swapfile.(confused)

Hi all,
Can anyone help me with this 1?
I have been told that you should set your swapfile(pagefile)
@ twice your physical memory, i have 1.5gb of sdram pc133
i am running windows xp pro.
As i paid a fair bit of dosh for this os i want to get the most out of it,
Should i let windows set my swapfile or should i set it myself, if so then at what value should i set it??

Is there anything else that i should do to optomise my system?

I run mainly photoshop, 3ds max, and solidworks.

Thanks.

 

PS. is it worth me upgrading to DDR memory?

 

The swap file is used. Some applications REQUIRE a swap file.

Check out my swapfile guide.
http://www.majorgeeks.net/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3856

 

Windows, and MOST apps, will run happily without a swapfile, but there are a few that won't run properly without one, even if it's not really needed.

Setting a static swapfile size is an advantage only in that it keeps the swapfile anchored to one physical location, and doesn't get fragmented as Windows expands/contracts it. And doesn't bog the system down temporarily as Windows does the shuffling. (Best way to set it is to disable the swapfile, reboot, then defrag your C drive to fill in all the gaps, THEN set your swapfile size, and reboot again. The swapfile will be just after all your apps, and in one continuous segment... and will stay that way.

With that much ram, I'd personally set it at 512 meg, min and max. Probably won't need even that much, but it's a trivial amount on today's large drives.

 

If you don't know what you're doing, let windows handle it. That's why that setting is there.

 

Windows is set up to be conservative with memory, even when it has more than it needs. Any app or service that is idle for too long gets swapped to the HDD.

As for setting static swapfile sizes, the guide I've seen is to set the minimum at your RAM capacity and the max at 1.5 times your RAM capacity.

 

the old 1.5 rule worked well for the win9x series.. but following my guide for swap will work best for NT.