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View Full Version : Windows 7 page file for 3d / CG with 8 GB RAM

whitewolf573
03-25-2010, 04:36 PM
I have a PC with a SSD 120 Gb disk where is Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit , and 3 disks more (one of 750 GB , another of 1 TB and another one of 1,5 TB).

I have changed the motherboard because was broken , and i added 6 Gb ram to my system having now 8 GB Ram.

Yesterday i have installed windows 7 ultimate 64 bit in the SSD , and i started to install the antivirus, improve performance with ssds and like.

One thing that i dont know what do with , is page file.

I want to move it from C : , that is the SSD to 2 or 3 HDs , so have a portion of the pagefile in each drive (i have read this aproach is better , than have the pagefile only in one HD , and pagefile shouldn't be in SSDs also).

But thinking in the amount of it need , usually it is remomended between 1,5 x and 3x of the ram , that is between 12 GB and 24 GB page file.

I use my pc for 3D / CG work ( Maya and Photoshop mostly) , i am learning yet , starting , as i did only a 6 month course 2 years ago , and i want to start again , and learn a lot , and see what happens.

It is quite sure that i will not spend the 8 GB in some time , but i am thinking in optimice the pc for 3d / CG work , although i won't really use all ram / pagefile by the moment ( and not this year probably ) , but have it done , and optimized.

Do you think a amount between 16 GB ( 2x RAM ) and 24 GB (3 x RAM) could be counterproductive , or although will not be used all in a lot of time , could be a good measure , to prevent future problems ?

I can for example use in total 36 GB divided in 3 disks ( 3 x 12 GB ) or 24-30 GB in total divided in 3 x 8-10 GB.

Would you use a bigger pagefile , or with 24-36 GB is enough? (sure will be in sometime , but suppose for a moment, that i work with heavy files,scenes and models )

Thanks for the help :)
meleseDESIGN
03-25-2010, 06:14 PM
Set the pagefile on drive C: (your SSD system drive) to 16-16MB and one to another drive with a size of 7-14GB, that should do just fine. If you need bigger pagefiles (what i do not believe) you can crank em up latter or set more pagefiles to the other drives too.

;)
imashination
03-25-2010, 06:21 PM
Leave the pagefile on the SSD, thats one of the main reasons for even buying one in the first place.
meleseDESIGN
03-25-2010, 06:34 PM
Leave the pagefile on the SSD, thats one of the main reasons for even buying one in the first place.

Oh, i though SSD drives are only good for boot performance and robustness.:hmm:
So i better get an SSD drive as well.
How is the performane boost when using an SSD and if the pagefile is set to it?

:shrug:
Srek
03-25-2010, 06:42 PM
If you run into virtual memory useage it's very good, if not the difference is measurable but not dramatic.
Cheers
Björn
olson
03-25-2010, 06:57 PM
I would never work with a system that has a 16MB paging file. If that were my setup I'd set the paging file to 8GB minimum and 16GB or 24GB maximum on one of the hard disks since they have more space. You might go weeks or months without needing it, but when you do need it you'll be glad you set it up that way. I'm on a workstation with 32GB of memory but the paging file is set to 64GB which has come in handy many times. People pretend that paging files and swap are obsolete just because memory is less expensive now. Things are no different than they always have been, there's more memory in the system but the tasks today require more memory too. Cheers!
whitewolf573
03-25-2010, 07:33 PM
I think meleseDESIGN wanted to say 16 gb for the SSD.
whitewolf573
03-25-2010, 07:39 PM
If you run into virtual memory useage it's very good, if not the difference is measurable but not dramatic.
Cheers
Björn

interesting. I was going to move the pagefile outside the ssd because the wear leveling, but as i see the performance is quite good , i think i Will put at least 16GB in the ssd and 12 or a bit more in the other disk
meleseDESIGN
03-26-2010, 06:51 AM
If you run into virtual memory useage it's very good, if not the difference is measurable but not dramatic.
Cheers
Björn

That´s fair enough!

;)
meleseDESIGN
03-26-2010, 07:08 AM
I think meleseDESIGN wanted to say 16 gb for the SSD.

No matter what I do, most of what i say is exactly what i mean.
16-16MB on drive C: is how I have my systems set, 3 other partitions have a bigger pagefile and i had no issues while i´m playing within C4D, PS, AE or other applications.

I think it is a matter of taste nowadays since our rigs have a lot physical RAM installed and the windows default virtual memory management isn´t that bad neither, i think.

;)
whitewolf573
03-26-2010, 10:11 AM
Thanks :).

Well , i have configured the page file to have 16 GB (16-16) in c: and 16 GB in B: (a partition in a 1,5 TB disk)

I put the minimum and maximum at 16 GB both (16384 MB - 16384 MB).
meleseDESIGN
03-26-2010, 10:18 AM
Why 16-16GB???

:curious:
whitewolf573
03-26-2010, 12:59 PM
Because , i have read , that if for example you put 4 GB - 16 GB , the page file will be 4 GB , and when need to grow , will grow only to 16 , but if you have no space in c : there will be problems.

With 16-16 GB , the 16 GB are pre-allocated , so windows will not be able to use that 16 GB for anything more than pagefile.

As i have 4 disk , i am thinking , instead of divide the pagefile in 2 disks , divide in 3 , because as each disk has their own sata controller , and the performance will be highter dividing 32 GB in 3 parts than in 2.

What i don't know if use more than 3x RAM , could be problematic . Too much page-file is bad ?

I mean , i prefer have in c like 10 GB ,because if you have a errors in windows the memory , all the 8 GB could be damped to the pagefile , so be able to see what happened later , or something like this.

in the other 2 disks i can put 12-15 GB that all sums about 35 GB ( a bit more of 24 Gb, but i think perhaps is not bad , and i have a lot of space.

I will create in another disk a partition for photoshop scratch , and another one too in other disk for the same (for example about 45 -50 Gb in total )

Perhaps is too much , but if it is not bad , and will not hurt , i don't care
i have about 3 TB summing all disks :)
meleseDESIGN
03-26-2010, 08:51 PM
Too much page-file is bad ?



No, it isn´t. But I don´t believe you will ever need such big pagefiles, neither you will need 2 or 3 pagefiles on the other disks. Just keep one page file on C:, like Matthew said, and it should work fine.


;)
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