up vote 7 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

I've just upgraded my Windows 7 machine from 12GB to 24GB - both for running more VMs and for future proofing.

My C driver is an SSD with 129GB formatted size.

I was surprised to find out that the SSD only has 68GB free (most of my files are on D: to G:). Researching I found 24GB of my precious C: SSD are taken for virtual memory.

So - do I need such large amounts of virtual memory when I have 24GB or RAM? I bought this size of memory so I"d not have to go to disk...

link|improve this question
92% accept rate
You can probably bump it down to 2Gigs. – Sathya♦ Nov 11 '10 at 0:20
Thanks for the reminder! – Ivo Flipse♦ Nov 11 '10 at 9:24
feedback

4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

It depends on your workload. Run all your programs that you usually run (at maximum load) and check virtual memory usage (e.g. with Process Explorer). Just limit your virtual memory to number there. Even if you do not use any virtual memory at all, leave some of it assigned - it helps with memory dumps and memory-mapped files.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

Probably you have the initial size of the swap file quite high, Windows tends to use a high value by default because if offers better performance. Put the initial size to a small size (in your case I suppose that "small" are 1 or 2 GB) and maintain the maximum value in 24 GB. (If you note that Windows always grows the file over the initial size you should use a higher value).

The trick here is changing the initial value, not the maximum value. If Windows grows the swap file is because it needs that memory.

link|improve this answer
I do NOT recommend such a hugely variable size on an SSD, because if the wear leveling on your drive is crappy you have the potential to really reduce the lifetime of the drive in the (very unlikely) event you use most of that paging. – Shinrai Nov 11 '10 at 15:44
Er, to clarify my comment, my recommendation is generally to make the minimum and maximum sizes the same, so it's a fixed file size. This is also nice on slower platter drives to reduce head thrashing and disk fragmentation. I'd recommend 4GB myself but 2 is probably fine. – Shinrai Nov 11 '10 at 16:15
Thats why I said "If you note that Windows always grows the file over the initial size you should use a higher value". Since he is trying to save disk space there is no point in using a 4GB initial size if 99% of the time Windows never use more than, say, 1.2 GB. In other situations I would agree with you that is better use a bigger initial size for the reasons you mention. – Alberto Martinez Nov 12 '10 at 14:30
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

With the faster throughput achieved using SSD technology, the swapfile is a much less critical component. While still essential, it does not need to be a created based on the 1.5x ratio commonly used to determine the size of the swapfile on systems equipped with mechanical drives.

As SSD usage has not become widespread we do not have history to consult when configuring the size of the swapfile in a SSD system. What we do have is an understanding Video applications require more memory than Web Email Clients and there by a graduated scale is available to use to determine possible memory needs. Referencing this against User type, surfer/emailer through hard core gamer and the memory needs may be determined.

Swapfile use on the lower end could be handled by 4gb (and that number could serve as the lower limit for swapfile size). Users running database applications, massive spread sheets and similar software capable of generating high memory usage will need considerably more.

Before needing to make such determinations the management process can be handled by Windows. Allowing the User to review it during normal maintenance cycles to gain insight before making adjustments to increase performance.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote accepted

As I have seen some atricles on the Net recommending NOT to delete the swap file, and as I'm convinced that during normal operation that memory is enough, what I resorted to was to move the swap file to my non SSD drive. This is a 2TB drive, so I just left it as "system managed" size.

P.S. I did notice that the swap file IS used when the computer wakes up after sleep.

link|improve this answer
How did you notice that? It's completely normal as any paged memory operation can trigger access to the file. And it doesn't take long for the first memory cache miss to occur... – Tom Wijsman Nov 27 '10 at 0:28
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.