Paging File is massive

gedstar

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Ireland
Hi All

Just noticed that on Windows 8.1 my Paging file is set to 16GB, I have this set to system managed on a separate drive. PC has 16GB of RAM and an SSD for the OS.
Seems to be quite large and recall when previously set to system manage the paging file was only about 2GB.

Cheers Ged
 

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Hello Ged,

You could temporarily turn off the page file to reset it, restart the PC, then turn on and set the page file to be managed by the system, restart the PC again, and see what the size will be now afterwards.

Virtual Memory Paging File - Change

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn
 

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Hi Shawn, cheers for the reply, tried that and still no joy, even set the paging file on the SSD and it's still the same 16GB used, disabled it on that and reset to the other drive and still 16GB used, seems weird. Have over 400GB on that drive so not a space concern for me, just wondering why it's setting it so high. Maybe I should set it to a custom setting, but would be nice to know what's going on. Wondering has anybody else here noticed it happening with there PC's.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Ankermann
    CPU
    Intel 3rd Gen Icore7
    Motherboard
    Asus P8B75-M
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 2GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 Dell 22 inch LCD's
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB
    I TB Western Digital
    3 TB Western Digital
    PSU
    500 Watts
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    Firefox
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    Comodo Internet Security
With so much RAM you really do not need any PF, turn it of or set at 1 GB just in case. Ewen withh 8 GB I do not use PF last couple of years and no program complained about it.
 

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Hi CountMike
Yeah I would agree about setting the paging file manually, it would be nice to know why Windows is setting it so high, just checked my Laptop with 8GB of RAM and page file set to System managed and it's only using about 2GB, Laptop also has Windows 8.1 installed. Very strange!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Ankermann
    CPU
    Intel 3rd Gen Icore7
    Motherboard
    Asus P8B75-M
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 2GB
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 Dell 22 inch LCD's
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB
    I TB Western Digital
    3 TB Western Digital
    PSU
    500 Watts
    Internet Speed
    50MB
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Comodo Internet Security
I would not recommend turning off the page file. Some programs require the page file to run properly no matter how much RAM you have.

What the system sets the page file to will vary from system to system. For me, the system sets my page file to 4.8 GB with 32GB of RAM in Windows 8.1.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
With so much RAM you really do not need any PF, turn it off or set at 1 GB just in case. Even with 8 GB, I do not use PF last couple of years and no program complained about it.

I would not recommend turning off the page file. Some programs require the page file to run properly no matter how much RAM you have...

To be safe, and a good recommendation (Brink), but I would like to support CountMike here.

Lot's of users have no experience with imaging systems as a saved backup.
So, having a page file for an average user is a good idea and I am sure some will insist it is a good idea, period. :thumb:


My choice, My preference is to not use one.
In support of CM, I have not had a BSOD since NT4.
And since Microsoft makes the option available, it is a feature that can be disabled.
I know of no performance risk or degradation, and I do not need a dump.
Imaging systems all the time, the page file just gets in the way.
So does hiberfil.sys.

I don't agree necessarily with "one must allow Windows to make the decision" ...
...have not used a pagefile for 16 years, ... :cool:

My Preference.

nopf.jpg
 

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If the page file is turned off, and you either are running a program that requires it or use up your RAM, then you'll get an "out of memory" or "low memory" error, and possibly have Windows crash on you. As usual, this will vary per system. Some may have no issues with the page file off, but others may.

That's the main reason to never turn off the page file. If you are tight on hard drive space, then it would be best to reduce the size of the page file instead. Say around 4Gb. If you get any of the above errors, then you could just increase the size as needed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Ever since installing more than 1GB of Ram per core I turned PF off even when using notoriously Ram hungry programs.I was carefully checking memory usage and not too many programs managed to load it up to limits. It's much better idea to install more RAM than to relay on PF to do the job. If you need more memory, get more RAM, even SSD can't measure up to RAM speed. If you run into trouble , you can always turn PF on easily enough.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
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