I personally Have a lot better results with my pagefile set at 2 gigs on my 2second harddrive I also set it static mainly so It wont get fragmented.

The only real performance advantage is if you move the pagefile to a separate partition on a separate physical HD.

To change your pagefile size and location with the default Category Control Panel:

1. Head to Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select Performance and Maintenance
4. Select System
5. Select Advanced Tab
6. Under Performance, select the Settings button
7. Select Advanced Tab
8. Under Virtual Memory, select the Change button
9. Adjust as needed, or select "No paging File," then select the Set button
10. Select the Ok button to apply the settings
11. You must reboot for the changes to take effect


From Fastest to Slowest, these are the configuration's you can try:

* No swap file at all. Some software may fail. You also need plenty of memory to do this. Greater than 1024 MB.
* A static swap file on a separate hard drive (and preferably, controller) from Windows and frequently accessed data.
* A dynamic swap file on a separate hard drive (and preferably, controller) from Windows and frequently accessed data.
* A static swap file on a separate partition, but on the same physical hard drive as Windows.
* A dynamic swap file on a separate partition, but on the same physical hard drive as Windows.
* The Default: A dynamic swap file on the same partition and physical hard drive (usually C) as Windows.

Microsofts own article about Pagefile

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/...es/03june16.asp ;  

I have a friend with a very high spec machine, approx 4GB RAM and he has NO pagefile with no problems, he is a 3D designer and uses Photoshop 99% of his PC time, the other 1% he plays "GTR" which runs happily on his Pagefile free beastie.

I'm not saying its wise to have no Pagefile, just, its possible.

I have more than enough problems WITH my pagefile! 

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No problems to date, his PC is about 2 months old.....

3.7GHz Intel Pentium® 4 Extreme, LGA 775 CPU (1066FSB) HT 2MB Cache

MSI P4N Diamond Digital SLi NF4 1066fsb Dual DDR2 667 PCI-E SATAII Raid 7.1Ch SB 24Bit Lan/Bluetooth Motherboard

4 x 1Gb DDR2 PC4200, 533 MHz, non-ECC, 240 DIMM, unbuffered, CL4 Infinion RAM

256MB AOpen Aeolus 6800 Ultra PCI-E

4 X 73Gb Maxtor Atlas 15K 68pin 15Krpm U320 8MB !


I forget the rest of the spec, the above sums it up pretty well !

No swap file, no problems.  8)

I run with my pagefile on my D: drive... I used to run no pagefile when I had 4Gb of DDR400. NO PROBLEMS, but with 2Gb RDRAM I have loads of slowdowns with no pagefile.

MS recommends a minimum 22mb pagefile. It is required for some programs. If you notice, the pagefile always has at least 2-10mbs of data in it regardless of what you're doing. With 1024mb or more of RAM, you rarely use the pagefile so you don't need a large one, certainly not the 1.5x RAM pagefile that used to be recommended back in the old days when 256mb of RAM was almost unheard of.

As for location, the fastest access will be at the front of the harddrive, whether it's the same drive as Windows or a second HDD. Having it on another partition D: on the same harddrive as Windows does not make it faster since the D: partition will be in the middle or rear of the HDD, behind C:. If you only have one HDD, then keep it where it is on C:. If you have 2 HDDs, then it may be better on the second, at the front.

With today's systems with large amounts of very fast RAM, the pagefile location or size will have no impact whatsoever. All of these pagefile tweaks were conceived in the late 90's before the days of WinXP (which has much better memory management), 1GHz computers and DDR RAM. It's really best just to let windows manage it and forget about it.

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Well said.

The good old days when pagefiles meant all the difference in the world.