Should I Change My Microsoft Windows Page File Size? (2024)

FAQs

Should I Change My Microsoft Windows Page File Size? ›

No. We highly recommend all users let Microsoft Windows choose the best initial, maximum, and minimum settings for their virtual memory (page file). Disabling or setting the page file size too small can reduce system performance and cause instability and crashes in Windows.

You should avoid altering the paging file on 32-bit systems, however. You can minimize the size of the paging file using the following steps: Open System Properties. Right-click the Start button, select Control Panel > System and then click Change Settings.

Your paging file size should be 1.5 times your physical memory at a minimum and up to 4 times the physical memory at most to ensure system stability.

We recommend that you either allow the system to manage the page file size or to set it at 150% of the size of the physical RAM. Click OK, and then restart the computer to apply the changes.

Otherwise known as 'virtual memory', a huge pagefile. sys can indicate that it might be time to upgrade the system's RAM and that virtual memory is being relied on too heavily. Virtual memory is only used when RAM reaches its limits and only the least-used data that are typically held in RAM is sent there, usually.

If your pagefile is too small, you may get a memory. dmp file, but Debugging Tools for Windows won't be able to read it.

On computers that have 8 GB of RAM, the suggested paging file size is 16 GB.

A page file is required to ensure that the database cache can release memory if other services or applications request memory.

Allocating too little HDD space for virtual memory can result in a computer running out of RAM. If a system continually needs more virtual memory space, it may be wise to consider adding RAM. Common OSes may generally recommend users not increase virtual memory beyond 1 ½ times the amount of RAM.

Microsoft recommends that you set virtual memory to be no less than 1.5 times and no more than 3 times the amount of RAM on your computer. For power PC owners (like most UE/UC users), you likely have at least 2GB of RAM so your virtual memory can be set up to 6,144 MB (6 GB).

Does paging slow down a computer? ›

Increasing page file size may help prevent instabilities and crashing in Windows. However, hard drive read/write times are much slower than what they would be if the data were in your computer memory. Having a larger page file is going to add extra work for your hard drive, causing everything else to run slower.

The Pagefile allows the computer to perform smoothly by reducing the workload of the physical memory, or RAM. Simply put, every time you open more applications than the RAM on your PC can accommodate, the programs already present in the RAM are automatically transferred to the Pagefile.

If you delete Pagefile. sys and your computer runs out of physical memory, your system will start to become sluggish. If the sluggishness gets too bad, Windows itself might even crash. Also, you might notice some apps becoming slower or crashing as well.

If the page file keeps growing, it is possible that there is some program running that has a memory leak. Although it isn't the ideal tool for it, you could use Task Manager to see if some process is using an exorbitant amount of memory.

The most likely cause of the Pagefile growing beyond the configured setting is if the system's paging file requirements exceed the current setting and the virtual memory of the system is depleted.

The vast majority of users should never disable the pagefile or mess with the pagefile settings – just let Windows handle the pagefile and use the available RAM for file caching, processes, and Superfetch.

Pages are typically 512 to 8192 bytes, with 4096 being a typical value.

The initial size would be 1.5 x 4,096 = 6,144 MB and the maximum size would be 3 x 6,144 = 18,432 MB.

Windows sets the initial virtual memory paging file equal to the amount of installed RAM. The paging file is a minimum of 1.5 times and a maximum of three times your physical RAM.

What size pagefile for 128gb RAM? ›

Don't disable page file even if you have 128 GB of memory or more. Set it at the very least to a fixed size, 256-512 MB or so should be enough.

Anything over 32GB of ram doesn't need a page file at all. I ran 64GB without and used an 8GB ram drive for all the various temp files created during Software Installs and such but never had need for the page file.

People have tested this theory and found that, while Windows can run without a page file if you have a large amount of RAM, there's no performance benefit to disabling the page file. However, disabling the page file can result in some bad things.

As a rule of thumb, the paging file should be a minimum of 1.5 times the size of your installed RAM, and a maximum of 3 times your RAM size. For example, if you have 8 GB RAM, your minumum would be 1024 x 8 x 1.5 = 12,288 MB, and your maximum would be 1024 x 8 x 3 = 24,576 MB.

It is a widely spread myth that disabling the paging file improves performance. In fact it is able only to make idling apps open faster. But at the same time you can provoke different apps to crash or generate errors. So, it is not recommended to disable it completely.

Understanding RAM

If your computer is running slowly due to a lack of RAM, you might be tempted to increase virtual memory because it is less expensive. However, adding RAM is a better solution because your processor can read data from RAM faster than from a hard drive.

The computer uses virtual memory to augment the ordinary RAM that is installed on the computer. If you reduce the size of the paging file, the Office program may not start correctly or may not start at all. This behavior may occur even if the computer has lots of RAM.

In the default Windows configuration, 2 gigabytes (GB) of this virtual address space are designated for the private use of each process, and the other 2 GB is shared between all processes and the operating system.

64-bit Processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT). CPU support for VM Monitor Mode Extension (VT-x on Intel CPU's). Minimum of 4 GB memory.

How should I configure my virtual memory settings? ›

Disadvantages of Paging

Paging causes internal fragmentation on older systems. Longer memory lookup times compared to segmentation. It may cause internal fragmentation. Page tables consume additional memory.

Your storage drive and memory (RAM) are the two key pieces of hardware most related to the speed of your computer. A dated storage drive will slow down your performance, even when defragmented, while too little memory offers limited resources to run multiple programs.

The paging file is a minimum of 1.5 times and a maximum of three times your physical RAM. You can calculate your paging file size using the following system. For example, a system with 4GB RAM would have a minimum of 1024x4x1. 5=6,144MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM x Minimum].

If the system determines that pages need to go to the page file because you have insufficient memory available, there is not anything you can do. It has to page. If you know that the application would run better with more memory, and you cannot get more memory, you will need to live with the high page file usage.

The biggest reason you'd want pagefile. sys cleared is to get rid of any sensitive data it contains. Just keep in mind that this can make the shutdown process a little slower if the file is large.

When the commit charge return to normal the pagefile will shrink, if that is possible. It may not be. If data was written to the end of the extended pagefile and was not freed by whatever allocated the memory then the pagefile cannot be shrunk down.

The big problem with disabling your pagefile is that once you've exhausted the available RAM, your apps are going to start crashing, since there's no virtual memory for Windows to allocate—and worst case, your actual system will crash or become very unstable.

Microsoft recommends that you set virtual memory to be no less than 1.5 times and no more than 3 times the amount of RAM on your computer.

How much virtual memory should I set for 16gb RAM? ›

You want to do very little swapping. Some extra virtual memory can allow bloated portions of the OS to stay on disk largely unused,however virtual memory more than 2x that of main memory is a waste if disk space. So for16 GB, no more than 32 GB.

Is it Safe to Increase the Virtual Memory above the recommended and will it improve Performance? ) that increasing the Virtual Memory from Advanced System Settings on Windows 10 will improve the performance.

As a rule of thumb, the paging file should be a minimum of 1.5 times the size of your installed RAM, and a maximum of 3 times your RAM size. For example, if you have 8 GB RAM, your minumum would be 1024 x 8 x 1.5 = 12,288 MB, and your maximum would be 1024 x 8 x 3 = 24,576 MB.

The Pagefile allows the computer to perform smoothly by reducing the workload of the physical memory, or RAM. Simply put, every time you open more applications than the RAM on your PC can accommodate, the programs already present in the RAM are automatically transferred to the Pagefile.

The paging file is a minimum of 1.5 times and a maximum of three times your physical RAM. You can calculate your paging file size using the following system. For example, a system with 4GB RAM would have a minimum of 1024x4x1. 5=6,144MB [1GB RAM x Installed RAM x Minimum].

Microsoft recommends "3 × RAM or 4 GB, whichever is larger," which will protect your system from instability when you do use your paging file. However, Windows' automatic paging file management might decide otherwise, so it's typically best to let the operating system figure things out for itself.

Some “experts” suggest leaving the Page File on the SSD to maximize system performance while others suggest placing it on an installed hard drive (if one is present of course) in order to maximize the life of the SSD.

A page file is required to ensure that the database cache can release memory if other services or applications request memory.

16 GB RAM. To meet the demands of modern software, 16 GB of RAM is what most people will need. This amount will help strike a good balance between running standing and resource-hungry apps on your computer. So if you're prone to opening lots of tabs in Google Chrome, you find that your computer will barely complain.