Ram usage question

Quick question,
With cacheman XP, I've been checking my Ram and page file usage. I have 1 gig of Ram and with only MyIE2 explorer running (and Cacheman) I'm using 243 meg of ram and 116 meg on the page file. I was wondering why since ram is SO MUCH FASTER and since a lot is available why the page file is used at all, is this normal, and if not can it be adjusted?
Thanks

 

this is normal behavior

 

O.K. thanks for the quick reply.

 

In Windows 98 you can set Conservative Swap File usage to request that the OS uses RAM before the page file. ON my Windows 98 with 256MB RAM I rarely (if at all) get any swap file usage.

Does such a thing exist in Windows XP?

 

Good question Maxwell, I'm running XP home now.

 

Conservative swap does not exist in XP.

 

if you have a GIG of RAM on Windows XP, you should set your page file to 256MB.

 

Not saying I disagree, but curious why 256mb?

 

well, I'm saying I disagree.
Your VM should be set to your Total Commit Charge(k) value as shown in your task manager.

 

Wow, I always thought it was 1 1/2 times your ram. Mine is at 1536 meg. Should I change that?

 

AFAIK the 1.5 rule goes out the window after 512MB. Like kodo says, set it to the Total Commit Charge (k) in the performance tab on the task manager. You might wanna run your computer for a while before setting it, just to make sure it doesnt get any higher.

EDIT : actually peak would probably be more useful....

 

XP actually gives you alot of control over your swapfile. You can set your Initial size to anything you want-lower if you have lots of RAM. Maximum size to whatever. You can even disable the swapfile-not recommended. You can let Windows control it-it will expand it as necessary. I have only 192megs. Set my initial to 288 and max to 512.
As far as memory managers-IMHO they are worthless. They simply transfer from speedy RAM to slower swapfile. I have not been impressed by any yet. They always seem nice at first glance though.

 

I have heard of games that require you to have over a gig of swapfile space handy. Infact having less hurt game performance, until a higher swapfile was set.

 

Hmmm.... kinda getting an interesting varity of answers/tips. Thanks for all the input.

 

Blimey.... obviously not games for people who like to tune their PC. :/ 1GB is massive... unless youre doing CAD and dont have much ram. would be as slow as hell!