16GB RAM why do I need to Paging file?

[Ravi Sankar]

I have 16Gb of RAM on Win7 64 bit OS, hardly RAM utilization will be 35-40% maximum ... but I could see page files of size 16GB on the SSD OS drive

SO, my question here is
1. Why do I need paging file even I have high quantity of RAM?
2. Can I reduce Paging file size to 4GB or (if possible) 2GB or less?
3. If I completely disable Paging file? will it impact in anyway?

 

[rhysiam]

1) You don't "need" it. By default Windows will allocate virtual memory (pagefile) the same size as your RAM. It will "reserve" this disk space to ensure it's there if required. That's why you see a 16GB page file.
2) You can absolutely reduce the pagefile size. You can also move it to a second disk if you have one. I'm working on memory here as I have Win10 which is slightly different, but try this: In Windows Explorer, right click on "my computer", choose "Properties", "Advanced System Settings", go to the "Advanced" tab, find the "Performance" section and press "settings", again go to the "Advanced" tab, under the "Virtual Memory" section press "Change".
From there you can untick "Automatically manage paging file..." and set things as you want.

If you're not hitting your memory very hard, running without a page file is probably fine. I know lots of people do it without issues. I believe Windows will prompt you anyway if it's running out of RAM and requires the Pagefile.

 

[Ravi Sankar]

1) You don't "need" it. By default Windows will allocate virtual memory (pagefile) the same size as your RAM. It will "reserve" this disk space to ensure it's there if required. That's why you see a 16GB page file.
2) You can absolutely reduce the pagefile size. You can also move it to a second disk if you have one. I'm working on memory here as I have Win10 which is slightly different, but try this: In Windows Explorer, right click on "my computer", choose "Properties", "Advanced System Settings", go to the "Advanced" tab, find the "Performance" section and press "settings", again go to the "Advanced" tab, under the "Virtual Memory" section press "Change".
From there you can untick "Automatically manage paging file..." and set things as you want.

If you're not hitting your memory very hard, running without a page file is probably fine. I know lots of people do it without issues. I believe Windows will prompt you anyway if it's running out of RAM and requires the Pagefile.

Thanks for the information

 

[madmatt30]

Reduce it manually to 512mb or 1gb


You have to leave a minimum size page file for system logs & bsod / error logs

 

[Ravi Sankar]

Reduce it manually to 512mb or 1gb


You have to leave a minimum size page file for system logs & bsod / error logs

Ok Noted ... Thanks, I will provide 2GB