In this age of 2 GIG ram...what will be the best swap file size to use.

shaolin95 · 04-15-2006, 08:02 PM

I was wondering now that I have 2 GIGs of RAM what swap file size would you recommend.

Kobalt · 04-15-2006, 10:15 PM

I recommend setting both the initial and max values at 1.5x the amount of ram you have. If you get "out of memory" errors then increase the maximum to 3x the about of ram you have.

shaolin95 · 04-16-2006, 12:14 AM

I dont really believe too much in the 1.5x theory as logic tells you is not really accurate. I mean think about it. If I had 1gig and set it at 1.5 x that equals 1.5gig. Now if I have 2gigs or ram and set it up at 1.5x that equals 3Gigs. So, that means that I should have been having lots of issues when I had 1gig since my swap file was only 1.5gig compared to my new one at 3gigs. It makes no sense at all to increase the swap file when you are actually adding MORE ram to your system. See my point? Logic tells me that if the swap files is there to compensate for the lack of ram that by adding more Ram I will actually need a smaller swap file.
I was actually looking to see what people is using total like say a 4 gig total between ram and swap file or so....

Heretic · 04-16-2006, 12:21 AM

My page file is 2gb and I've never had any trouble. You can't really decrease performance by having a larger page file...you'll just decrease the amount of usable hard drive space you have. That said, most people will find that 1-2gb page file will suit them just fine. If you have any real worries about the size, you can set it to some larger value and then monitor page file usage over a couple of days of normal computing. From that, you can find a better size to suit your needs.