Re: Virtual memory problem? - PF usage grows, not freed when apps

Gregg

Alex Nichol's Article is as good on virtual memory settings as any:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

The main point is not to set a maximum too low if you feel the need to set
a
maximum. In reality you should add memory so that, except when the system
has abnormal demands for memory, it only uses minimal amounts of virtual
memory. In this situation the maximum is hardly going to be relevant. If
there
is no maximum set the reality becomes the amount of free disk space.

The problems start to arise, however, when the motherboard limits on
memory prevent the user adding memory to avoid over dependence on virtual
memory. Also in the situation that the hard disk utilisation gets to 85%
the user looks to cut back on space allocations and the pagefile size comes
into
the equation. The answer is to get more memory or a larger hard disk but the
ability of the user to afford to buy either can make for a difficult
balancing act.

I am not aware that there is a downside in terms of system performance with
a large maximum. However it is arguably wasteful in terms of utilisation of
available disk space. The argument for a reasonably sized minimum is to
attempt to minimise resizing of the pagefile. In practice I wonder how
significant the impact on performance is? Read / write speeds to memory
and to disk and CPU speed are much more significant.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



"FL Guy" <FLGuy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CC6D7909-6A45-4EBA-89A8-9ABB936A94E5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Gerry,
>
> Thanks for the discusion, information, and suggestions. It looks like the
> problem is fixed.
>
> The page file use now grows only as apps are added, and shrinks again as
> apps are closed. It looks like the Tablet PC (TCServer) leak was the
> culprit,
> and the patch seems to have taken care of the problem.
>
> BTW, I have added the additional RAM (now at 1 GB) as planned. I just
> didn't
> want to mask the problem, so I was waiting until I felt that was resolved.
> Certainly it's best of Windows doesn't need to use the PF/disk:-)
>
> I have indeed heard the debate about 'optimal' VM settings... IMHO, in the
> case of a system with small RAM and multiple apps in use simultaneously, I
> think it made sense to allocate extra PF space (it appears that Window's
> attempt to increase it when needed were less than ideal).
>
> I'm curious about one aspect of this debate - I'm not clear on what would
> be
> the down side of a larger maximum size? Does Windows use more PF space if
> it
> seems to be available? Sounds strange, but otherwise what's the harm in
> allocating a large inital or maximum setting (if the extra GB or two of
> disk
> space is not an issue)?
>
> Thanks much for the help!
>
> cheers,
> Gregg


.

Relevant Pages

  • Proposed Assembler Commands
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  • Re: Slow performance
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  • Re: Slow performance
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