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**profJim** · 10-21-2012, 05:22 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

I've been running my P35 system with a 1GB page file on the first partition on my hard drive.
Most of the time the System Monitor II gadget shows that I have little or no swap file usage.
The largest swap file usage I see is 150 - 180MB when I'm running many programs at one time.
My swap file is fixed, with the initial size and maximum size both set to 1024MB.

I have 5 partitions on my hard drive:

D: 16GB for the TEMP & TMP folders, browser cache, downloads folder (temporary), indexer folder, logs folder and mini-dump folder
E: 60GB for permanent saved downloads, and 2 program folders for some large applications that I didn't want on my 60GB boot partition
F: 72GB for the My Documents folder and many large ISO files
G: 142GB for media files including music, video, and photographs
H: 240GB for win7 backups, my manual backups, and archived files

This setup speeds up hard drive defragging and keeps my temporary files separate from my other files.
I also used most of the recommended settings from Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations | www.blackviper.com

Even though I've replaced my 60GB ssd boot drive with a 128GB ssd, I'll probably keep the system settings the way they are.
BTW, how are your brain cells recovering?

**highcountryrider** · 10-21-2012, 10:01 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

Wow, profJim, you are so far advanced from where I am that it hurts.

My secondary WD HDD probably should be partitioned. Very little on it now so I could just format it and start over with the type of partitioning you do. Still curious why the Virtual Memory settings were set with No page file. Is that normal for a non-OS drive?

I have read many opinions that the OS SSD could live without Page file at all and to put the entire Page file on the E drive (WD HDD). Recommendation would be the size of my RAM which would be 8192 MB for both Min and Max. Does this make sense at all and is there really any benefit to doing that?

Took a break this afternoon and took a bike ride. Noticed this big bright thing in the sky and beautiful wispy clouds and fresh air. Rejuvenated about 362,129 of my brain cells and got me pumped again! You know, every time I think I'm getting close with this setup thing and can just start screwing up my system as usual, I read something else I could or should optimize and off we go again! At my age they say use it or lose it (one's brain) so I guess it's all good. Appreciate your responses and information. BTW, if you see some really small, spikey thingies they are probably some of my BCs. Could you ask them to please come back home?

**profJim** · 10-21-2012, 11:33 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

It's my understanding that dead brain cells can't be replaced, but science talks about brain plasticity, where different parts of the brain can be retrained to compensate for damage.

My "advanced" state is due to spending a lot of time reading and learning about new or different things. The biggest problem I have is that for every new fact that I learn, it generates many questions that then require more reading and learning.

Virtual Memory settings
I think that your can create individual page files in each partition if you want to, where the total page file size would be the sum of the separate page files. This feature might have been useful back when drive space was limited and very expensive. I subscribe to the K.I.S.S. philosophy: keep it simple, stupid

and one swap file is fine for me. When I'm in my Virtual Memory configuration window, all of my partitions have the No Page File setting, except for my D: partition where I have it set to 1GB. You will have to see if your system can get by with 1GB. If you use hibernation, then windows should create a hibernation file that is probably the size of the amount of installed memory in your system and this file must be in the root directory of your boot partition and that this file can't be moved. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. In some/many (most?) cases win7 does not require a page file that is as large as your installed memory. I've been using a 1GB page file in both of my systems for over five years. Both systems had 4GB of ram and I've been using 8GB of ram in my P35 system for almost two years. You can always use the min and max options to allow the page file to temporarily grow when needed. Some demanding or intensive games or programs might require a larger page file. I think that windows will rudely interrupt you if it runs out of virtual memory.

Your overall system performance will probably be slightly (or marginally) faster if you don't move system files or folders off of the ssd. I really don't want some of these files and folders in my weekly backup. I'm perfectly happy with a half-fast system. You should partition your hard drive with a setup that works for you. I've been using my current partition setup for quite a while.

WARNING!! I'll be posting a "fact check" in your other thread about ssd over provisioning that should show that a recent post is in error.
_

Reading my new post will probably be hazardous to your brain cell count.

**parsec** · 10-28-2012, 01:33 AM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

Hey, how'd I get over here... Oh Hi there!

HCR, dood, your ASR board has the XFast RAM feature, part of the AXTU software. If you have a lot of free memory all of the time, you can create a RAM Disk, and put your pagefile in it.

In case you don't know, that is what appears to be a disk drive to us in Windows, but uses your PC's RAM memory. It's a semi-permanent "drive" that is either created each time you boot (instantaneously), or you can check the back up feature, and the contents are written to a real disk when you shutdown, and restored when you boot again.

It's very easy to use, and you just click the Pagefile selection, and set the size of the RAM disk. I set mine to 4GB, and the default pagefile was set to 2GB. I shutdown that PC all the time, and the RAM Disk and pagefile work fine automatically every time. IMO, a really nice software feature included with these boards.

I sure like to keep the potentially really write heavy stuff off the SSD, so this is perfect for that. You can also put your temporary files on the RAM disk, and IE or FF browser cache. The browser cache with FF did not work well for me, FF kept crashing, there might be a FF configuration setting that needs to be tweaked.

**highcountryrider** · 10-29-2012, 11:15 AM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

Originally posted by parsec View Post

Hey, how'd I get over here... Oh Hi there!

HCR, dood, your ASR board has the XFast RAM feature, part of the AXTU software. If you have a lot of free memory all of the time, you can create a RAM Disk, and put your pagefile in it.

In case you don't know, that is what appears to be a disk drive to us in Windows, but uses your PC's RAM memory. It's a semi-permanent "drive" that is either created each time you boot (instantaneously), or you can check the back up feature, and the contents are written to a real disk when you shutdown, and restored when you boot again.

It's very easy to use, and you just click the Pagefile selection, and set the size of the RAM disk. I set mine to 4GB, and the default pagefile was set to 2GB. I shutdown that PC all the time, and the RAM Disk and pagefile work fine automatically every time. IMO, a really nice software feature included with these boards.

I sure like to keep the potentially really write heavy stuff off the SSD, so this is perfect for that. You can also put your temporary files on the RAM disk, and IE or FF browser cache. The browser cache with FF did not work well for me, FF kept crashing, there might be a FF configuration setting that needs to be tweaked.

Hi back, I had totally forgotten about this thread! Must be because of some of those pesky missing brain cells.

Anyhoo, does AXTU stand for ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility? If so, I have not installed any of the ASRock utilities but will take a look at that one. Of course, I'll have to figure out how to use it but if I have any questions I'll just ask here and someone with far more working BCs will help out, I'm sure.

**highcountryrider** · 10-29-2012, 05:04 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

OK, I'm going to install AXTU and use the xFast RAM feature. I watched a couple of YouTube videos from ASRock on setting it up and using it. Thought I would run my proposed process by you for comments.

Install and setup
Setup RAM disk as Drive X, set Drive size as 4096 MB and leave PAE Mode on default setting.
Set IE Cache files, Memory Pagefile and Firefox Cache files options to On position.
What settings for the other options - Ready Boost, System Temp Files and User Temp Files?
After finalizing Options, click on Apply and then Start.

Does this look correct? Also, if for any reason I have to turn off or eliminate the RAM disk would that create any problems? Again, yet another function (RAM disk) I know nothing about.

Last question (for this post at least): Would or should I go into system settings for pagefile size and eliminate the 1024 MB I have set now for the C drive or change it to some other number? Hope this question is clear to you.

Screenshot below sort of repeats the list above but maybe makes them clearer?

**parsec** · 10-30-2012, 01:53 AM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

PAE Mode? What the... oh, I see, is that the AXTU version from the board's disk? Yeah, there's a new version on the download page, that has no PAE mode, and frankly I have no clue what that means.

You pretty much have it figured out, with just a few explanations and suggestions.

Don't RAM Disk your world completely yet, just do the Memory Pagefile, System Temp and User Temp files. Once you Apply and then Start the RAM Drive, and reboot, just see if the PC is Ok, which it should be, and then try other things.

First more info: The pagefile feature ASR did in this software is SOOOO automatic, you don't need to do anything! Well, I'm not 100% sure, since I may have removed any pagefile from the PC before I activated the RAM Disk. Check what you have for pagefiles after the reboot. You only need one, so if others exist, get rid of them. I didn't need to do anything once this feature was activated, it just works.

The Temp files are just files and folders that are needed for example when a program is installed. They may not be automatically deleted, so can accumulate, and serve no purpose. A RAM Disk is a great place for them, every restart clears the trash.

ReadyBoost is a feature for pathetic PCs, and uses a USB flash drive for extra memory. Why they have that as an option astonishes me, given how nice the rest of it is. The last thing you need is ReadyBoost, with all your memory and a SSD, ignore it with extreme prejudice!

What Internet browser do you use? IE = Internet Explorer, and Firefox caching is supported. Do you use either, both, none? I used it with FF, and FF constantly crashed, and I mean constantly. YMMV, but for example if you use Chrome, turning those two on does nothing.

If the RAM Disk is turned off, or crashes for some reason, you are screwed... just kidding. With no more RAM Disk pagefile, Windows will just create one again on the C drive. Windows will also just start using the C drive for the temp files again too. If you used the browser cache feature, that too would just go back on the C drive. So no worries there at all.

A RAM Disk should act just like any other storage drive, which it basically does. If you store things on a drive, and then remove the drive, you need to adjust things accordingly. Same thing with a RAM Disk.

ReadyBoost? OMGawd, Windows won't even let me create a ReadyBoost drive, given the memory I have, really not that much, 16GB. But Joe Cool only has one 2GB "stick" of memory in his PC, and he's gonna make a RAM Disk out of some of it! So he'll put his ReadyBoost fake memory into his actual memory on the RAM Disk, but the ReadyBoost fake memory was needed because he did not have enough real memory in the first place. So the net result is Zero! Like I said, it works so well that they had to throw is something ridiculous, because perfect is bad mojo or something...

**highcountryrider** · 10-30-2012, 10:16 AM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

Originally posted by parsec View Post

PAE Mode? What the... oh, I see, is that the AXTU version from the board's disk? Yeah, there's a new version on the download page, that has no PAE mode, and frankly I have no clue what that means.

Yeah, I grabbed the screenshot off the ASRock YouTube video. They were obviously using a earlier version of AXTU. I have downloaded the latest version from the AR website

First more info: The pagefile feature ASR did in this software is SOOOO automatic, you don't need to do anything! Well, I'm not 100% sure, since I may have removed any pagefile from the PC before I activated the RAM Disk. Check what you have for pagefiles after the reboot. You only need one, so if others exist, get rid of them. I didn't need to do anything once this feature was activated, it just works.

Just to clarify, the above seems to mean that I should choose the No Pagefile option in Advanced system settings for the C drive, currently set to 1024 MB.

What Internet browser do you use? IE = Internet Explorer, and Firefox caching is supported. Do you use either, both, none? I used it with FF, and FF constantly crashed, and I mean constantly. YMMV, but for example if you use Chrome, turning those two on does nothing.

I do use both IE and FF. Used to prefer FF but now with their constant updates and loss of use of addons and extensions I'm using IE more on the new system. I do some web design work so I will have Chrome and Safari installed for checking pages.

If the RAM Disk is turned off, or crashes for some reason, you are screwed... just kidding. With no more RAM Disk pagefile, Windows will just create one again on the C drive. Windows will also just start using the C drive for the temp files again too. If you used the browser cache feature, that too would just go back on the C drive. So no worries there at all.

Very funny...

obviously you're more that aware of my paranoiac tendencies! One question about this. Say the RAM disk is 4 GB in size and is visible as a partition. Does that come off the available size of the C drive? If so, and I remove the RAM disk, does that partition space get added back to available space on the C drive? Is this question clear?

As usual, thanks for the details.

**profJim** · 10-30-2012, 10:48 AM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

A ram disk uses physical memory, not memory from one of your disk partitions.
In http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/5...tml#post441107, post #51 parsec posted his CDM benchmark results for his ram disk, where the ram disk was somewhat faster

than his ssd.

You 8GB or ram will use 4GB for the ram disk, and provide the remaining 4GB of memory for the rest of your system.
I think that your system will perform better if you use 2GB for the ram disk and 6GB for your system.

parsec's CDM benchmark results for his ram disk!!

**highcountryrider** · 10-30-2012, 12:24 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

OK, if I set the RAM disk size at 2 GB should I still go into the pagefile settings for my C drive and change the current 1024 MB (both boxes) to the No pagefile option? Parsec mentioned in his post that there should only be one pagefile.

Well, I'm not 100% sure, since I may have removed any pagefile from the PC before I activated the RAM Disk. Check what you have for pagefiles after the reboot. You only need one, so if others exist, get rid of them.

You guys aren't trying to confuse me again, are you?

**profJim** · 10-30-2012, 01:48 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

We wouldn't try and confuse you with the facts!!

I just installed DataRamDisk (freeware up to 4GB) on my P35-DS3L with 8GB of ram.
I used the following procedure:

Create 2GB ram disk (X:).
Change the setting on my D: partition to No Paging File, it formerly was 1024MB (min) with 1024MB (max).
Set my ram disk (X:) paging file size to 256MB (min) with 1024MB (max).
Save settings, exit, and reboot for new settings to take effect.

It's up to you to choose the optimal size for your ram disk based on how much ram is installed in your system.
4GB will work, but I think that a 2GB or 3GB ram disk will be better.
If needed, you should be able to change the size of your ram disk later.

My CDM benchmark for the ram disk:

Using Random data, the scores were nearly identical when I repeated the CDM benchmark.
It looks like I have a half-fast system

**highcountryrider** · 10-30-2012, 04:46 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

Thanks profJim for the additional information, just what I needed.

Took a look at DataRamDisk and it looks good. I think I'll try the ASRock fastRam utility that came with my board first and then if I don't like it try DataRamDisk. ASR fastRAM has dummy

proof settings so I can automatically include my browser caches and the pagefile. Will let you know how that works out.

**profJim** · 10-30-2012, 04:55 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

So far, DataRamDisk seems to make my system feel slightly faster.
I have my FireFox (v3.6.28) browser cache on the ram disk with no problems.
The only drawback right now is that it takes several minutes for the ram disk image file to be saved to my ssd when I shut down.

The only reason I'm saving the 2GB image file is to speed up FireFox when it loads from the saved browser cache.
If I can't fix the shutdown delay I'll stop saving the ram disk and might put my browser cache back on my D: partition.

parsec's problem with FireFox crashing might be caused by his running version 16.x (beta?).

**profJim** · 10-30-2012, 05:23 PM

Re: Win 7 page file size on SSD used for OS

FYI, here's a screen-shot showing my memory usage with my 2GB DataRamDisk:

1st row = total physical memory
2nd row = swapfile size and usage (min - 256MB, max = 1024MB)
3rd row = total memory size and usage

The bar graphs below the memory usage statisics is the percentage of ram used in each category.

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