SSD/Page file question

[gguyss]

Hi guys,
I have a quick question regarding SSD and Page file.

My computer that I am having built will come with a Crucial M4 256 GB SSD.
The PC will also have 16 GB of ram. With a GTX 590.
I will use it for gaming (Skyrim) and moderate HD video editing. Is moderate HD an oxymoron?

I've read that some people like to disable it to save space on their SSD. I'll have 256 GB ( is this enough? to not worry about space?)
I've also read that having the page file on will harm the SSD over time. But I talked with Crucial staff, and they said it is not an issue.
Apparently SSD are better made then I thought.

Anyway, the debate over "No page file" "Keep page file" and "Some page file" is still unclear.

I wonder if some page file is best? If so, how much?
Thanks.
P.S. It's killing me that I have Skyrim and no PC to play it on!

[Deleted]

I've set mine to 1024MB.. Seems to work fine for me. I may be wrong but I think the whole page file changing thing is to get that little extra space out of your SSD.

[Corrodin]

You have plenty of memory, i would personally disable the pagefile to save diskspace.

Below is a guide of certain features you should disable to maximize the life of your drive:

thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/

[vesseblah]

Turn pagefile completely off, and if you ever run out of memory, then you can consider turning it on again. 16GB RAM is so much that you probably wont run out on any normal home use unless you run multiple virtual machines on the computer.

I have pagefile off and have never run out of 8GB of RAM even when splicing together multiple povs of 1920x1080 30fps fraps caps. Also you want to turn hibernate off (google for instructions) on a desktop computer, that will free up another 16GB of SSD space that would be otherwise reserved from the system disc. Some very old programs (dating from win9x/2k times) might actually require pagefile is on. If you ever run into problems with these, then put it to something small like 256MB.

[gguyss]

Thanks for the advice.
So it seems like having at least a little page file is best for a "just in case" back up.

[Zxian]

Just keep the pagefile on and set it to something smallish, like 1024MB. That way, you'll likely never run into issues with lack of memory, or software that requires it. There are examples of modern software that require a pagefile to be present as well, so just leave it on and forget about it. With a 256GB drive, you really shouldn't have to worry about the 1GB.

[Mad_Murdock]

Even with 8GB of ram, I only run a 512MB pagefile, There are the few rare apps that expect to see a pagefile even if there is no reason for it to use them. As a whole if you run into a place where 16GB of ram isn't enough, then it's probably time to upgrade a system. I can't think of any normal gaming enviroment where you need more than 8GB of ram, much less 16GB.

There were some other articles I had read a few years back that said the complete lack of a pagefile caused minor performance losses, again due to the expectation that there will be something. I believe Windows 7 creates a small pagefile if one isn't defined.

[Djinni]

Win7 by default creates a pagefile twice the size of your RAM. 4GB RAM = 8GB Pagefile, 8GB RAM = 16GB pagefile.

Also the OP said he would be doing HD Video editing... which I would imagine is much more RAM intensive than gaming. Especially if like me, you leave it open in the background while gaming.

[moguri]

Just change your pagefile to your mechanical HDD (assuming you have one since its a desktop)
that way its never and issue and if it does ever come up you'll be covered

[gguyss]

I have read about doing this but could never understand how this works.

Is moving the page file to the HDD an issue of saving space on the SSD or and issue of wear and tear on the SSD?

[Rixis]

Win7 by default creates a pagefile twice the size of your RAM. 4GB RAM = 8GB Pagefile, 8GB RAM = 16GB pagefile.

Also the OP said he would be doing HD Video editing... which I would imagine is much more RAM intensive than gaming. Especially if like me, you leave it open in the background while gaming.

i'm running 8 gig ram, pagefile disabled and i run sony vegas while playing wow, browsing with firefox and playing music

sure you can leave a wee bit if you want, mayhap some programs need it, but i've never needed it with video recording/editing, wow, skyrim, bf3 and other games

personally i say disable it, only bother re-enabling it if you find programs are giving you problems because of it

---------- Post added 2012-01-13 at 11:24 AM ----------

I have read about doing this but could never understand how this works.

Is moving the page file to the HDD an issue of saving space on the SSD or and issue of wear and tear on the SSD?

both, everytime you write to the ssd it will "last a little less long" (to be crude in my format of writing), and SSDs are by and large a lot smaller, so if you find yourself with a small one/short of space, you can free some up that way

[Djinni]

How do you manage that?

I'm running 8GB RAM and if I disable the pagefile I always get "Not enough memory" issues... when running WMP + WOW + Chrome + <well... any other game....>

WoW memory usage is typically around 130mb, Chrome 10-15tabs

[vesseblah]

How do you manage that?

I'm running 8GB RAM and if I disable the pagefile I always get "Not enough memory" issues... when running WMP + WOW + Chrome + <well... any other game....>

WoW memory usage is typically around 130mb, Chrome 10-15tabs

Some of your programs is misbehaving then and requiring pagefile to be present even if it's not actually needed.

Yesterday I was sitting on standby (wow open and in raid group) while editing boss kill video on vegas frapsed at 1080p30 on two povs with firefox open, and memory usage never went even over 6GB. Pagefile is turned completely off with 8GB of RAM and it has not caused any problems so far, or out of memory complaints.

[Rixis]

about 10 firefox tabs, steam and chat, terraria, wow (fps capped when in background), windows media player (guano apes new album), origin (for bf3), rainmetr, anti virus some other bits and bobs

showing no page file and only 45% memory usage (8 gig ram)

didn't think chrome had any inherent issues, so no idea what's wrong with your setup

edit: image: http://i.imgur.com/R2HC3.jpg

[gguyss]

Just curious; what harm would be done if page file was on? Would it make your system run worse?

[llDemonll]

No harm, just "wasted space". Personally, I'd stick it on the mechanical HDD and leave it on

[vesseblah]

No harm, just "wasted space". Personally, I'd stick it on the mechanical HDD and leave it on

This might actually slow down your computer, and is not a good idea. Windows will always try to page out unused parts of background programs even if it's not anywhere close to running out of memory and using mechanical disc for that only makes it slower.

Unless you have a reason to do it otherwise, keep pagefile small (1024MB or so) on SSD or completely off.

[DeltrusDisc]

Win7 by default creates a pagefile twice the size of your RAM. 4GB RAM = 8GB Pagefile, 8GB RAM = 16GB pagefile.

Where did you get this information? When I went in to lower my pagefile, it was 16GB, guess what? I have 16GB of RAM... another user by the name of Ayita who had a thread similar to this one had 4GB of RAM and went in to check their pagefile and it was 4GB. >_>

[Rixis]

mine was 8 gig with 8 gig ram in it too

it's curious, you'd think the more ram the less pagefile you'd need /shrug

[Ghâzh]

From Windows Help and Support section:

"If you receive warnings that your virtual memory is low, you'll need to increase the minimum size of your paging file. Windows sets the initial minimum size of the paging file equal to the amount of random access memory (RAM) installed on your computer, and the maximum size equal to three times the amount of RAM installed on your computer. If you see warnings at these recommended levels, then increase the minimum and maximum sizes."

They probably thought it was better to set a bigger pagefile for systems with more RAM as those are more likely to also have bigger memory usage .