Memory Myths

[Gunny Highway]

I'm not 100% sure I know what a pagefile is...I think it has to do with virtual memory. I have three questions then:
1- What are pagefiles exactly
2- How do you disable pagefiles
3- Would I even want to disable pagefiles?

Thanks in advance.

1) Windows utilizes much more memory than is physically availabe, and uses a portion of harddrive, called teh page file and along with RAM, this is called Virtual Memory.
If a program reqires more memory than your RAM has it will use Virtual Memory, and thus the page file, that is much much slower than RAM. It also uses page file when you switch between applications on the desktop, if all can't fit in memory. The applciation that is in the foreground has highest priority and thus has access to physical RAM, but for other applications to keep functioning it swaps them to page file if needed, and can retrieve them back in RAM if needed. The more RAM the less use of page file is needed.

3) if you have no page file and Virtual Memory is needed either application or Windows will fail and can crash, so if you are sure that you have enough RAM you can disable page file, but if core Windows data is in the RAM and needs to be paged out and there is no page file this data will be lost or not written, and that is bad in case it is part of the registry.

You also have to consider the fact that data, that could be in page file now has to be in RAM and thus it will use a protion of RAM for this, and no page file actually will mean it will use more physical RAM but the amount of Virtual Memory is still the same. This could mean that if you disable page file you could be worse off than before because more data has to be in RAM.

2) WINKEY+PAUSE -> Advanced tab -> Performance section, Settings button. -> Advanced tab -> Virtual Memory section, Change button -> Select C: choose No Page file, and press define and apply.


You can take a look at the MCSE MVP site for more info: http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

Added link: http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks5.htm

[Dregnan]

Thanks for the great info there!

I have played around with my virtual mem in the past....setting specific sizes vs. letting windows do it. Didn't notice much of a difference when I did make changes. BUT, I've never turned it off before.

As of today I will be running a system that has 1.5 G of RAM. Would that be cutting it too close to turn off pagefile you think?

[Gunny Highway]

Thanks for the great info there!

I have played around with my virtual mem in the past....setting specific sizes vs. letting windows do it. Didn't notice much of a difference when I did make changes. BUT, I've never turned it off before.

As of today I will be running a system that has 1.5 G of RAM. Would that be cutting it too close to turn off pagefile you think?

You can try and open the Task Manger, CTRL+SHIFT+ESC -> The performance tab, and have a look at the Commit Charge section. It lists Total, Limit, Peak.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...b_mon_nbcl.asp
Link is for Windows 2000 Server but same as XP.

Commit Charge: Total Size: of virtual memory in use by all processes, in kilobytes.

Commit Charge: Limit: Amount of virtual memory, in kilobytes, that can be committed to all processes without enlarging the paging file.

Commit Charge: Peak: The maximum amount of virtual memory, in kilobytes, used in the session.

So if the Peak value is close Limit(= physical RAM if pagefile is disabled) the less you can use RAM for other things. This is a look at how the system is right now, so it changes over time, try and ALT+TAB out of game and have a look at the Peak value when in a game.

[Dregnan]

Thanks Gunny!

[sniperripper]

I wonder if all the people that say that they are using more than 1GB of RAM have optimized their systems? That means, unnecessary services are turned off, only minimal apps are being loaded and only BF is being run (no P2P stuff, IM, stuff in the background).

For those whom use all that RAM, maybe you should post a screenshot of the Processes tab from the Task Manager.

Just saying because I don't get close to my 1GB memory limit. Plays smooth at high as well.

here is my settings from video.com file
VideoSettings.setTerrainQuality 4
VideoSettings.setGeometryQuality 4
VideoSettings.setLightingQuality 3
VideoSettings.setDynamicLightingQuality 4
VideoSettings.setDynamicShadowsQuality 4
VideoSettings.setEffectsQuality 3
VideoSettings.setTextureQuality 4
VideoSettings.setTextureFilteringQuality 4
VideoSettings.setResolution 1600x1200@60Hz
VideoSettings.setAntialiasing 4Samples
VideoSettings.setViewDistanceScale 1
VideoSettings.setVideoOptionScheme 3

no other apps running in the background except for necessary stuff, notice that the resolution I use is 1600x1200 on ultra high which average 40-60fps on a 64 map full, the higher resolution you use the more RAM your system needs!

[T1no]

-sigh- I love people like this.


YOU DO NOT NEED 2 GIGS OF MEMORY. I have 1GB of memory, and I have all my settings maxed (see the link above). I average of 50-60 FPS.

hey show me a video otherwise i cal bs.
or maybe you have ddr2 memory ? show me your spec.
edit: i did see your spec. i guees ddr2 will do a whole lot more.
so you doo need 1.5-2 gigs of memory LOL ? (ddr user)

[T1no]

AGP Aperature size in BIOS.
Crank it up to equal the amount of memory on your vid card. I just did this with my box and its now MUCH better. I have a GeForce 6800GT 256MB DDR3 vid card and the AGP Aperature is now at 256MB instead of the default 64MB. WORLD of difference.

according to some website, agp apperture is half or 1/4 of your system memory. its also depends on the game. some game benefit more and some dont.