• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

16GB ram - pagefile size question

Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
2,452 (0.41/day)
System Name PC
Processor i7 9700KF
Motherboard MSI Z390 A PRO
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000mhz
Video Card(s) PALIT RTX 4070 Dual 12Gb
Storage 2X Crucial MX500 2TB SSD, Samsung 850 pro 512gb SSD
Display(s) DELL C34H89x 34" Ultrawide
Case Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s) Audioengine A5+ Speakers
Power Supply Corsair RM750
Mouse Logitech G403
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K70
Software Windows 10 64bit
I have 16GB of ram and because of that my pagefile is also 16GB in size.
I would like to free up some space on my SSD drive but I'm not sure if its a good idea to make this pagefile smaller or completely disable it as I run some programs that require a lot of memory in 64bit (photoshop, premiere pro etc).

Any ideas? was thinking of eiher making it smaller, disabling it completely or moving it to my D drive which is a samsung F3 1TB raid setup but not sure if that will slow things down.
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I'd make it smaller, shrinking it to 1GB should give enough for the few programs that need a page file. But with 16GB of RAM, most programs shouldn't need to touch the page file.
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
Page file is supposed to be double RAM. I would change the page file to the HDD and set it to 32 GiB. Page files are always bad for SSDs anyway (lots of writes).
 
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
2,452 (0.41/day)
System Name PC
Processor i7 9700KF
Motherboard MSI Z390 A PRO
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000mhz
Video Card(s) PALIT RTX 4070 Dual 12Gb
Storage 2X Crucial MX500 2TB SSD, Samsung 850 pro 512gb SSD
Display(s) DELL C34H89x 34" Ultrawide
Case Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s) Audioengine A5+ Speakers
Power Supply Corsair RM750
Mouse Logitech G403
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K70
Software Windows 10 64bit
The main problem is a lot of conflicting information online with some saying to disable it, make it smaller, move it to another drive.

16GB ram isnt much for Adobe Premiere Pro 64bit and im using all of the ram easily specially with 1080p video and long edits. I think I will move the pagefile to another drive, the only other thing im wondering is how this will slow down or affect my computer running off a SATA mechanical disk instead of SSD?
 

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
You probably won't notice any difference at all. You can always change it if you don't like it.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
I shrink it to 1 GB. Nothing ever really uses it but there's a lot of programs that need it enabled to work correctly despite not using it.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
2,644 (0.48/day)
Location
...
System Name MRCOMP!
Processor 5800X3D
Motherboard MSI Gaming Plus
Cooling Corsair 280 AIO
Memory 64GB 3600mhz
Video Card(s) GTX3060
Storage 1TB SSD
Display(s) Samsung Neo
Case No Case... just sitting on cardboard :D
Power Supply Antec 650w
I shrink it to 1 GB. Nothing ever really uses it but there's a lot of programs that need it enabled to work correctly despite not using it.

you will notice in his last post he said hes already maxing out the 16Gb... it would be a really bad idea to shrink it too much, and stupid to disable it.




best idea is to move it to another drive.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
9,231 (1.66/day)
Location
Montreal, Canada
System Name Homelabs
Processor Ryzen 5900x | Ryzen 1920X
Motherboard Asus ProArt x570 Creator | AsRock X399 fatal1ty gaming
Cooling Silent Loop 2 280mm | Dark Rock Pro TR4
Memory 128GB (4x32gb) DDR4 3600Mhz | 128GB (8x16GB) DDR4 2933Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3080 | ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage Optane 900p + NVMe | Optane 900p + 8TB SATA SSDs + 48TB HDDs
Display(s) Alienware AW3423dw QD-OLED | HP Omen 32 1440p
Case be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev 2 | be quiet! Silent Base 800
Power Supply Corsair RM750x + sleeved cables| EVGA P2 750W
Mouse Razer Viper Ultimate (still has buttons on the right side, crucial as I'm a southpaw)
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Elite, Pro Type | Logitech G915 TKL
I'd shrink it to 1~4GB on your SSD (1 if you don't max out 16GB, 4 if you do) and add 32GB on your HDD
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,280 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Just leave it alone
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Messages
2,894 (0.50/day)
Location
South Carolina
System Name KILLER
Processor Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard MSI Z87 G45 Gaming
Cooling Water Cooling
Memory 2x8GB Gskill 2400mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 980
Storage SSD Samsung 500GB
Display(s) 24" Asus 144hz
Case Cooler Master HAF
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Platinum
Power Supply Antec 1200 Watt Modular
Software Windows 10 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores 3DMark Vantage 51342
Set the pagefile to what windows ask for on custom tab and leave it alone.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
9,231 (1.66/day)
Location
Montreal, Canada
System Name Homelabs
Processor Ryzen 5900x | Ryzen 1920X
Motherboard Asus ProArt x570 Creator | AsRock X399 fatal1ty gaming
Cooling Silent Loop 2 280mm | Dark Rock Pro TR4
Memory 128GB (4x32gb) DDR4 3600Mhz | 128GB (8x16GB) DDR4 2933Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3080 | ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage Optane 900p + NVMe | Optane 900p + 8TB SATA SSDs + 48TB HDDs
Display(s) Alienware AW3423dw QD-OLED | HP Omen 32 1440p
Case be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev 2 | be quiet! Silent Base 800
Power Supply Corsair RM750x + sleeved cables| EVGA P2 750W
Mouse Razer Viper Ultimate (still has buttons on the right side, crucial as I'm a southpaw)
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Elite, Pro Type | Logitech G915 TKL
He needs space on his SSD... Why would he leave it alone?
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,280 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Last edited:
Joined
May 12, 2006
Messages
1,554 (0.24/day)
Location
The Gulag Casino
System Name ROG 7900X3d By purecain
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7900X3D
Motherboard ASUS Crosshair X670E Hero
Cooling Noctua NH U12A
Memory 64Gb G.Skill Trident Z5 neo RGB 6400@6000mhz@1.41v
Video Card(s) Aorus RTX4090 Extreme Waterforce
Storage 990Pro2Tb-1TbSamsung Evo M.2/ 2TbSamsung QVO/ 1TbSamsung Evo780/ 120gbKingston Now
Display(s) LG 65UN85006LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV
Case Thermaltake CoreX71 Limited Edition Etched Tempered Glass Door
Audio Device(s) On board/NIcomplete audio 6
Power Supply Seasonic FOCUS 1000w 80+
Mouse M65 RGB Elite
Keyboard K95 RGB Platinum
Software Windows11pro
Benchmark Scores [url=https://valid.x86.fr/gtle1y][img]https://valid.x86.fr/cache/banner/gtle1y-6.png[/img][/url]
one thing is for certain, if it were me i would just move the page file to the samsung F3....

putting extra wear on an ssd id a bad idea....

there wont be a performance hit that you will notice...

let us know what happens... good luck..
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
137 (0.03/day)
Location
Northern California
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Ultra X570
Cooling Cooler Master ML360R AIO w/ 6 fans in push/pull
Memory 64GB G'Skill DDR4 3600 CL16
Video Card(s) RTX 4080 FE
Storage Samsung 960 Pro + Samsung 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung C32HG70 32" 1440P 144Hz
Case Corsair Obsidian 800D
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro + Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC
Power Supply Superflower Leadex III Gold 850w
Mouse Logitech G600
Keyboard Corsair K55
Setting it to disabled is always bad advice, perpetuated by people who don't understand how the virtual memory subsystem in windows actually works.

An SSD is both the best place for a pagefile (in terms of performance) and the worst place for a pagefile (in terms of SSD longevity) so that will depend on the goals of your system. If you have a well designed SSD, putting the pagefile on there shouldn't cause any serious issues at least not within a year or two.

Also, you can have a pagefile on multiple drives, so why not try for a "best of both worlds"?

Set a small 1-4GB pagefile on your SSD, and also create a pagefile on your mechanical drive and just set that to "system managed".
 

BababooeyHTJ

New Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
907 (0.17/day)
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z77 UD5h
Cooling XSPC Raystrom
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 1600mhz
Video Card(s) 7950 crossfire
Storage a few
Display(s) 27" Catleap
Case Xigmatek Elysium
Audio Device(s) Xonar STX
Power Supply Seasonic X1050
Software Windows 7 X64
I have owned a Intel 320 since release and have 8GB of ram. I leave the page file alone. If I'm not mistaken the page file is mostly random reads and large sequential writes which are handled very well by a ssd.

In the past five months that I've had the drive its seen 1TB of host writes and no wear according to smart data.

Did you disable hibernation? That will free up quite a bit of drive space.

You could limit the page file a bit if you really wanted to but I would keep it on the ssd personally.
 
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
83 (0.02/day)
System Name A black box
Processor AMD fx 8350
Motherboard Gigabyte 990fxa ud3
Cooling Stock
Memory 8GB Kingston hyperx 1600mhz
Video Card(s) Asus directcu top HD5850
Storage random 250gb
Display(s) Philips 190b3
Case antec 200 v2
Audio Device(s) Integrated
Power Supply Silverstone 600w strider essentials plus
Software Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
Benchmark Scores I once tagged my school desk.
Personally id move it to your f3 raid0 drives, and just disable the one on your ssd, you probably wont notice any difference either way, it will just be better for the ssd life.

For me, i have no pagefile at all and have seen no ill effects in 2 years, and havn't even needed to reinstall windows during that time. But i wouldnt recommend doing it unless your 100% sure you arent going to run out of ram.
 
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
9,231 (1.66/day)
Location
Montreal, Canada
System Name Homelabs
Processor Ryzen 5900x | Ryzen 1920X
Motherboard Asus ProArt x570 Creator | AsRock X399 fatal1ty gaming
Cooling Silent Loop 2 280mm | Dark Rock Pro TR4
Memory 128GB (4x32gb) DDR4 3600Mhz | 128GB (8x16GB) DDR4 2933Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3080 | ASUS Strix GTX 970
Storage Optane 900p + NVMe | Optane 900p + 8TB SATA SSDs + 48TB HDDs
Display(s) Alienware AW3423dw QD-OLED | HP Omen 32 1440p
Case be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev 2 | be quiet! Silent Base 800
Power Supply Corsair RM750x + sleeved cables| EVGA P2 750W
Mouse Razer Viper Ultimate (still has buttons on the right side, crucial as I'm a southpaw)
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Elite, Pro Type | Logitech G915 TKL
I have 24GB of RAM, Vertex 2 RAID 0 array and 2x 1TB RAID 0... I leave the pagefile to 1GB on the SSD and 48GB on the HDDs... When I had 12GB, I would have at least 4GB of pagefile on the SSD, and 24GB on the HDD.

I believe my settings were optimal for my use.
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
I have 8gb of ram and have disabled my pagefile with no discernible problem at all.
 

anoobarak

New Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
102 (0.02/day)
Location
Euroland
Processor AMD Phenom II 1090T BE @ 4030MHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
Cooling Noctua NH-D14
Memory Samsung Green 8GB @ 1896MHz
Video Card(s) MSI GTX 660Ti Power Edition 2 GB
Storage OCZ Agility 3 60GB; 1TB Samsung 2.5"
Display(s) LG Flatron E2241 21.5" LED
Case Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
Software Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Just move it to another drive.
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
Do i actually need it on? windows is fine without it.
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Do i actually need it on? windows is fine without it.

It depends on what apps you run. Some apps 100% require the pagefile. Others do not if there is enough ram. It's best to keep one available jsut in case.


If you have RAID'd HDDs of decent perforamcne, moving the page file there instead of SSD is perfectly fine, and will net about the same read/write speed as the SSD, just with higher latency. SSD is the BEST place for a pagefile, performance wise, and if you have worries about SSD lifespan, well, don't. :p

I install OS to my F60 for testing nearly twice a week. I am well voer 2TB of data written now, cannot say I'm too worried about it.
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
137 (0.03/day)
Location
Northern California
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Ultra X570
Cooling Cooler Master ML360R AIO w/ 6 fans in push/pull
Memory 64GB G'Skill DDR4 3600 CL16
Video Card(s) RTX 4080 FE
Storage Samsung 960 Pro + Samsung 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung C32HG70 32" 1440P 144Hz
Case Corsair Obsidian 800D
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro + Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC
Power Supply Superflower Leadex III Gold 850w
Mouse Logitech G600
Keyboard Corsair K55
Just set it to system managed size. It won't use more than it needs and it definitely isn't slowing down ANYTHING by leaving it on.

To those who think they know more about Windows than the engineers who actually designed it: You don't.

Stop giving bad advice based on vague conjectural evidence.

I have 8gb of ram and have disabled my pagefile with no discernible problem at all.
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Just set it to system managed size.

This is what I do, but I prefer to set it to the max system managed size permanently, so that there is less disk thrashing when the pagefile needs to be increased in size. It seems that ahving the pagefile as one continuous file, rather than broken up on the drive as space allows, is optimal.

laptops with SSDs-only, no HDD, come with the pagefile enabled. You'd think if there was any real issue with pagefiles and SSD's, these lappy makers wold do things differently.
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
I run games mainly, bf3, serious sam 3 bfe, skyrim mainly. I turned it off on saturday and have had no problems at all.

until i get a problem with windows i think i will leave it off.
 
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
137 (0.03/day)
Location
Northern California
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus Ultra X570
Cooling Cooler Master ML360R AIO w/ 6 fans in push/pull
Memory 64GB G'Skill DDR4 3600 CL16
Video Card(s) RTX 4080 FE
Storage Samsung 960 Pro + Samsung 980 Pro
Display(s) Samsung C32HG70 32" 1440P 144Hz
Case Corsair Obsidian 800D
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro + Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC
Power Supply Superflower Leadex III Gold 850w
Mouse Logitech G600
Keyboard Corsair K55
I run games mainly, bf3, serious sam 3 bfe, skyrim mainly. I turned it off on saturday and have had no problems at all.

until i get a problem with windows i think i will leave it off.

I'm just wondering what sort of ideas you have about the pagefile that lead you to believe turning it off will result in an improvement. What are you afraid of by leaving it enabled? Share your reasoning with us.
 
Top