Windows Vista Forums
Vista Forums Home Join Vista Forums Windows 7 Forum Vista Tutorials Tags
Welcome to Windows Vista Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find solutions with any problems, errors or issues you are experiencing with Windows Vista. The Vista forum also covers news and updates and has an extensive Windows Vista tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Go Back   Vista Forums > Vista Newsgroups > Vista performance & maintenance

Vista - swap file priority

Reply
 
Old 12-17-2007   #1 (permalink)
Techno Mage


 
 

swap file priority

Does Vista prioritize the swap files to use the one on the fastest drive first?
I am asking this because i am thinking of getting a gigabyte ramdisk, but it
only holds 4GB, and i only have one pci slot, so i cant buy another one.
187.5 MB/s is faster than my HDD speed of 50MB/s.

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-17-2007   #2 (permalink)
Ken Blake, MVP


 
 

Re: swap file priority

On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:01:00 -0800, Techno Mage
<TechnoMage@xxxxxx> wrote:
Quote:

> Does Vista prioritize the swap files to use the one on the fastest drive first?
No.

Quote:

> I am asking this because i am thinking of getting a gigabyte ramdisk, but it
> only holds 4GB, and i only have one pci slot, so i cant buy another one.
> 187.5 MB/s is faster than my HDD speed of 50MB/s.

First, how much RAM do you have and how much is your system paging? If
you have enough RAM so that you page very little, nothing you can to
the page file will make any performance difference at all. On the
other hand, if you don't have enough RAM, and are therefore paging a
significant amount, and you are willing to spend money to fix that
situation, clearly the best thing to do is to buy more RAM.

In other words, it's better to avoid paging than to speed up paging.
The solution to the problem (if there is one) is more RAM, not a
faster paging device.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-17-2007   #3 (permalink)
Techno Mage


 
 

Re: swap file priority

I am maxed out at 4GB of ram.
Vista is currently using 1.5GB of the paging file
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-18-2007   #4 (permalink)
DevilsPGD


 
 

Re: swap file priority

In message <4BA7D5B2-6EE1-4EF2-B7D7-8CC8B78AD7EB@xxxxxx> Techno
Mage <TechnoMage@xxxxxx> wrote:
Quote:

>I am maxed out at 4GB of ram.
>Vista is currently using 1.5GB of the paging file
If you don't mind me asking, how are you measuring that you're using
1.5GB of your paging file?

No offense intended, but many people look at the wrong stats...
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-18-2007   #5 (permalink)
Techno Mage


 
 

Re: swap file priority

Task Manager > Performance Tab
A box called system
text that says Page File 2406M / 6844M
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-18-2007   #6 (permalink)
Rick Rogers


 
 

Re: swap file priority

Hi,

Keep in mind that many programs reserve pagefile space without actually
using it as a normal part of their runtime (one reason why it should never
be disabled regardless of the amount of ram installed). Unless the system is
actively paging, and with 4GB installed that is unlikely unless you are
doing some heavy duty video editing, you are likely to see little benefit
from speeding up the access time.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Techno Mage" <TechnoMage@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4BA7D5B2-6EE1-4EF2-B7D7-8CC8B78AD7EB@xxxxxx
Quote:

>I am maxed out at 4GB of ram.
> Vista is currently using 1.5GB of the paging file
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-18-2007   #7 (permalink)
DevilsPGD


 
 

Re: swap file priority

In message <003E98A4-2330-49C4-9B65-871A1ACDBD7B@xxxxxx> Techno
Mage <TechnoMage@xxxxxx> wrote:
Quote:

>Task Manager > Performance Tab
>A box called system
>text that says Page File 2406M / 6844M
That indicates how much virtual memory has been allocated, not how much
is actually being used...

This value does not necessarily indicate how much paging is actually
happening.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-21-2007   #8 (permalink)
Techno Mage


 
 

Re: swap file priority

Thanks everyone for your input, i got me ramdisk with 4GB, and are now using
it as the only swap disk, system performance, has increased, noticeably
(especially in certain games).

The only problem i have now, is every time i boot up, windows complains,
about there not being any free space on that drive
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 12-22-2007   #9 (permalink)
DevilsPGD


 
 

Re: swap file priority

In message <837DD046-8E6A-4A25-A1F3-B1376B2F9546@xxxxxx> Techno
Mage <TechnoMage@xxxxxx> wrote:
Quote:

>The only problem i have now, is every time i boot up, windows complains,
>about there not being any free space on that drive
http://www.lockergnome.com/windows/2...ning-in-vista/
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Reply

Thread Tools


Similar Threads
Thread Forum
Using swap file or not for VM Virtual PC
Swap file on USB flash drive? Vista hardware & devices
Bitlocker swap file Vista security
Vista Swap File? Vista General
swap file Vista General


Vista Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows Vista", the Start Orb, and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46