1/2 GB of RAM, recommended performance tweaks ?

[Outrage 0]

With the price of memory being so low at the moment I decided to increase my main PC to 1/2 GB. I use Photoshop and 3D Studio a lot so it seemed like a good idea. The problem is that Win2k still seems to be using the swap file instead of the extra RAM, is this normal ? Is there a way to force it to use the cache less and RAM more ?

 

Thanks,

 

Outrage

[Wolf87 0]

Reduce pagefile so as to use ram rather than harddisk virtual memory. Minimal amount should be 12 Megs. This has been discussed before but that thread might bear any name.

 

Increase Iopagelock in Registry and also use a ramdisk. The Speeddisk company has three sophisticated components that are offered on one month trial basis.

[Widow 0]

Reducing your pagefile to that small is a really bad idea. A quirk that has been with us since the introduction of the pagefile in win95 makes windows start to swap to the page file sooner when its smaller. ie, in a system with 512 ram(like mine) and yours in your system you set your pagefile to 12 megs and I set mine to 300 megs; guess which pagefile gets accessed first; yours. Doesn't seem like it would but it does, just keep your pagefile at around 200 or so and you'll be fine. The ram disk is not a bad idea though; I am currently playing around with using a ram disk to hold my internet files(temp pages, cookies and such) and it seems to work well. My next test will be to set my swap file as a 256 meg ram disk, this should prove interesting if nothing else. I'll let you know the results.

[Etheric 0]

I'm planning on upgrading to 512mb RAM soon. Any new developments/tweaks I should be aware of?

 

How did those experiments go Widow?

[Ge0ph 0]

The best way to judge you page file is to open your task manager and go to the performance tab. Look at the Commit Charge section. Total is the amount you are using right now, Limit is the sum of your physical and page, and the peak is the largest amount of memory you have used during this session. After running your computer for a while doing the stuff you normally do look at the peak. If your peak does not come close to the limit you can lower your page file size until the two numbers are closer. The limit should always be bigger then the peak, if it’s not you will be getting virtual memory errors. If you do get these errors just up you page file in small amounts at a time ( I usually bump mine up 16mb at a time)

 

Right now I have 384mb of ram and my page file is 64mb and I never come close to my limit unless I play some games. If I did not play games I could get away with setting my page file to 12mb. It may access it first but it access’s it a lot less forcing Windows to use the faster physical memory. I’ve been using this formula sense NT4 SP3 and it has always given me my best performance.

[JMD 0]

Hi.

I have been reading this thread with great interest, I was wondering if anyone here could tell me what I should set my page file at, or any other memory settings at for that matter, so I can get the most out of my system. I have a pentium 600, with 256megs of ram. I do a lot of Cad, 3d modeling and would like to know what my system should be set at. Im running NT 4.0 sp 6a.

 

For all I know I may be getting the most out of it, because I don't know what signs to look for that would tell me I'm not.

 

I must tell you I don't know a lot about the workings of a computer, so if you could keep it simple it would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Ge0ph 0]

JMD,

 

Because you run CAD and 3D modeling I would suggest one and a half your physical memory. Those types of apps can be very memory intinsive.

 

If you go to http://arstechnica.com/tweak/nt/index.html you will find all kinds of good info about tweaking you system.

[JMD 0]

Thanks for the info and the Web link GeOph.

[JMD 0]

I have one more question if I may.

 

I here people talking about your system paging to your hard drive, if you don't have enought ram. How do I find out if my system is doing this.

 

I have 256 megs of ram, I set it up like this. (NT 4.0 SP 6A)

 

PAGE FILE SIZE

 

Space available.

 

Initial size (384)

max size (384)

 

Total paging file size.

 

Minimun allowed 2mb

 

Recomended 267 mb

 

Currently allocated 384 mb

 

Did I set it up right or wrong.

 

Thanks in advanced