How to tweak virtual memory?

biiqdan530 · Post by **biiqdan530** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:53 pm

Ok now right below is the way to tweak it. I have no clue what they mean by that. I dont know how to set it up can someone help. My maximum:is 36563 and my minimum is on 0 my harddisk is 28973MB free i have 128 Mbs of ram total. Can someone help me on how to set up virtual memory?

Virtual Memory Settings

If you let Windows 9x manage Virtual memory settings, the System often resizes the swap file ( the simulated memory on your hard disk ), and can use up to the entire free space on your Hard disk for caching. There is no single optimal setting for the swap file size, because it's dependant on the number of programs running at one time, and on the amount of RAM in your system. It should be at least the amount of your RAM, i.e if you have 32 meg RAM in your system, the swap file should be at least 32 meg to reduce the chance of "out of memory" errors.

By choosing a custom Virtual memory setting, you can optimize your system by having a constant swap file size. It not only eliminates the processing time Windows takes to resize the file, but also reduces the fragmentation of your Hard Disk. Note: It might be a good idea to defragment your Hard Disk before editing the swap file settings, so the swap file itself won't be fragmented. Here are the necessary steps:

1. Navigate to Control Panel > System > Performance > Virtual Memory and choose "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings".
2. Specify the same amount of space for minimum and maximum swap file size.
3. Make the swap file twice the amount of RAM you have on your system ( or at least the same size as your RAM ).
4. Reboot your computer.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:11 pm

what operating system, most people will tell you to let windows manage.

biiqdan530 · Post by **biiqdan530** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:40 pm

Mark wrote:what operating system, most people will tell you to let windows manage.

98 SE is my operating system

Post by **Philip** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:59 pm

PLease post software-related questions to the software forum...

I'd set the max and min to 512 MB or something like that... If you ever get "out of memory" errors, you can bump it up. With Windows xp/2k I might leave the OS manage it, but with Windows 9x I'd set it to a fixed size.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:26 pm

Here's how I tweaked my own VM in 98SE with 128 MB of ram.
Step by step
First close all programs that are running.

1. Right click the "My Computer" Icon on your desktop, and select 'properties'
In the grey box that appears go to the tab named "Performance" (far right tab)
On that tab select to "disable virtual memory" (disregard any windows message that tries to scare you) just hit ok.

2. Shutdown and reboot to 'safe mode'. Defrag your C: drive while in safe mode.

3. When defragging of C: drive is complete, and while still in safe mode, go back and 'enable' your virtual memory.

4. Also set the "minimum" value to 140, and don't touch the maximum value.

5. Reboot normally to windows.

With 128 mb of ram, and virtual memory set at 140 (min) you should be good.
The reason I don't set the max, is so if and when windows needs more virtual memory, it will increase it (but only if it needs it)

The value set as minimum (140mb) will not get fragged, and you should get a bit of a performance boost since windows won't be resizing the virtual memory (swap file) unless, on the rare occasion it needs to.

Make sure you do each step above, each one is important. The VM must be turned off before rebooting to safe mode. And the drive must be defragged before setting (creating) a new swap file (VM) size to ensure a that the VM or swap file is defragged, and stays defragged.

Thcranky1 · Post by **Thcranky1** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 6:45 am

Hey man,

I have a book that is all about windows 98 and what they say you want to do as a rule of thumb is, of course taking into consideration that there is plenty of space of your hard drive...which by the way yours has...but to continue as a rule of thumb when setting your v-mem in Win98 or any other OS after 98 by the way, is to set your minimum to double what your amount of System RAM totals. You said 128 so the minimum should be set to 256 and for the maximum set it to either 4 times your System RAM up to 6 times your System RAM. With a 128 stick as your SYSRAM them at 4 times that the total would be 512 and at 6 times that would be 768.

Hope this helps...

PEACE!!

--Thcranky1

Richard_UK · Post by **Richard_UK** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 2:26 pm

now this is interesting, ive always wondered what this ment. maybe you can help me out at the same time

i have 768 Mb

OS..Win Xp Pro

what would be my ideal settings???

at the moment i have it on "Custom settings" Page file

minimum allowed 2Mb

Rocomended 1150

currently allocated 1152

is this ok?

biiqdan530 · Post by **biiqdan530** » Tue May 04, 2004 11:47 pm

Norm wrote:Here's how I tweaked my own VM in 98SE with 128 MB of ram.
Step by step
First close all programs that are running.

1. Right click the "My Computer" Icon on your desktop, and select 'properties'
In the grey box that appears go to the tab named "Performance" (far right tab)
On that tab select to "disable virtual memory" (disregard any windows message that tries to scare you) just hit ok.

2. Shutdown and reboot to 'safe mode'. Defrag your C: drive while in safe mode.

3. When defragging of C: drive is complete, and while still in safe mode, go back and 'enable' your virtual memory.

4. Also set the "minimum" value to 140, and don't touch the maximum value.

5. Reboot normally to windows.

With 128 mb of ram, and virtual memory set at 140 (min) you should be good.
The reason I don't set the max, is so if and when windows needs more virtual memory, it will increase it (but only if it needs it)

The value set as minimum (140mb) will not get fragged, and you should get a bit of a performance boost since windows won't be resizing the virtual memory (swap file) unless, on the rare occasion it needs to.

Make sure you do each step above, each one is important. The VM must be turned off before rebooting to safe mode. And the drive must be defragged before setting (creating) a new swap file (VM) size to ensure a that the VM or swap file is defragged, and stays defragged.

I set it to 256 minimum and 768 maximum will it work better this way?

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:11 am

biiqdan530 wrote:I set it to 256 minimum and 768 maximum will it work better this way?

No.

Performance will be a tad slower (not enough to notice), and you could run out of ram and get "out of memory" errors.

128(physical ram)+768(maximum virtual ram)=896 (total ram)

If you need more ram than 896 you will get errors.
Some applications need tons of ram, and if you set the max at 768 instead of leaving it as "the amount of freespace" left on the HD, it is possible windows will choke.
If you have a scanner, test it by scanning a page at 9600 dpi
(that's just one example of an app that needs tons of ram)

Paft · Post by **Paft** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:21 am

I always used these 2 rules of thumb:

< 512 mb: 1.5 times your physical RAM
512 - 1024 mb: equal to physical RAM
> 1024 mb: 1/2 your physical RAM

This has always worked well for me - Remember to set the minimum and maximum to the same size.

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:52 am

Completely depends on how you use you system - is a dump truck better or worse than a sportscar? Depends on what you're trying to do.

Best case would be to monitor your system and see how much ram you use as you do your daily thing. If you're swapping (not paging) a lot, buy more ram.

For *ANYTHING* DOS related (for me, this includes W9x) I would take Norm at his word. The guy knows his stuff.

Kinda weird to take something other than his (very specific) advice and then ask if it's good. What would you expect as an answer?

biiqdan530 · Post by **biiqdan530** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:14 pm

Paft wrote:I always used these 2 rules of thumb:

< 512 mb: 1.5 times your physical RAM
512 - 1024 mb: equal to physical RAM
> 1024 mb: 1/2 your physical RAM

This has always worked well for me - Remember to set the minimum and maximum to the same size.

Well i have 128 memory so what do i set the maximum and minimum to? right now im taking Norms advice and as of now i have it 140 minimum and no max. See what i want also is to speed up my internet games. See i play checkers on yahoo and sometimes i play 1 minute games meaning u have to beat them in one minute or if u draw then u have to keep up with his time or go ahead. And when i play someone quick i end up loosing i need to speed this comp up to be quick. Ive downloaded everything from this website and now i need more advice

biiqdan530 · Post by **biiqdan530** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:15 pm

Norm wrote:No.

Performance will be a tad slower (not enough to notice), and you could run out of ram and get "out of memory" errors.

128(physical ram)+768(maximum virtual ram)=896 (total ram)

If you need more ram than 896 you will get errors.
Some applications need tons of ram, and if you set the max at 768 instead of leaving it as "the amount of freespace" left on the HD, it is possible windows will choke.
If you have a scanner, test it by scanning a page at 9600 dpi
(that's just one example of an app that needs tons of ram)

See what i want also is to speed up my internet games. See i play checkers on yahoo and sometimes i play 1 minute games meaning u have to beat them in one minute or if u draw then u have to keep up with his time or go ahead. And when i play someone quick i end up loosing i need to speed this comp up to be quick. Ive downloaded everything from this website and now i need more advice. I need some other way to speed up my cpu besides the virtual memory any ideas please help thanks.

cyberskye · Post by **cyberskye** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:05 pm

Sounds like you want a fasater connection. If your pc can't keep up with your bandwidth it's probably time ot buy a new machine.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:19 pm

You can edit your system.ini file to use the virtual ram only when physical ram gets low.

Under the [386enh} section, add this line and reboot.

ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1

Plus, to speed up your PC you can remove all (or most) of your startup apps.
Using start>run>msconfig
Reboot after making changes.

As long as you turn off all other programs running in the background you can increase performance quite a bit. Best done from each programs prefferences, but msconfig will do the job.

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Thu May 06, 2004 6:53 pm

Norm wrote:You can edit your system.ini file to use the virtual ram only when physical ram gets low.

Under the [386enh} section, add this line and reboot.

ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1

I use this.

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Fri May 07, 2004 12:19 am

CableDude wrote:I use this.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Fri May 07, 2004 12:30 am

You guys running XP should have a look here.
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak1686.aspx

and here

http://www.subzerotech.com/index/module ... 13/page/10

The system.ini tweak is for win98

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Fri May 07, 2004 1:41 pm

Norm wrote:You guys running XP should have a look here.
http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak1686.aspx

and here

http://www.subzerotech.com/index/module ... 13/page/10

The system.ini tweak is for win98

I'm doing that as well and it does work.

I thought the same thing about the .ini one in XP until I read this
Look who submitted it.

I figured I could try it out and remove it if it doesn't work.

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Fri May 07, 2004 7:17 pm

Hiya Norm,

I'm still using 98.

Cypher · Post by **Cypher** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:22 pm

Yeah I took that conservative tweak dealy off.
I'm on XP Pro CE