[SOLVED] Virtual Memory (Pagefile) vs Actual RAM, what's better?

[amit.rudy]

I got 8GB 2400Mhz RAM in my pc, which is enough to play most of the games... But "Horizon Zero Dawn" was crashing on the optimizing screen, due to low RAM. So I have setup a pagefile on my ssd drive, and alloted 8GB virtual memory (Page file) on my ssd drive. Didnt face any problem with Horizon Zero Daen ever since.

1. So is it as good as having an actual RAM?
2. Would a pagefile on ssd be as fast as 2400mhz RAM?

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Get more ram

 

[cryoburner]

SSDs are not nearly as fast as RAM as far as transfer speeds are concerned, though they do tend to be significantly faster than hard drives. A page file will give Windows somewhere to offload data that isn't immediately being used though, so things like background applications and parts of the game that haven't been accessed recently can get shuffled over to it making room in RAM for the currently-needed data. You might see more performance stutters when the game needs to access something from the page file though, and heavily relying on the page file could cause wear on the SSD's flash memory over time due to the increased writes. Having 16GB of RAM would likely result in a smoother experience in demanding games, and you will probably want more eventually, as game requirements will only increase over time.

 

[SamirD]

There really is no substitute for more ram when you need more ram--16gb seems to have become the new standard and 32 and 64gb are no longer unheard of.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Having more actual RAM is better, but increasing the size of the page file can help depending on what you're doing. For example, if you are focused on a game for longer periods of time, having a larger page file will help systems with lower amounts of RAM as the OS can move data from background apps off physical RAM.

But one thing you should never do is run without a page file. The reason being, besides from some apps loudly complaining there isn't one, is that it restricts the amount of memory the OS can reserve for apps to just physical RAM. This might not sound like a big deal but when apps request to reserve some amount of memory, they will always get more than they asked for performance reasons. If they never use the extra memory they got, the OS can easily move that chunk to a page file without a performance hit because it wasn't in use anyway.

 

[amit.rudy]

SSDs are not nearly as fast as RAM as far as transfer speeds are concerned, though they do tend to be significantly faster than hard drives. A page file will give Windows somewhere to offload data that isn't immediately being used though, so things like background applications and parts of the game that haven't been accessed recently can get shuffled over to it making room in RAM for the currently-needed data. You might see more performance stutters when the game needs to access something from the page file though, and heavily relying on the page file could cause wear on the SSD's flash memory over time due to the increased writes. Having 16GB of RAM would likely result in a smoother experience in demanding games, and you will probably want more eventually, as game requirements will only increase over time.

Perfect answer! Thnx!

 

[amit.rudy]

Having more actual RAM is better, but increasing the size of the page file can help depending on what you're doing. For example, if you are focused on a game for longer periods of time, having a larger page file will help systems with lower amounts of RAM as the OS can move data from background apps off physical RAM.

But one thing you should never do is run without a page file. The reason being, besides from some apps loudly complaining there isn't one, is that it restricts the amount of memory the OS can reserve for apps to just physical RAM. This might not sound like a big deal but when apps request to reserve some amount of memory, they will always get more than they asked for performance reasons. If they never use the extra memory they got, the OS can easily move that chunk to a page file without a performance hit because it wasn't in use anyway.

Thnx for info!