[SOLVED] Why did my paging file go up from 1.8 to 2.3 GB?

[James_369]

So, I have Windows automate the sizing of my Page File and up until recently, it sticked to 1.8 GB. However, it's now begun to climb up by 500 MB to 2.3 GB and has not come back down since.

What happened? How did this change? Is there a way to change it back without tinkering with the paging file settings?

Obligatory computer info dump:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.84 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

 

[USAFRet]

Have you rebooted the system?

Some application you are now using is more RAM intensive than what you were using before. Hence, the larger pagefile.

 

[James_369]

Have you rebooted the system?

Some application you are now using is more RAM intensive than what you were using before. Hence, the larger pagefile.

I have. Still sticks to 2.3 instead of 1.8.

 

[USAFRet]

Based on the system and applications use, Windows thinks it needs a larger pagefile.
System Managed.

And going up 500MB is trivially small.

 

[James_369]

Based on the system and applications use, Windows thinks it needs a larger pagefile.
System Managed.

And going up 500MB is trivially small.

Yeah, fair enough point on the MB bit. Though, it's on a 256 GB SSD, so for me, every space counts.

I guess one more question: I think there is one game that I suspect might have been the cause of the 500 mb spike. If I don't play it much, would Windows take that into consideration and lower the pagefile?

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, fair enough point on the MB bit. Though, it's on a 256 GB SSD, so for me, every space counts.

I guess one more question: I think there is one game that I suspect might have been the cause of the 500 mb spike. If I don't play it much, would Windows take that into consideration and lower the pagefile?

Windows will do what it thinks it needs to do. If that one game is indeed the cause, and you're not playing it anymore, it may reduce.

But....500MB out of a 256GB drive is 0.2%.

 

[alceryes]

Read here - https://www.howtogeek.com/282049/ho...ur-page-file-at-shutdown-and-when-you-should/

FYI, if you are above 80% space usage on your SSD then you may already be experiencing a slowdown due to near-full SSD operation. IOW, if 500MBs of extra space used is an issue then you should really think about moving to a large SSD.

 

[kanewolf]

So, I have Windows automate the sizing of my Page File and up until recently, it sticked to 1.8 GB. However, it's now begun to climb up by 500 MB to 2.3 GB and has not come back down since.

What happened? How did this change? Is there a way to change it back without tinkering with the paging file settings?

Obligatory computer info dump:
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.84 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

The best fix for this "problem" is to get a matched set of two 8GB DIMMs.
Don't try to add "the exact same RAM". That usually turns out badly. Get a set of two DIMMs.

 

[James_369]

Windows will do what it thinks it needs to do. If that one game is indeed the cause, and you're not playing it anymore, it may reduce.

But....500MB out of a 256GB drive is 0.2%.

Alright, thanks for the answer.

if you are above 80% space usage on your SSD

I should clarify how much I'm at, only using about 67.3 GB on my SSD, and about four of that is for System Restore. So, no, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I was merely curious as to why the increase.

 

[alceryes]

I should clarify how much I'm at, only using about 67.3 GB on my SSD, and about four of that is for System Restore.

Then I wouldn't worry about it. Windows managed pagefile is just that - 'Windows' managed.
Windows does a lot of stuff in the background. Chasing 500MBs of extra pagefile usage on a Windows-managed pagefile is just chasing ghosts.

 

[MJS WARLORD]

hi james , i had your problem many years ago , everytime my anti virus ran i got the msg to say windows had increased paging file , why not set it yourself.
Type performance into search box and click on ... adjust appearance and performance , next click advanced tab , change , untick the top box and if you are concerned about loosing hard drive space then just go slightly above the indicated recommended settings

 

[James_369]

why not set it yourself.

That was an idea, but

1. as pointed out by the others, 500 MB isn't a huge difference.
2. I don't want to risk the computer suddenly dying or giving up because the paging file is slightly smaller than what it prefers.

 

[alceryes]

I don't want to risk the computer suddenly dying or giving up because the paging file is slightly smaller than what it prefers.

What is this computer used for? Just gaming and normal personal usage...?
If yes, set the pagefile to a static amount that equals the size of your RAM + 257MBs. This will get you a 'complete' memory dump in the event of a crash. Unless you're running very specific commercial applications, that's all you'll ever need.

 

[James_369]

What is this computer used for? Just gaming and normal personal usage...?

Yeah.

That said, think I'll be fine with the 2.3. If this suddenly increases to, say, 8 GB and stays that way, then I'll look into changing or clearing the paging file.

 

[InvalidError]

I have 32GB of RAM and still set my swapfile to 16GB just to make sure Windows never has any excuse to mess with its size. Back in the Windows 95 days, I noticed that games had a tendency to stutter whenever Windows decided to re-size the swapfile and I've been manually setting swapfile size ever since to prevent that.

 

[Colif]

i have 32gb too and I had read the Microsoft rules about min/max page file and assumed it would set it at 32gb.
Nope, system managed is 4.8gb. Never used enough ram to need to make it bigger yet... i need to work on that.

it really depends on usage as to how big it gets.
I know its not a good idea to not have one as its used by windows error reporting to create the dump files needed to work out BSOD.

 

[James_369]

Windows will do what it thinks it needs to do. If that one game is indeed the cause, and you're not playing it anymore, it may reduce.

Actually, I thought of some followup questions: How exactly does Windows determine how much space it needs for the paging file? Is there some sort of "average use per day" it determines? Would clearing the paging file 'reset' it to a lower default value?

 

[InvalidError]

Actually, I thought of some followup questions: How exactly does Windows determine how much space it needs for the paging file? Is there some sort of "average use per day" it determines? Would clearing the paging file 'reset' it to a lower default value?

If you leave it on auto, Windows will just enlarge the swapfile however much it thinks it needs to in order to ensure it always has room to dump the least frequently used RAM pages in case something else needs it.

 

[Colif]

The Automatic memory dump setting is enabled by default. This is a setting instead of a kind of crash dump. This setting automatically selects the best page file size, depending on the frequency of system crashes.

The Automatic memory dump feature initially selects a small paging file size. It would accommodate the kernel memory most of the time. If the system crashes again within four weeks, the Automatic memory dump feature sets the page file size as either the RAM size or 32 GB, whichever is smaller.

Well, that explains why mine is so small. No BSOD, no need for it to grow.

The following table lists the minimum and maximum page file sizes of system-managed page files in Windows 10.

Minimum page file size
Varies based on page file usage history, amount of RAM (RAM ÷ 8, max 32 GB) and crash dump settings.

Maximum page file size
3 × RAM or 4 GB, whichever is larger. This is then limited to the volume size ÷ 8. However, it can grow to within 1 GB of free space on the volume if required for crash dump settings.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...page-file-size#support-for-system-crash-dumps

WIn 10 hardly ever uses page file. If you close a program during the day, it is far more likely to compress the info into ram in case you need it again. It only writes that info to storage if you run a program that needs the ram the data is in. It only uses page file if it has no other choice.

 

[James_369]

3 × RAM or 4 GB, whichever is larger. This is then limited to the volume size ÷ 8.

So... Let me see if I get this right:

I have 8 GB of ram, so that would make it 24 GB paging file, but limited by the Volume size divided by 8. I assume the volume size is my storage, so 256 GB (or 237 barring all the partitions).

Does this mean my max size should be 8 gigabytes (256 / 8 is 32 GB, minus 24 is 8) or even 5.6 GB (accounting for the 237 GB)?

 

[Colif]

If you are concerned about page file usage, I would just get more ram

The best fix for this "problem" is to get a matched set of two 8GB DIMMs.
Don't try to add "the exact same RAM". That usually turns out badly. Get a set of two DIMMs.

As I said, win 10 only uses page file if it runs out of ram, so if its using it and you only have 8gb now, get more ram. It won't use it then unless you get a BSOD, then the size of the page file is going to be same size as your ram amount. 16gb is enough for most people still.

I would assume it uses the formatted size which is 237.

 

[mamasan2000]

You can set the size of pagefile yourself. Win+ Pause/Break. Scroll all the way down on rightside. Advanced System Settings. Advanced tab, under Performance, click on Settings. Advanced tab again. Under Virtual Memory, click Change. I tend to run with 4-6 gigs (4096-6144 megs). Set Initial and Maximum size to SAME value. Might have to click 'Custom size'. You can try with lower but if you get weird issues, remember that you adjusted pagefile, could be the reason for the issues. Don't change anything else for a week or two and test it out. Does everything still work?

 

[SamirD]

So... Let me see if I get this right:

I have 8 GB of ram...

For this I would just set it to 8GB and be done. The swap file historically has always been used (it is also called a page file), so when it is a fixed size, it's a permanent file and usually works a bit faster. Also, you don't want to exceed your physical ram by too much or you can end up running programs from disk that are swapping constantly and you don't want that either.

 

[James_369]

Just noticed my paging file had been reduced from 2304 MB to 2176 MB. I'm gonna take this as a huge win for me.

Thank you all for explaining things to me. It definitely helped calm me down given my "sky is falling" feeling.

 

[SamirD]

Just noticed my paging file had been reduced from 2304 MB to 2176 MB. I'm gonna take this as a huge win for me.

Thank you all for explaining things to me. It definitely helped calm me down given my "sky is falling" feeling.

Honestly, just set it to a fixed size and forget about it. This way you also don't have any surprises on free hard disk space.