Let me manage my own Virtual Memory

HackMcDivot · Post by **HackMcDivot** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 9:05 pm

I read in this web site, Windows 9x performance, to go in to Virtual Memory and check the box that say's, let me manage virtual memory. Set the minimum memory to 2x the memory I have (319) and set the maximum the same. Has anyone done this and does it make a difference ? I have 320Mb of ram, these settings would be 640, sounds high, doesn't it ?

EvilAjax · Post by **EvilAjax** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 9:08 pm

Sounds right.

smaier69 · Post by **smaier69** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 9:34 pm

well, i have 256MB and still set my VM to min:256/max:/256.

thats quite a bit of memory to be needing all at once (remember, its to be used in conjunction with your physical RAM, so you would have more than 1/2GB of memory to have to manage. that would never be used by most people.) i would keep it more reasonable.... someting like min/max=256 or even less (in your case). best way to find out is to try different values until you start running out of memory.

the main reason this is a useful tweak is because if you let Windows constantly resize your swapfile, ic causes disk fragmentation much quicker. if the swapfile is a fixed size, your hdd maintains its integrity for a longer period of use/time....... dont have to defrag as frequently.

hope this clears up the issue a little.

fish59 · Post by **fish59** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 9:38 pm

2x-2.5x was valid when computers had low amounts of memory.With lage amounts 128MB or better the swap file can be much lower.Best way to detemine is run SYTEM MONITOR and watch the graph for maximum swap usage as you go about your daily routine on your machine.Raise the size of your swap file some to safegaurd against higher usage.Add this line to system ini. ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
under the [386Enh] section

klicker · Post by **klicker** » Tue Apr 17, 2001 10:34 pm

ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
interesting what does this do?

Gza · Post by **Gza** » Wed Apr 18, 2001 12:14 am

It forces Windows to use up all of the available physical memory before resorting to the swap file. I think this command only works with Win95 though, remember reading somewhere about this.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Wed Apr 18, 2001 8:25 pm

Originally posted by klicker:
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
interesting what does this do?

It makes Windows use up all your RAM before it writes to the swap file.

Every thing you need to know about the swap file.

klicker · Post by **klicker** » Wed Apr 18, 2001 10:05 pm

hmmmmmm.........i kinda thought windows did this by default!

remo · Post by **remo** » Wed Apr 18, 2001 11:58 pm

with all this said and done what do you guys think the optimal swap file settings for this puter below would be,as of now windows is manageing.
thanks in advance

AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
512MB RAM
57% system resources free
Windows-managed swap file on drive C (33369MB free)
Available space on drive C: 33369MB of 38152MB (FAT32)

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Thu Apr 19, 2001 12:05 am

Originally posted by klicker:
hmmmmmm.........i kinda thought windows did this by default!

The ridiculous Memory (mis-)Manager is now USING your 128 MB of RAM, instead of roaring off to the HD swapfile every time 40% of your available memory has been tapped, and the result is that your swapfile now sits at zero most of the time, while your hard memory is serving all of your needs. If, in fact, you ever push your memory to about 85% usage, a swap file of 10 to 15 MB may be created, but it will disappear when you close down the (30 memory-hungry) things you're running at once and shut down the machine. The next time you boot up, there will be a zero swap file.
If you ever configure a Win98 computer that has 64 MB of RAM or less, this fix probably won't work. It depends on a massive quantity of available memory to work."

From this site.

onetrueday · Post by **onetrueday** » Thu Apr 19, 2001 3:40 am

I've always used a nice round number(300) for my swap file. Some people like to try and go less, but I figure I have 3 partitions and plenty of room; so what's the point in trying to save a hundred megs? Also, that conserative swap file=1 can only be used in win98. You got that part confused. This is because win95 would always use as much of the memory as possible already. There are a lot of people who disagree with the csf=1(including me) because they see no proformance increase at all. i still think I was less stable using it. The only tweaks I've done to my system.ini is 300meg swap file and the MinSps=12 to the 386enh section. That last one is a most!!

smaier69 · Post by **smaier69** » Thu Apr 19, 2001 8:47 pm

with all this said and done what do you guys think the optimal swap file settings for this puter below would be,as of now windows is manageing.
thanks in advance
AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
512MB RAM
57% system resources free
Windows-managed swap file on drive C (33369MB free)
Available space on drive C: 33369MB of 38152MB (FAT32)

with 512MB RAM? something small.... like 128MB i think. you could probably even go for less. it really depends on how many apps or whatever you have loaded/running. my normal 'puter usage habits may differ from yours and so you may beed a different amount. i have 256physical and 256 min/max virtual and have never run into a shrtage of memory. then again, i dont usually have 32 Excel windows open and host 3 different multiplayer games while i surf the net with 15 browsers (i am being a little facetious, but you know what i mean).

onetrueday · Post by **onetrueday** » Fri Apr 20, 2001 6:23 am

why go small? Are you really going to miss a couple of hundred megs you might need?

remo · Post by **remo** » Fri Apr 20, 2001 7:04 pm

ok so whats the real verdict go small or large,what i understand and what speedguide say what ever your ram is which mine is 512 you would double that and put that in your max and min,is that correct or is there a better number to use,im confused

klicker · Post by **klicker** » Sun Apr 22, 2001 8:34 am

MinSps=12 to the 386enh section
another new one! what pray god does this fix?

Storm90 · Post by **Storm90** » Mon Apr 23, 2001 12:04 am

ConservativeSwapefileUsage=1 will work in 95,98,98se and Me. But for it to do any good you must at least have 128mg of memory. Plus LocalLoadHigh=0 works to. It helps open exe.open exe. Open faster and use less memory. The go under syseditinC;/windows/system.Once you find the file. Click on it and go to systemInI and add the commands under 386{enh} Good Luck! Plus set the setting you want up in virtual memory. If you want to avoid all this . Just download cacheman from www.outertech.com. It lastest version will do all this for you plus set up the memory size's you need. Works great and saves time. GoodLuck!

onetrueday · Post by **onetrueday** » Mon Apr 23, 2001 1:19 am

I might be wrong... but it allows either more pages of memory or more vxd drivers. There are only two tweaks I use on windows. One is to bump up my swap files to 300megs. The other is the minsps=12. I would STRONGLY suggest using that one. I havent had a blue screen since I've added that line. Each sps takes 4k, so 48k is incredibly worth putting to this. Windows default is minsps=4, but it isnt enough if you do anything with graphics or mult-tasking.