Author Topic: pagefile (Read 20207 times)

chris635 · « **on:** August 25, 2012, 05:53:56 am »

Hey Shane

Have you ever had any trouble running windows 7 64 bit without a pagefile? I have 8gb of ram and thinking about disabling the pagefile. Are there any significant speed changes? I read somewhere that some software require a pagefile to run correctly. Is this true? Trying to tweak my machine for the best stable speed possible.

Chris

Shane · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2012, 08:32:28 pm »

I run my win 7 64 bit 8gb of ram without the page file.

No program uses the page file. Only Windows does. It controls it. If you have a BSOD you need it, but you can always turn it back on if you get one so it will make the dump file.

The only reason I or anyone else would get a speed gain is the bottle neck of the hard drive. By getting rid of the page file the hard drive isnt used for any memory at all. Even when you have tons of memory Windows still puts stuff int he page file. And so your waiting on the hard drive at that point.

So as long as you have plenty of memory then you will be fine.

Try it, if you feel you dont like it you can simply turn it back on

Shane

chris635 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2012, 08:58:33 pm »

I just set it and after boot went back to system properties to check and it warned me it set a pagefile on its own. I'm using diskeeper so I checked the size and looks it set a very small one. Should it do this?

Chris

Shane · « **Reply #3 on:** August 25, 2012, 08:59:57 pm »

Just set it to no page file and reboot

Shane

chris635 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:00:58 pm »

Thats what I did

Shane · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:01:47 pm »

Not sure, get me a screen shot

Shane

chris635 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:04:55 pm »

Its fine. When I go back to system properties it just warns me know pagefile could be calculated and says it will make one but never does. Have you ever noticed any errors in event viewer for this?

Chris

Shane · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:05:34 pm »

I never checked LOL

Shane

chris635 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2012, 09:06:22 pm »

I'm sure it probably does.

Chris

neroilo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 26, 2012, 01:53:16 pm »

How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows

In this Microsoft article there are some methods to calculate page file size in a 64-bit system. They should be also applicable for Windows 7 x64, except some difference in terms because System monitor is the perfomance measurement tool in XP while Performance monitor is the performance measurement tool in Vista/Seven.

Performance Monitor Tutorial (for beginners):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=591kfPROYbs

Data Collector Sets and Reports features explained in the tutorial are very useful to keep trace of your performance, helping you with the suggested methods provided in the previous MS link.

Of course it makes sense if you run a number of memory intensive applications during capture process (see minute 5.04 in tutorial to start it).

umpio · « **Reply #10 on:** September 02, 2012, 06:00:11 am »

What could be the worst scenario of having the page file disabled?

I'm thinking disabling it too on my laptop. It's for light tasks with 3gb memory, and the total memory usage is around 400mb right from the start up. I think it should be plenty enough without the page file.

The laptop is really slow because the hdd is so full and slow..

neroilo · « **Reply #11 on:** September 02, 2012, 03:03:09 pm »

Quote from: umpio on September 02, 2012, 06:00:11 am

What could be the worst scenario of having the page file disabled?

I'm thinking disabling it too on my laptop. It's for light tasks with 3gb memory, and the total memory usage is around 400mb right from the start up. I think it should be plenty enough without the page file.

Page file is used from windows to create full memory dumps.

Quote from: Shane on August 25, 2012, 08:32:28 pm

If you have a BSOD you need it, but you can always turn it back on if you get one so it will make the dump file.

In addition, some old program can require page file on, but it is a rare event. That's all.

Quote from: umpio on September 02, 2012, 06:00:11 am

The laptop is really slow because the hdd is so full and slow..

Have you ever considered to use an external drive to save a part of your data?
Disabling page file because of the full disk space is not a great idea.

umpio · « **Reply #12 on:** September 03, 2012, 06:48:22 am »

Quote from: neroilo on September 02, 2012, 03:03:09 pm

Have you ever considered to use an external drive to save a part of your data?
Disabling page file because of the full disk space is not a great idea.

Good point!

The laptop is quite old with only 60gb hdd, and I always fill it with files. I'll see if I get somewhere an external disk to attache to it.

chris635 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2012, 08:25:41 am »

Hi guys

After I started this post I started a little testing myself for about 21 days now. Half with a pagefile and half without. I also leave my system on everyday except for a weekly reboot. I have noticed a speed increase without the pagefile (I do have 8gb of ram and my system never goes above 22% of ram usage). I do however get errors in the event event viewer stating that PerfOs error could not calculate pagefile performance. This would be expected since pagefile is off. Other than that I have no problems. Mind you if I started having system crashes I would not have any information to go by due to lack of a pagefile. I would simply just turn it back on for this. For my setup with 8 gb of ram. I'll leave it turned off, my system is simply faster this way.

Chris

Shane · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2012, 02:39:15 pm »

Quote

After I started this post I started a little testing myself for about 21 days now. Half with a pagefile and half without. I also leave my system on everyday except for a weekly reboot. I have noticed a speed increase without the pagefile (I do have 8gb of ram and my system never goes above 22% of ram usage). I do however get errors in the event event viewer stating that PerfOs error could not calculate pagefile performance. This would be expected since pagefile is off. Other than that I have no problems. Mind you if I started having system crashes I would not have any information to go by due to lack of a pagefile. I would simply just turn it back on for this. For my setup with 8 gb of ram. I'll leave it turned off, my system is simply faster this way.

That is how it is for me as well.

But as with most tweaks, what might be good for some isnt good for others. You have to look at the setup and the situation and see if any tweak will give pros or cons.

Shane