Virtual Memory Amount....

jimmyjames

New Member
I just upgraded my ram from 512mb to 1.25gb. Tho when i go into my virtual memory settings its increased the amount of recommended virtual memory from 750mb to 1500mb. Surely I would need less virtual memory now that I have more ram rather than more?

Also with this amount of ram can anyone suggest the amount that is ideal... im running windows 2000 so it doesnt have the let windows manage it option.

Also I have 4 hard drives should all the virtual memory be on the main c drive or can it be split between them? Or can i put it all onto another drive? Or should it put it onto the fastest hard drive?

Also when I run any games it still uses a large amount of virtual memory in the task manager.... almost split 50/50. Shouldn't it be utilising the ram rather than the virtual memory?

Thanks for any help in advance.
 
The standard amount of virtual memory is 50% more than your ram, so 1.75 Gigabytes would be about right. Remember that this space isn't lost on the hard drive, Its just there incase the operating sytem needs it. I would suggest using the virtual memory on the fastest hard drive if possible.

And about the game question. I'm not sure, But it may be pushing unimportaint processes onto paging so that the game can utilize the faster system ram. I'm not sure though.
 
Thats wierd...I have disabled Virtual memory on my computer and its a whole lot faster....I never seem to get that "Windows is out of virtual memory" error either:confused:

It slows down my computer if Virtual memory is enabled.
 
Thats wierd...I have disabled Virtual memory on my computer and its a whole lot faster....I never seem to get that "Windows is out of virtual memory" error either:confused:

It slows down my computer if Virtual memory is enabled.


lol. This reminds me of my ol 133mhz pentium and its 1.2gb hdd. The hdd had 20mb of free space left on it and everytime i would do anything id get that message. Also, the mobo had built in ram of only 16mb SDR. Ahhh the good ol days. Course id also get that your low on space on the c drive message as well.

That ol computer ran for $1,200 MSRP when it came out in about 96.
 
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It slows down my computer if Virtual memory is enabled.

Virtual memory is a portion of your hard drive used as RAM. Physical RAM is MANY MANY times faster than the hard drive. Besides that, your hard drive is working to do other things(load windows, your programs, etc etc) and it just can't keep up.
 
Well ive got plenty of space on all the drives about 20gb min on each one spare so its not a problem.

I just wondered why it would recommend using more virtual memory after increasing the amount of ram... though i suppose the amount that games need these days its probably not a bad thing.

will whack it up to 2gb that should sort it no problems
 
Thats wierd...I have disabled Virtual memory on my computer and its a whole lot faster....I never seem to get that "Windows is out of virtual memory" error either:confused:

It slows down my computer if Virtual memory is enabled.

Well you dont have any virtual memory, so you wouldnt get that message :)

And virtual RAM is slower since it uses the hard drive, but if you disable it, you will have less free physical RAM, and if you dont have enough RAM, then games will actually run slower because of the reduced free RAM.
 
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