 1 GB page-file with 4 GB on Windows 7 (64 bit) for a while and I didn’t have any problems.
...
Now I have 8 GB and the 1 GB setting stuck. I might experiment more in the future with other settings. I’d never disable it as you can have issues with it disabled, even if Windows never actually uses it.

What do you mean about getting stuck? I too have 8 GB of RAM, and it annoys me that the current windows-managed default pagefile is using up 8 GB of my SSDs available 120 GB.

Is there a minimum value you can set the pagefile? Like 1 MB? or perhaps an ideal value when you consider the SSD and how it handles files in a weird way compared to hard drives (e.g., maybe a certain multiple of kilobytes)?

 

[wpcoe]

Do you recall what special setup this involves? I see there is an option to set up the pagefile as custom, with an initial value and a max value. However, should I remove the old pagefile entirely (e.g., set to no paging file) and reboot, and then go in and add a custom pagefile with max/min? What's a good value for max min? I would just think putting min of zero and max of [RAM SIZE], then see how big it grows on its own. Let my pagefile grow like a chia pet. ch-ch-ch-chia.

You don't need to do a two-step dance. You can just do it at one time and reboot, i.e. go from Windows-managed to custom with specified minimum/maximum size before you reboot.

Start with any minimum size you want -- smaller than what is currently allocated. Then monitor the size of the file periodically -- I would (try to remember to) look just before I would shutdown/reboot. If you go for a week or so and see the size never increased above the minimum, then try a smaller size and monitor it, etc. I worked my way down to 128MB many months ago, and have still never seen it increase. That's small enough for me.

I set the maximum size on my SSD C: to 1024MB, so that it wouldn't unexpectedly fill it up, and set a second page file with a maximum 4096MB on a HDD, "just in case."

Somebody, PLEASE, jump in here if all my memories and assumptions are not correct!

 

[bryanW1995]

I had 8 gb setup by default on my ssd (8gb ram as well), but I went back in a few weeks ago and moved the pf to my spindle drive. Maybe it was all in my head, but it felt slower after doing that, so I moved it back to my ssd. However, with SRT enabled I don't put anything on my ssd, anyway, so even 20 gb space left is still fine for me.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I typically set mine up at 1024MB min and the size of the RAM max. If I had a small SSD I would maybe do the second pagefile on my HDD, but I just make a point not to buy small SSDs, so my viewpoint there is a little skewed.

As mentioned, you don't need to turn off your pagefile before you set it to have a specific size. Just do it in one step. Make sure you click the Set button. Then reboot.

I think it's safe to say that most people trying to "optimize" things by turning off their pagefile don't understand how virtual memory works. When an application loads, it requests a certain chunk of memory from Windows. The application may or may not actually ever use all the memory it asks for.

If Windows has a pagefile to work with, it can set aside *virtual* memory that maps to the pagefile and hold off on actually allocating it until the application actually uses it. If the application tries to use the memory, Windows will remap the pages into physical memory and allocate the memory. The application is none the wiser. The performance hit, if any, is negligible.

Now, if Windows does not have a pagefile to work with, then it is forced to map the full memory request to physical memory. This makes less-than-optimal use of your RAM. The RAM could have been used for other applications, SuperCache (which people also laughably disable when they shouldn't), etc.

If people think that doing the above improves performance on their system, well, power to them.

 

[BFG10K]

What do you mean about getting stuck?

My setting persisted after the RAM swap (i.e. it was still 1 GB after I installed 8 GB).

I too have 8 GB of RAM, and it annoys me that the current windows-managed default pagefile is using up 8 GB of my SSDs available 120 GB.

I’ve settled on 400MB; below that, Windows gives a warning. It obviously needs at least that for “housekeeping”.

400MB is only 1% of my 40GB C: partition, so I’m not going to cry about it.

Is there a minimum value you can set the pagefile?

16 MB, though I’m not sure why you’d want that value.