[PC, Widows XP] How Do I Increase My Virtual Memory?

[Angel Tarragon]

Lately I'm keepin a lot of windows open working on various projects and while surfing here.

I just got a message that my Virtual Mem was too low, so I closed some Windows. I'd have liked to have kept them open, but that means increasing my Vitual Mem, something I don't know how to do.

Can someone please help me?

 

[Aus_Snow]

If you're using XP. . .

One of the easier ways would be to right click on 'My Computer', select 'Properties', 'Advanced', the 'Settings' button under 'Advanced', the 'Advanced' tab, and finally the 'Change' button under 'Virtual Memory'. Keep in mind (if you weren't already) that 1024MB == 1GB, and you've got to write it in terms of MB. Or have the system manage it (which is an option there.)

The amount you'll need. . . depends on a number of things, so I'll not give a ballpark figure right this moment.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I was about a gig under my max, so I cranked it up all the way. Many thanks Aus.

 

[The_Warlock]

I was about a gig under my max, so I cranked it up all the way. Many thanks Aus.

Under the maximum Recommended, or the Maximum allowed for the Drive the Virtual Memory is stored on?

If the latter, you may run into low disk space warnings, since virtual memory on a PC is essentially just a swap file on the hard drive.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Under the maximum Recommended, or the Maximum allowed for the Drive the Virtual Memory is stored on?

Maximum recommended.

Is there a something wrong with putting it up to max allowed?

 

[Redrobes]

You have a PC with X amount of RAM which sits on chips as part of the RAM sticks that you have in the PC. Some of this is used up by the OS but you probably get all but a few hundred meg of it. Say you have 2Gb. When you open more apps and burn through it all, eventually it runs out and the OS will start using the hard drive by swapping sections of real RAM out for virtual RAM. When it does this it gets slow as now instead of using hyper fast RAM bus speeds your at super slow HDD write speeds. But sometimes some apps sit idle in the background and you dont care.

Ok. If you have a single application that is chewing continuously through more than your PC chip RAM then performance falls of a cliff because your PC is constantly chugging the HDD to swap RAM into chip from HDD. We call that 'thrashing'.

You should set your virtual RAM limit to be controlled by windows or maybe about the amount of chip RAM again - i.e. you double your usable limit. If possible, sperad it over several HDDs as that might make it a bit faster with two drives delievering it. Maybe...

If you have a serious amount of RAM like 4 or 8Gb then virtual RAM starts to diminish in value as it starts taking minutes to swap out on HDD. It might save your neck with a really big job but its unworkable as a long term way to run the system.

If you have a PC with 256Mb or 512Mb of RAM and using XP then you will continuously be tharashing and your system will be 10x slower than it could be for the sake of a few bucks of extra chip stick.

My advice, let windows manage the virtual RAM for you and make sure you keep a few gig free on the HDD that its assigned to for it to work with. Oh, and buy more chip RAM when you are able as not having enough makes a HUGE HUGE difference to speed.

 

[The_Warlock]

Maximum recommended.

Is there a something wrong with putting it up to max allowed?

Aside from the specifics that Redrobes laid out, if you set the Virtual Memory to Max Allowed, you are essentially taking up ALL REMAINING free space on the Hard Drive that the virtual memory is sitting on. That leaves you with no HD space to save new files (or sometimes even open files since many programs actually create a temporary file on the hard drive to "work" in before you save it back to the original).

Not to mention, if the virtual memory file is larger than the Max Reccomended (usually 1.5x physical RAM), it takes longer and longer for the computer to read and write to the virtual memory/swap file since it's spread over a larger and larger physical space on the hard drive's platters, since it actually has to USE physical RAM to juggle the virtual memory file in and out, reducing the amount and efficiency of your physical RAM.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I agree, it's probably better to let Windows handle it in most cases. But I would disagree about simply adding (too much) RAM. Windows XP (the standard 32 bit version) can only access about, what, 3GB? So even 4GB is - if only just - overkill.

Of course, it's that cheap, and a simpler and better scheme to go with twin 2GBs anyway, so 4GB is not so much of a waste of time or money. But 2GB is usually fine, so go to that or stick with that, unless you really, really need more.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Of course, it's that cheap, and a simpler and better scheme to go with twin 2GBs anyway, so 4GB is not so much of a waste of time or money. But 2GB is usually fine, so go to that or stick with that, unless you really, really need more.

Plus, you can do supercool stuff with ramdisks. Just save it in time!

Cheers, LT.