How big should the page file be?

[seamoss]

apologies to everybody tired of questions like these!!!!

I want to make sure I get this right.


I have 1gb of ram (2 X 512)and I am running XP Pro, so what is recommended for DAWS with this amount of ram?

I have three different drives in my system and I just read that this should be placed on a different drive other than the system drive for optimal results? if this is true, how much should be allocated for C (system) drive?

Sorry for the redundant question but it seems that there is a little debate to this question for audio systems and I just want to get it right.

a google search will pretty much get you 100 different answers.

[wavemeister]

I read that if you have 2 or more drives, ideally you want to split your paging files across these drives. Put it this way, I was having trouble with software crashes in Orion because I only have a 128K RAM. I have 2 hard drives installed. My recommended setting from either tweakxp.com or musicxp.com, (not sure which), was to allocate 1000 MB initial and 1000 MB maximum on both drives. After doing this my system has sped up considerably and I have had no crashes in Orion. I also applied other recommended XP tweaks as well.

[wavemeister]

Enlarging and splitting your page file across your drives creates a generic RAM for your CPU. Your PC is using your hard drive for needed RAM. Makes one wonder whether you really need all that extra RAM in the first place as long as you have a Pentium III or higher. Hmmm.

[DevonB]

1 gig of ram? Set it for No Paging File. Unless you have an app that REQUIRES it (some graphics packages are that way), then leave it off. If you REALLY want it off, it'll require registry hacks. I have 1 gig of Ram in my system, and I've seen Low Page Memory like 2 times in over a year. System is up rock solid otherwise.

You want the Microsoft answer? 1.5 times the size of your phyiscal ram. I've read another article that said 1.5 to 2 times the size.

Paging File

Try turning it off and check out your performance. If you have problems, set it for what you want. It's not like this is un-reversable.

Devon

[wavemeister]

Of course my hard drive or my Pentiums lifespan will most likely be reduced with all the extra work! Oh well, parts is parts.

[wavemeister]

Right Devon, I forgot about the 'No Paging' option for 1gig or above. But he says he has 3 drives. So, I dunno.

[DevonB]

Right Devon, I forgot about the 'No Paging' option for 1gig or above. But he says he has 3 drives. So, I dunno.

I've been saying no page file for 512 megs and above. Swapping takes away from what we need most which is having access to the drive all the time when you're running multiple audio tracks. In my experience of running 4 machines total with the paging file off, all has been well. I really don't want the swapping to happen. As always, you can try it if you do get problems, like pops or clicks in your audio. If someone can show me how taking time cycles away from audio streaming helps to 'improve' your audio.....

Devon

[xander]

Major Geeks has a pretty good article and a section on when and how you should set the page file, here:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/paging_file.htm

If you follw through it, they advise what you can or *might* want to do if you have RAM above 512MB, etc.

[seamoss]

If someone can show me how taking time cycles away from audio streaming helps to 'improve' your audio.....

makes sense to me


thanks

[wavemeister]

Thanks for that link Xander. That's quite interesting to a MAJOR geek like myself. OK, where's the geek smiley face with the taped glasses???

[xander]

Thanks for that link Xander. That's quite interesting to a MAJOR geek like myself. OK, where's the geek smiley face with the taped glasses???

There is one on Yahoo Messenger though...

[Kingston]

512mb mem is definitely too little if you plan to disable the pagefile.

It would be all good, but it's DAW's we're talking about, right?

Any modern, and especially samplebased project will eat that 512 for a snack, even if your sampler does streaming. Dunno though, maybe if you only run non samplebased synthesizers, you might get away with it.

Also, modern games will eat 512mb for breakfast as well.

but +1gb and it's much clearer waters, and there is a (very) small performance improvement if you disable the pagefile, too.

Right now I have 512mb and have pagefile set to 512, too (on the main OS partition). Extremely busy +2gb of samples streamed logic projects run just fine. Not so with the pagefile disabled.

[DevonB]

Right now I have 512mb and have pagefile set to 512, too (on the main OS partition). Extremely busy +2gb of samples streamed logic projects run just fine. Not so with the pagefile disabled.

As I've said, try it. If it doesn't work, then switch it back. Quite simple. If you do mostly VSTi's that don't do samples, this would be a different story. If you did all audio tracks, again...

Devon

[wavemeister]

Hmmm. Well now I'm befuddled Kingston. I have a mere 128K RAM and yet I split my paging file over 2 hard drives and had remarkable results insomuch that my Orion Platinum no longer crashes, quicker program loading, page accessing, amongst other things. However I would agree that 512K RAM is alot of steam.

[pHz]

YMMV ...

slainte rob