Shall I disable my pagefile if I have an SSD + 16 GB RAM?

Discussion in 'polls' started by berryracer, May 26, 2012.

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Shall I disable the pagefile with my setup?

  1. Yes d00d, you have way too much RAM + an SSD!

    33.3%
  2. No, keep it as it is, 1024 min/max

    59.0%
  3. No, set it to....... (please mention in the thread)

    7.7%
  1. berryracer

    berryracer Suspended Member

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    I have a Kingston KC100 STA-III SSD + GEIL 16GB DDR3 PC1333 RAM....


    I have set my page file to a fixed 1024 MB min/max size

    But I am scared that all of this RAM might go wasted if there is a pagefile..

    What if Windows is stupid to actually put the kernel files in the pagefile rather than in the faster RAM?

    Please guide me
     
  2. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Windows will never page the kernel unless you have absolutely no RAM left.

    You'll probably never ever hit page with 16GB. Maybe a few MB from some program that is using it on purpose.

    I say leave it.
     
  3. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    4 MB is plenty for a page file (more than enough).
     
  4. berryracer

    berryracer Suspended Member

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    Thanks Mr. Hungry Man.

    I value your opinion always as you seem to know what you're talking about :)

    Ill leave it as it is...1024 min / max
     
  5. 1chaoticadult

    1chaoticadult Registered Member

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    I have a similar setup to you and I use a small pagefile. Good choice :thumb:
     
  6. berryracer

    berryracer Suspended Member

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    Thanks for the confirmation dude

    any reason why we should leave a small page file?

    I didn't face a problem in the past with the page file off for 2 years but just wanna be safe...


    any reason you wanna tell me?
     
  7. 1chaoticadult

    1chaoticadult Registered Member

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    Well I did run it without a pagefile when I had 8GB in another laptop had a few years ago and it didn't seem to make a difference so I just made a small pagefile for safe measures I suppose.
     
  8. berryracer

    berryracer Suspended Member

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    I see, alright thanks dude, ill do that too
     
  9. 1chaoticadult

    1chaoticadult Registered Member

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    No problem.
     
  10. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    There are only two reasons I can think of to leave a pagefile when you have 16GB of RAM and you're not at risk of OOM errors:
    1) If you get a kernel panic/BSOD you need the pagefile or you can't see the log. Not a big deal.
    2) Some programs are built assuming you have one. Older programs, some old games, photoshop.
     
  11. guest

    guest Guest

    Keep it as it is for optimal compatibility.
     
  12. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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  13. aladdin

    aladdin Registered Member

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    Very true!

    I have four computers with SSDs on all of them.

    1. Laptop A has 16GB RAM.
    2. Laptop B has 8GB RAM.
    3. Desktop C has 8GB RAM.
    4. Desktop D has 6GB RAM.

    On all the above the PageFile is set 2048/2048 min/max.

    Best regards,

    KOR!

    P.S. On both Laptops, I have turned off the Hibernate!.
     
  14. The Hammer

    The Hammer Registered Member

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    How about we go with a lot of the time instead of always. Otherwise he'll get a big head.;)
     
  15. 1chaoticadult

    1chaoticadult Registered Member

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    Too late he already has a big head lol, just kidding... :D
     
  16. berryracer

    berryracer Suspended Member

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    hAHA

    LOL he never was a big head fmo what I see him posting here and the notebook review forums :)
     
  17. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    Its not stupid to page parts of the kernel out IF needed (such as when active process needs ram over idle parts of kernel). Drivers and parts of the kernel (most of it actually) and kernel data that should not be able to be paged out to disk are marked as so.

    Right onto the meat of the topic :

    http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

    Do you have any realworld figures to show that there is actually any peformance to be gained from disabling pagefile ? - You need to perform some before/after benchmarks to prove disabling the pagefile actually improves peformance under your typical workloads.

    Cheers, Nick
     
  18. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    There was a benchmark done by tomshardware. 8GB, 12GB, 16GB with pagefiles on/off for video rendering.

    8GB crashed without page file. 12GB and 16GB were significantly faster without it.

    Still, I think leaving the page file is fine. It won't get hit unless there's a massive amount of RAM being used.
     
  19. Yakuman

    Yakuman Registered Member

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  20. Enigm

    Enigm Registered Member

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    Please read the articles by Russinocivh Nick Rhodes linked to :
    You can get away with disabling the page-file.. Until you do something that requires it or you use a program that expects paging to be enabled .
    How much does a BSOD improve performance ?
    This is one of the worst 'performance-tweaks' ever .
    http://lifehacker.com/5426041/understanding-the-windows-pagefile-and-why-you-shouldnt-disable-it
     
  21. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    You can't disable paging itself in Windows, just the pagefile ).
    Apps that crash is a result of expecting a larger allocation of memory pages (which are mapped to physical ram and pagefile if available) than available. Adding physical ram will solve the crash the same way adding the same amount of pagefile space.

    Cheers, Nick
     
  22. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    Depends if you're concerned about privacy, or not !

    No PageFile = NO PG sniffing by Anyone, EVER = :) I've had mine disabled since 98SE days, & for ever on XP. I only have 2Gb of RAM & Never had Any issues :thumb:
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    You can encrypt the pagefile too..
     
  24. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    Yes good tip, but if you don't need it, blast it i say ;)
     
  25. jo3blac1

    jo3blac1 Registered Member

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    I've disabled pagefile for at least 5 years. As long as you have enough RAM you are unlikely to run into any problems.
     
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