how can I do this???? page file query

[Slartibartfast]

I was reading this reply to someones post on another forum and am wondering if it would make a big difference and if so how do I do it???



"If you want to go crazy with your setup, get the 2GB of RAM and split off the RAM to a 1.5GB section and a 0.5GB virtual drive. In that virtual drive, you want to put your page 512MB page file.

Your system will then be lightning fast as you have no limiting reagent in your speed transfer being your slow arsed HDD paging file. Windows cannot function without a paging file, so give it one in the fastest possible area of data access".


I'm running 1Gb of ram ATM but have another 512 stick I can use if needed for this "page file"

[wammie]

Re: how can I do this???? page file query

This technique uses a virtual drive called a "ram disk," for which you can assign a drive letter. In Windows performace options, you may assign your paging file to this drive.

There are few good free ram disk programs (some good commercial ones), but I've successfully used AR Ram Disk in Windows 2000, available at http://www.arsoft-online.com/index.p...cman&Itemid=30, which is no longer supported.

One thing to look out for is the maximum volume or byte size your ram disk program can support.

[KoolDrew2]

Re: how can I do this???? page file query

Using a RAM drive for your pagefile is just stupid. The point of the pagefile is a backing store for things in RAM. Also if you already have enough RAM the pagefile wouldn't be acessed enough anyway for it to make a difference. Don't waste your RAM for something as useless as that.

[amd_man2005]

Re: how can I do this???? page file query

Using a RAM drive for your pagefile is just stupid. The point of the pagefile is a backing store for things in RAM. Also if you already have enough RAM the pagefile wouldn't be acessed enough anyway for it to make a difference. Don't waste your RAM for something as useless as that.

Actually it is a brilliant idea. Windows relies on the paging file and moving it to extra RAM is a great idea to enhance system performance.

[KoolDrew2]

Re: how can I do this???? page file query

Actually it is a brilliant idea. Windows relies on the paging file and moving it to extra RAM is a great idea to enhance system performance.

Wow. Yet another brilliant post...

Yes, RAM is much faster then a hard disk. However moving the pagefile to a RAM drive is completletely counter-productive. This is because the purpose of the pagefile is to make room for other things in system memory. For situations when you do not have enough system memory. Of course the page file is not the only file involved with paging, but you get the point. If you have a lot of free system memory the page file is not used much anyway.

Using a RAM drive for the pagfile is just a waste of RAM. If you have enough RAM don't even waste your time making a RAM drive for the page file. If there is a lot of free system memory the page file will not be used much anyway.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: how can I do this???? page file query

If there is a lot of free system memory the page file will not be used much anyway.

Oh, but it will. Any and every program will page a certain amount, based on what it's doing, regardless of how much RAM. It's true that if you are short on RAM, it will page more, in which case using a RAM-based partition for a paging file would be counter-productive. However, if you have a large amount of RAM, probably 2GB or greater, it can be a viable way to increase loading speeds of many programs. However, it can do nothing or even hurt some programs they don't use the paging file much. In addition, the paging file needs to be quite large and I can't see a virtualized paging file as useful for any system with less than 2GBs of RAM, as it would either leave an insufficient amount of RAM or a paging file to small.

The better option for increasing paging file speed is a physical RAM disk (as opposed to a virtual one), particularly Gigabyte's i-RAM, since it wouldn't waste system RAM or require the use of a slow, magnetic hard disc. The only problem there is cost, as unless you have around 2GBs of RAM, more performance improvement is seen from having a larger amount of system RAM.

Bascially, you're both right. It can greatly enhance performance, and it can waste system RAM and even reduce performance. If I had two GBs of RAM, I'd give it a shot and see what it did. It's not like you can't undo it anyway.