Page File Size? Auto Vs Manual?

After a fresh install of Windows 7, the page file is set to "System managed filed" in Virtual Memory by default. I always change this to "Custom Size" and set it to the recommended size.

For example:

Under "Total paging file size for all drives" it lists three fields: Minimum allowed, Recommended (which in my case Windows lists it as 12274MB and Currently allocated. I always set the Initial size (MB) field to match the exact value that Windows recommends at the bottom (IE: mine says 12274 so that's what I set in the "Initial" field).

This is something I've always done thinking I was maximizing performance to utilize all the available RAM (I have 8 Gigs installed).

Is this a good practice or would my system perform better if I allowed Windows to manage it on its own?

Thanks!

 

I've used both "System Managed" and "Custom Size", I don't really notice a difference. I just leave it to "System Managed", plus I use two 4GB flash drives for Readyboost, and it seems to work out just fine.

According to Task Manager, my system RAM usage is barely ever above 5GB (out of 8GB), so I don't think the pagefile is used all that often.

 

Changing the page file size to gain performance is only possible at the extremes, you'd not notice any difference in normal usage. Windows does not use any 'intelligent' algorithm based on your actual long or short -term usage to set the size, it's based on guesswork based on something like average business class usage.

Back in the days when 128MB was normal, page files often had to be resized upwards during the first day of hard use, automatic resizing made a machine unusable for several minutes otherwise.

I have 6GB of RAM, 512MB page file on my System SSD and 4092MB on my Data HDD, both fixed.

Back when I was using XP/Vista beta/pre-release W7 across several machines maxed out with 2GB of RAM, I'd have 4GB page files on each HD, usually 2 or 3, and I would stretch those resources out to 85-92% regularly (somewhere around the 92% mark, any jump in memory called for resulted in a crash).

To gain a reasonable estimate of how much page file you need, take a look at this, Silverlight only, from about the 56 minute mark.

 

The Microsoft "recommended" page file size is 1.5 x the size of the installed RAM. This has been since the Win9x days.

And it perfectly doesn't make any sense... If you have very little RAM, e.g. 1GB or less, you may need a lot more virtual memory to run a modern operating system and software. If you have RAM to spare, you may need very little (or no) virtual memory.

But with today's disk space and RAM being so cheap, we really shouldn't need to worry about the page file size; let Windows handle it.

 

My System drive is an SSD, no way do I want 9GB of that wasted just because it has 6GB of RAM! - it's a PC = Personal Computer, if someone is bright enough to understand what System resources he uses per session, watching a five minute clip from MSDN will give him the facts to decide for himself on how much page file is needed.

My netbook has 1.5GB of RAM on a 8GB SSD, guess how much page file it has? Sometimes there are hardware limitations, sometimes we need to compromise, sometimes there's an excess and it matters not.

 

Very informative article about running without a page file:

http://www.tweakhound.com/2011/10/10/the-windows-7-pagefile-and-running-without-one/

 

Great! I'll check it out!

 

Personally I set the page file to a set size (normally the closest standard unit size (IE 1024, 2048 etc) to the recommended) with both the minimum and maximum the same to ensure that Windows does not resize it. Windows resizing the page file used to be a big hit on XP computers with limited RAM so I personally don't trust windows to manage it effectively.

However, with modern systems with lots of RAM the page file normally doesn't resize itself.

 

I have seen at least a dozen articles about pagefile configuration - size, placement, minimum size, maximum size, etc. -
and sometimes recommendations conflict.

This is a good article that does not get too technical or bogged down with number crunching.

Understanding the Windows Pagefile and Why You Shouldn’t Disable It