Tweaking
your System Memory
Last
Updated on July 18, 2000 by Thomas
McGuire - Page 4/9
Calculating Page File size
Before
you can set your Page File you’ll want to get an idea of
what to actually set it too. Some recommend using a general
formula, e.g. RAM*2.5. This is incorrect however. Using that
formula, a person with 16MB RAM should set 40MB, while a
person with 128MB RAM should set 320MB. Clearly the person
with little RAM needs a greater amount of Virtual memory than
the person with a lot of RAM.
To
begin with, let Windows 2000 manage your Virtual memory
settings, although with 1 adjustment. During
Installation Windows 2000 by default sets your Paging File to Physical RAM*1.5. The adjustment is to simply set the Maximum
= Minimum/Initial size. To change this right
click on My
Computer, select Advanced
then the Performance options button, then Change. Simply edit the Maximum
size to equal the Initial
size & then select Set
& Ok. Reboot for the changes to take effect.
Open
up System monitor
(Click on Start, Programs, Administrative
tools, Performance),
open the Performance
logs & alerts section, then Counter
logs. In the right hand pane right
click & select New
log settings.
In
the General tab
select Add. For the Performance object, select Paging File. Select % Usage
Peak & _Total
respectively. Over the next few days load up System
monitor & let it track your Page file size. I'd
recommend saving the log as a Text
file, e.g. CSV
format.
It
would be best to start tracking your usage when you go to play
a game or something that will put your PC under a bit of
stress. Run a few timedemos or play Unreal tournament/Quake 3
against some bots. This will give you an idea of your Page
File needs, however don’t go overboard with the testing you
want to track normal usage, not excessive usage. The results
are saved in the log file.
Once
you’re satisfied with your monitoring its time to consult
the logs. Open your memory.csv
(or whatever you saved it as) with Notepad.
You’ll be greeted with something like this.
Unfortunately,
the Paging File usage is saved in Percentage
(%), rather than in MB’s. To convert it into MB’s divide your Page file size by 100
& multiply by
the largest number
in the log(s) (you can round up/down to the nearest whole
number as you see fit).
E.g.
In the logs shown above, 13.37
is the peak value. Assuming my Page File had been set to 192MB
then my recommended value would be worked out as follows. 192/100 = 1.92, 1.92
* 13.37 = 25.6704MB, or 26MB.
Based on my results I'd then go on to set the Initial
size to 26MB & the Maximum size
to about twice that, "just in case".
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