Moving pagefile to RAM memory benefits?

[laimis911]

Hi,I have ASRock B75M-GL motherboard and tweak utility for this Motherboard called ASRock eXtreme Tuner inside there is ASRock XFast RAM ,It can move Page file from disk C: to created disk from physical memory RAM ,from what I know RAM is faster than any SSD ,but what actually I gain from it for example in Games,can my textures load faster etc ?
here some videos from developers

in second video just skip everything except XFast RAM .

Now I have only 4gb of ram,I've tried it but games are crashing because of low RAM memory ,I don't want to waste my money on RAM but if someone could confirm about performance gain then I will buy more RAM .

 

[bobcat]

If I understand you correctly, you want to disable the pagefile on the hard drive in order to force the system to use the faster RAM instead.

The short answer is that the pagefile on the hard drive is there for a reason. Advice about disabling it belongs to the so-called ‘tuning myths”.

If you have lots of RAM and think you can get faster performance by turning off the slower Paging File, not only you will gain no improvement but may in fact get the opposite result.

When certain applications start, they allocate a huge amount of memory, even though they might not use it. If no paging file is present, a memory-hogging application can quickly use a large chunk of RAM. Even worse, just a few such programs can bring a machine loaded with memory to a halt. Some applications (e.g., Adobe Photoshop) will display warnings on startup if no paging file is present.

When the memory in use by all the existing processes exceeds the amount of RAM available, the operating system will move pages(4 kB pieces) to the computer's hard disk, thus freeing that RAM frame for other uses. But in fact, Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system.

 

[slh28]

If you're sure the crashing is due to low RAM then just get another 4GB, DDR3 is very cheap nowadays.

By definition you can't move the pagefile to RAM, the pagefile is there as "additional RAM".

 

[laimis911]

If I understand you correctly, you want to disable the pagefile on the hard drive in order to force the system to use the faster RAM instead.

the page file will not be disabled ,it will be in ram memory . ASrock utility can make a disk drive from Physical memory and then I can move page file to the created ram memory which is a lot faster than HHD or SSD to access pagefile . For example with the utility if I have 4gb of ram I can cut a chunk of ram for example 1gb and 3gb will be left for system . I can name that 1gb disk I: just like you have in HDD disk C: . and in that disk I: I can move page file from disk C: doing so my HDD will not have to work paging files because created Disk I: from ram memory will do all the work and in theory it must be a lot faster because it not using HDD anymore . I read that it's even recommended for people who have SSD because SSD can degrade in time faster by accessing page file ,but when you use dedicated chunk of ram for paging files SSD gets vacation .

 

[slh28]

I don't understand this at all; you're allocating 1GB of physical RAM to act as virtual RAM? I don't see any situation where this would be beneficial over just leaving the 4GB of RAM as normal RAM.

 

[laimis911]

I don't understand this at all; you're allocating 1GB of physical RAM to act as virtual RAM? I don't see any situation where this would be beneficial over just leaving the 4GB of RAM as normal RAM.

this is just an example ,but I want to know if I buy another 4gb of ram in total there will be 8gb then leaving 4gb for system and 4Gb for paging do I get any performance doing so ? or just leave this idea alone ? I'm starting to think that this ASRock XFast RAM function maybe is good for windows 32bit because 32bit versions can't access more than 4GB ram so if you have 8gb you can use unused 4gb for paging instead of HHD . but 64bit version can accesses all 8Gb of ram so maybe there is no point in this whole idea because I'm using Windows 7 64bit.

 

[slh28]

I'm starting to think that this ASRock XFast RAM function maybe is good for windows 32bit

Yeah I think that's one of the usages. But looking at their website it seems the main function is to make a RAM disk which brings very little benefits over an SSD except in very specific circumstances.

What RAM configuration do you have at the moment? If it's 2x2GB then you'll need to buy a new 2x4GB or 2x8GB set of RAM if you want to upgrade because your mobo only has 2 RAM slots.

 

[laimis911]

Yeah I think that's one of the usages. But looking at their website it seems the main function is to make a RAM disk which brings very little benefits over an SSD except in very specific circumstances.

What RAM configuration do you have at the moment? If it's 2x2GB then you'll need to buy a new 2x4GB or 2x8GB set of RAM if you want to upgrade because your mobo only has 2 RAM slots.

I have 2x2GB ,I will buy 2x4GB ,but from my tests with some tools non of todays games are using more than 2.5-4Gb . somewhere I read that having more than 4Gb let say 8Gb for example can improve Video card performance ,it can reduced in game details that pops up because having more ram allows the graphics card to grab a fat piece of the system memory is that correct ?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Paging is an extension to RAM by using storage space of a drive. The whole concept of a paging is to allow applications to use more memory than there is physically in the machine. Allotting partial amounts of memory for paging is non-productive.

 

[bobcat]

the page file will not be disabled ,it will be in ram memory . .

If you read my full reply, you'll realize that in effect you're trying to do what I'm saying and therefore my reply applies.

As I said, the system only uses the pagefile when it runs out of RAM. Therefore by reducing RAM in order to convert it to pagefile you're not doing anything useful. It's like taking out of one RAM pocket and putting it in the other. But if you do come to need hard drive pagefile, it may not be accessible.

 

[laimis911]

If you read my full reply, you'll realize that in effect you're trying to do what I'm saying and therefore my reply applies.

As I said, the system only uses the pagefile when it runs out of RAM. Therefore by reducing RAM in order to convert it to pagefile you're not doing anything useful. It's like taking out of one RAM pocket and putting it in the other. But if you do come to need hard drive pagefile, it may not be accessible.

Yeah I understand it now .

 

[cliffordcooley]

On a side note, I have 8GB memory and disabled my pagefile around 4 months ago. I've not noticed any negative side effects by only using physical memory.

As bobcat mentioned though if you do happen to need more memory than physically in the machine and you have paging turned off, your system will likely crash and require a reboot (been there and done that a few years back).

 

[slh28]

somewhere I read that having more than 4Gb let say 8Gb for example can improve Video card performance ,it can reduced in game details that pops up because having more ram allows the graphics card to grab a fat piece of the system memory is that correct ?

Having 8GB RAM will improve your gaming performance considering you're running very close to 4GB now. But to improve further you'll need a better graphics card - what do you have at the moment?

 

[laimis911]

Having 8GB RAM will improve your gaming performance considering you're running very close to 4GB now. But to improve further you'll need a better graphics card - what do you have at the moment?

I have HD6870 ,I can run pretty much any game at highest settings with lowered resolution between 1366x768 and 1920x1080 ,even though I have 60Hz monitor but I always set my refresh rate to 50Hz and running games at 50fps instead of 60Hz=60fps. In that way my graphics card don't have to work so hard to reach 60fps and image is a lot smoother when there is constant 50fps instead of 60fps and dips to 50fps on 60Hz because it's a bit too slow to keep 60fps all the time .

 

[Darth Shiv]

I have HD6870 ,I can run pretty much any game at highest settings with lowered resolution between 1366x768 and 1920x1080 ,even though I have 60Hz monitor but I always set my refresh rate to 50Hz and running games at 50fps instead of 60Hz=60fps. In that way my graphics card don't have to work so hard to reach 60fps and image is a lot smoother when there is constant 50fps instead of 60fps and dips to 50fps on 60Hz because it's a bit too slow to keep 60fps all the time .

How are you capping the framerates of games?

 

[laimis911]

How are you capping the framerates of games?

with MSI Afterburner or DXtory ,you can also cap with Bandicam . To cap with MSI Afterburner you need to do a little bit of work but to me it works most accurate .

 

[SNGX1275]

I think this would be an improvement if his pagefile was on a mechanical drive. What that utility is doing is taking a portion of RAM and making it appear as a physical disk. So if you do read/writes of temporary internet files to physical RAM that would be immensely faster than a mechanical hard drive, and likely faster than a SSD (although not by as much). I think there still may be a benefit of doing this even with an SSD because of the limited writes of an SSD whereas regular RAM is designed for read/writes for the life of a system or two.

Perhaps that was all covered above, but I read through quickly and didn't pick that out of the discussion.

 

[lchu12]

I'd say leave it alone, unless you really need the space that the page file takes up. For example in my case I have no page file, because I got a 128GB SSD, I load everything that I use on to it. So instead of forking up about double to triple the price of what I got my SSD for I went with no pagefile and just expand my RAM. Currently I have 8 GB and for the most part it works flawlessly. Only on the days where I'm running a gazillion programs do I get a crash. Even so for me its way cheaper to get another 8GB RAM (2 x 4GB) than to get a bigger SSD.

Just my two cents.

 

[hahahanoobs]

You're better off just upgrading to an 8GB RAM kit and an SSD. I set my pagefile to 400MB (MS warning says a minimum of 250 or 300 is recommended) and I've been fine. Pagefile activity is 80% reads so an SSD is perfect.