Merry Christmas all!
I've recently up'ed my memory on my i7 laptop from 4 to 12 Gigs as I am going to start working in 64 bits. I noticed a corresponding increase in pagefile size. 

I soon want to move to a SSD and would like to keep things as slim as possible so I'm wondering how large my pagefile really needs to be. I'm using Win7 Pro.

Thanks
FS

Maybe with very large memory your paging will not be a bottleneck. So you could reassign your pagefile to a spinning unit and let Windows decide the size without any ill effect.

Its best to let Windows manage that.   Many believe they can tweak it but in reality "Microsoft knows best" for this.

My new system has 16GB of RAM and an SSD.  I have not tweaked anything.

The common and often encountered advice to set a minimum and maximum page file size is still great advice.

Windows tells you what the max can be... all you can do is agree with that... it's not really a tweak to choose to agree to use the maximum Windows will allow.

What you can do is make sure that the minimum size stays at maximum as well... this doesn't really tweak anything either... it is just a simple and effective way to make sure that the space available for the page file is not mistakenly used for something else by being automatically re-appropriated from the page file's potential for expansion to the previously mentioned maximum size.

This strategy of stabilizing the page file size so that it doesn't get re appropriated when it's not at maximum is even more useful and effective on a system that has a marginally sized OS partition.

If you have a huge partition with little chance of running out of space it's less important to reserve the page file allocation. If you have a small system drive where space is in short supply than reserving the space for the page file remains a very practical strategy as it is very likely that something else will move in and occupy the storage space.



all the best,
mike

Merry Christmas all! I've recently up'ed my memory on my i7 laptop from 4 to 12 Gigs as I am going to start working in 64 bits. I noticed a corresponding increase in pagefile size.  I soon want to move to a SSD and would like to keep things as slim as possible so I'm wondering how large my pagefile really needs to be. I'm using Win7 Pro.

In the distant past, it was helpful to "freeze" the size of the VM Swapfile... so Windows wouldn't be dynamically resizing (which could cause glitches at that time).
Things have changed a lot over time.  Now, it's best to let Windows manage the VM Swapfile.
Even with a smaller SSD (128GB), you should have plenty of space.

Ironically, the most up to date system I have is my Win7 fully updated laptop... which has a chronically undersized OS partition.

So I still protect my page file with the static size strategy so that the space doesn't get given away.

:-)


all the best,
mike

Void

Thank for your advice guys. If I understand you correctly Mike; if windows is recommending 18 Gigs, I would set both Min and Max to 18 Gigs thus locking in that sector of the drive solely for the purpose of pagefiling should the drive become squeezed?

I usually make the pagefile about 2 GB in size.  With the large amounts of memory these days, huge paging files are not necessary.  On my DAW I try not to load more samples than the amount of memory so the system doesn't hit the page file.   I've never received a message from Windows to increase the page file size.

Jim

Fearful Symmetry


Thank for your advice guys. If I understand you correctly Mike; if windows is recommending 18 Gigs, I would set both Min and Max to 18 Gigs thus locking in that sector of the drive solely for the purpose of pagefiling should the drive become squeezed?

Yes, that is the thought behind the idea.

If you don't use all your actual RAM and/or the hard drive never gets squeezed for free space it's a non issue.


best regards,
mike