[SOLVED] How much Virtual Memory does my rig need?

[horstp]

Hi guys,

I use this PC mostly for playing old games and watching youtube, but now I want to play Warhammer Total War and I've heard it's demanding, at least in regards to my GPU.

When starting the steam download, I noticed my system drive is running out of available space again and once again I have noticed that huge pagefile.sys sitting on C:

Now... My PC has 32 GB of RAM, do I even need virtual memory? If so, how much? My system tells me default would be 49GB, at the moment I'm allocating 32GB.

I've attached a speccy screenshot in case it helps with answering my question.

 

[Math Geek]

how much is allocated vs how much is actually being used are 2 different things. you're best to leave it set to the default and let windows handle it.

the page file is not just a substitute for ram (you have plenty!!) but it also is a place for stuff to sit that has already been formatted for ram use. this saves a step from getting it from the hdd and into ram format again when needed. so even though there is plenty of ram space, some data still sits in this limbo stage in the page file in case it's needed.

more than likely there is little page file being used anyway so it should not really be a concern how much is "alloted" in case it's needed.

 

[USAFRet]

Unless you have a specific need, or are severely limited on C drive space, leave it as system default.

And yes, the system needs "some".
Don't turn it off completely.

 

[horstp]

Thank you both. I wouldn't call it "severely limited", but my system SSD on C: is only 256 GB and it's almost full now after installing the game (15 GB left). I already don't store media on the disk and there doesn't seem all the much I can move, so that huge chunk of pagefile.sys seemed to be the easiest way to free up some space.

You said to go with the default, that means I'd have to dump another 17 GB? Because Windows recommends 49 GB vs the currently allocated 32 GB. Is this always that much or is it because I have so much RAM to start with? It just seems excessive too have that much disk space lie dormant somehow. I would have thought Windows could easily make do with, like, 8 GB or something. But then again, I'm the noob who had to look up what pagefile.sys even is so what do I know 😀

 

[USAFRet]

Given 32GB actual RAM, no problem if you reduce it.
Take it down to 8GB and then leave it.

And...15GB free space on a 256GB drive is too little. You don't want to go over 200GB or so used space.

 

[horstp]

Given 32GB actual RAM, no problem if you reduce it.
Take it down to 8GB and then leave it.

And...15GB free space on a 256GB drive is too little. You don't want to go over 200GB or so used space.

Thank you! I'll delete some stuff and reduce to 8 GB.

 

[Math Geek]

as a side note, since you are basically asking to save space on that precious speedy ssd, there is another option for you as well. you can actually move the page file off the c: drive and put it on the other data drive. it will be slower and if in use will slow the system down a touch but it'll give back that little bit of space on the ssd for other use. it's not that hard to do and overall won't hurt the system.

How to move page file in Windows 10 to another disk

Here is how you can move the page file in Windows 10 and why you might want to do it.

winaero.com

has an added benefit of saving some i/o writs to the ssd since the hdd will be handling the page file duties. i would personally create a new partition on that data drive for it and put nothing else on it. make it about 70-75 gb since the recommended page file is about 50 gb. again not required but an option if you wish to go there.

 

[horstp]

as a side note, since you are basically asking to save space on that precious speedy ssd, there is another option for you as well. you can actually move the page file off the c: drive and put it on the other data drive. it will be slower and if in use will slow the system down a touch but it'll give back that little bit of space on the ssd for other use. it's not that hard to do and overall won't hurt the system.

How to move page file in Windows 10 to another disk

Here is how you can move the page file in Windows 10 and why you might want to do it.

winaero.com

has an added benefit of saving some i/o writs to the ssd since the hdd will be handling the page file duties. i would personally create a new partition on that data drive for it and put nothing else on it. make it about 70-75 gb since the recommended page file is about 50 gb. again not required but an option if you wish to go there.

I'm running Win7, is the way to change it the same?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'm running Win7, is the way to change it the same?

The same.
To advanced System Properties you get by:

right-click on My Computer,​

choose properties,​

Choose Advanced System properties.​

​

Set your pagefile to manual, 1000MB initial size, 8000MB max size.

 

[Math Geek]

if i recall right it is easier in win 7 to move it

What Is the Windows Page File, and How Do You Configure It?

Windows uses a page file to store data that can’t be held by your computer’s random-access memory when it fills up. While you can tweak the page file settings, Windows 10 and Windows 11 can manage the page file just fine on their own.

www.howtogeek.com