View Full Version : Pagefile questions
Boogerlad
01-28-2009, 02:42 PM
If one has a 32 bit operating system and has 4gb of ram, then a pagefile isn't necassary because virtual+real ram in a 32 bit system has a max of 4gb right? Also, what applications NEED a pagefile? I heard photoshop does...
32 bit Windows other than * Datacenter Edition can't use more than 4 GB, so page file shouldn't be beneficial. However some people report that some programs need at least a small page file in order to run, though I didn't see any explanation of this phenomenon.
EDIT: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx
Some other Windows Server versions support it too.
[XC] riptide
01-28-2009, 03:09 PM
If one has a 32 bit operating system and has 4gb of ram, then a pagefile isn't necassary because virtual+real ram in a 32 bit system has a max of 4gb right? Also, what applications NEED a pagefile? I heard photoshop does...
Photoshop ALSO uses whats called a scratch file I believe. basically its a PS only type Pagefile. A lot of PS jockeys use a seperate, fast disk for their scratch file.
Boogerlad
01-28-2009, 04:43 PM
some people say that disabling the pagefile doesn't actaully disable it, but is that true?
It does, but many applications still depend on a page file existing. It is not recommended to remove it, despite what people say about it increasing performance. At the most try to move it to a RAM disk.
Soulburner
01-30-2009, 06:03 AM
Check this thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206679&highlight=page+file
There have been many discussions on this, this is the most recent.
Boogerlad
01-30-2009, 07:20 AM
I've got another question. Because windows can only "see" up to 3.25 gb of ram if we have a 4gb system, can we use the remaining 768mb of ram as a pagefile on a ramdisk? Anyone know of any ramdisks that will set themselves up on bootup as pagefile?
No, you can't. This memory is lost on 32bit OS w/out PAE, you can't use it in any way.
EniGmA1987
02-01-2009, 10:34 AM
In Windows XP 32-bit, can you go into the command prompt and type:
BCDEdit /set pae ForceEnable
to get it to be able to read more than 4GB of RAM?
but back onto topic a bit more, if you want to use RAM only and disable the pagefile, but arent sure if it will cause problems with programs or not, then you can get one of the many free RAMdisk programs out there and set a new drive in Windows to be something like 512MB, then set the Windows pagefile to be the 512MB of the new RAMdisk you made. That way you still have the pagefile there, but it runs at the speed of your RAM. And since if you had just turned it off it would be using RAM anyway, so you arent really losing anything if you do it this way. I think Microsoft actually has a RAMdisk driver out for download, but I havent personally used it. I cant remember the name of the program that I use, and I am not at home so I cant check.