system page file size?

[rocafella1978]

windows 10-pro 64-bit, pure gaming PC- OS installed on M.2 / SSD, 64GB RAM, any recommendations for size of page file systems?

thank you all.

 

[androbourne]

Normally the default value for page file is fine as page file isn't used unless it is needed to make up for lack of memory. If you have 16gb or more of memory for gaming, then I'd just leave he page file at defaults.

 

[SkyNetRising]

For pure gaming pc 16GB ram is enough. Anything more is overkill.
64gb is just a waste of money (unless you're also doing game streaming, photo/video editing or running multiple virtual machines).

As for page file - set it to 500MB initial, 8GB max. With such amount of ram it will not be used anyway. It just needs to exist.

 

[InvalidError]

I make my swap file 4GB fixed-size despite having 32GB of RAM. If I turn it off altogether, some of my programs behave oddly and if I leave it with some degree of dynamic size, Windows periodically re-sizes it for no apparent reason.

 

[derekullo]

32 gigabytes of ram is nice though

I can play Wow, Eve and have a 30 tab firefox open without running out of ram.


Having said that, relative to the cost of the other parts of a high end build, i7-8700k, Geforce 1080Ti ..., ram is cheap.

At a minimum you are paying $155 for 16 gigabytes of ram.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313771

For another $155 you can another 16 gigabytes for 32 gigabytes of ram.


16 gigabytes of ram is probably enough for gaming, but for another $155 for double you might as well.

 

[rocafella1978]

thanks guys! appreciate all the answers, it really seems that there is no consensus over/ about this “page file” stuff, even MS forum/ help was completely vague about it.

 

[gasaraki]

thanks guys! appreciate all the answers, it really seems that there is no consensus over/ about this “page file” stuff, even MS forum/ help was completely vague about it.

What consensus do you want? The consensus is that you can leave it on the default or have it "managed by Windows" which will work just fine.

If you want to save space or something, set it to a static size of 2GB to 8GB and be done. Be aware I have ran in to some games (very rare) that don't like my static pagefile size (Mass Effect: Andromeda).

 

[rocafella1978]

...thanks for the answer, but that’s the same as putting options into a car or whatever and you don’t give a **** what it does, why and so on. i just am curious what, why and how, how is that in there and nobody has answer. i have left it at default, or automated whatever it is called, and goes from small to ginormous...i think biggest it had grown to was close to 200GB...so yes i do give a **** what it does and how i can change it, or make my system maybe work better/ worst and etc. sorry but your last answer is no good and makes no sense. (but at least you got a post 😉 count!)

thanks to the others who posted some good answers and PM’ed links!

 

[InvalidError]

thanks guys! appreciate all the answers, it really seems that there is no consensus over/ about this “page file” stuff, even MS forum/ help was completely vague about it.

Just like most other things in computing, the ideal answer depends heavily on what you are doing. With 64GB (or even 32GB) of RAM, most people wouldn't need a swapfile at all were it not for the odd piece of software every now and then that goes completely nuts without one. That's the only reason I have enabled the swapfile on my PC and set it to 4GB.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The consensus is that you can leave it on the default or have it "managed by Windows" which will work just fine.

Virtual memory should not be left at system managed settings. If you do that, it sets pagefile to double amount of physical ram. For any modern system those settings are absolutely inadequate. Also unreasonably large pagefile hurts performance.

 

[rocafella1978]

yes, tried again system managed and became huge file, so that does not make sense...seems to me this is something MS has not optimized for Windows with more than 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
even in the official knowledge base (KB) articles, MS goes back to Windows XP and that’s where last updates were, except for server usage up to Windows 8 etc. but still all based on 4GB -> 8GB RAM. and some explanations on servers and how dump file works with 16-32GB RAM in a server environment. (how to set page file for a server...and so on)

i think for a 64GB RAM system, is okay to limit to 1GB (custom size) or min.1GB and max. 4GB. (after reading all the articles and feedback) the more RAM the less page file needed, or minimizing that page file size even more.

 

[InvalidError]

i think for a 64GB RAM system, is okay to limit to 1GB (custom size) or min.1GB and max. 4GB. (after reading all the articles and feedback) the more RAM the less page file needed, or minimizing that page file size even more.

Some software attempt to reserve memory against the pagefile and if the pagefile is too small to fulfill the request, the software either crashes or does weird things. Either disable the swapfile altogether to find out if you are using any such software or set it to a large enough size that it shouldn't be a problem. In my case, I need the swapfile to be around 3GB to avoid swapfile-related application crashes or weirdness, so I set it to 4GB fixed-size.

 

[rocafella1978]

thank you very much, actually works really well with 4GB fixed size. much better, no hogging and clogging anymore. THANKS AGAIN!

 

[InvalidError]

Glad that worked for you too