Solved Virtual Memory Settings Lesson 101 Needed

Hi all,

I need a lesson in Virtual Memory please. Was just checking performance and ended up at Virtual Memory. Had a couple of programs fail recently. I do not necessary think it is my system but rather glitches in the two applications themselves, as was the case with compatibility between the latest versions of Firefox and Java. Still . . . think it's wise to check performance every so often.

After reading several posts on the Forum, I'm still not sure what I should do, if anything. Have two questions. Can you please take a look and offer some guidance?

Some info below on my computer. Please let me know if I need to provide anything additional.

OS: Vista 64-bit Home Premium
800 GB hard drive
7 GB Ram

I have three (3) drives: "C" where the system is; "D" where back up is - never touch this; "K" docs and gaming programs

Question 1: Is "real" memory the same as "physical" memory? I believe it is. If so, then I have 7 GB - correct?


Under System Properties, Advanced . . . System says:

C: 342066 MB space available
D: 1531 MB space available
K: 128044 MB space available

Paging file is on "C"

NOTE: I do have the system managing the memory currently

System further says:

Min allowed: 16 MB
Recommended: 10365 MB
Currently allocated: 7210 MB

Question 3: Given the recommendation of 10365 MB above, should I custom set the Virtual Memory? And if so, do I need to do this for each drive?

Thank you all in advance for your assistance.

Meltie

Hi Meltie
Found this very good article on virtual memory. It should answer most of your questions
Virtual Memory - How To Information | eHow.com

RAM is known as real memory it is not the virtual memory. You have 7gb of real/physical memory.
Real and physical memory are the same.
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5002446_what-physical-memory-computer.html
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/physmemo.htm

Additional Information and how to set virtual memory.
NB. The default setting is usually best for most users. There are very few users that will need to change the default setting.
Introduction to virtual memory and how much virtual memory you need for your system

If you are not receiving error notices about low virtual memory, just leave the defaults. Little mentioned fact, the larger the page file (virutal memory) slower the computer performance. Bottom line, no problems leave the memory alone.

Just some additional information, I have been working with computers since Windows 98. Other than minor tweaks, I have never made any changes unless circumstances required. I never changed virtual memory, overclocked etc and my computer works great.
On the other hand many members have come here with problems, only to find the cause to be some elaborate tweak they made that was not necessary.

Hello!

Firstly, let's straighten out a few terms, so that we are all on a level playing field

• Physical (or "real") memory: Your physical installed RAM, in DIMM slots on your motherboard

• Paged memory: Memory not on your physical RAM, but on a secondary storage device (now harddisk)

• Virtual memory: This is NOT the same as paged memory. This is actually an illusion created by the Memory Manager (and Windows Kernal) that applications have been allocated a contiguous block of memory, and have exclusive access to it. Virtual memory is only something you need to worry about as a programmer, and not as a tweaker. Let's put Virtual Memory out of our mind.

Microsoft said:

To have Windows choose the best paging file size, click System managed size.

Click to expand...

^^ What that said. Unless you have a good reason to increase the paging file, I would just leave it as it is by default. The Memory Manager is very good at judging

meltie said:

And if so, do I need to do this for each drive?

Click to expand...

No. Just C:\ is a very good place to start, unless you really know what you are doing.

Richard

Okay. Now I understand why the recommended size is 10365 MB. It follows the 1.5 times Rule. I'm wondering why the system would recommend a size and then not allocate that recommended size?? hmm??

Ramifications of making virtual memory too large are noted.

Thank you for the terminology explanations and the articles. Very helpful.

Two things running through my mind now:

1. I have not received a low memory message; however, I have had the two programs crash. The resource allocation data shows severe spikes at the time of the crash. Watching the programs themselves, multiple things were going on (these are games I'm referring to). This led me to believe there may not have been enough memory. As they were playing in full screen mode, if there was an error message or warning for low memory, I didn't see it. I may just be confusing the issue here though.

2. Could it be my graphics card causing the issues and memory is not involved in the equation at all? I have a separate post on graphics cards.

The only thing bothering me about not changing the memory size is that the system is telling me the recommended size should be larger than what is allocated.

Should I still just ignore the recommended advisement?

Thanks for your help

Meltie

With 7GB or ram, I would think that should be enough for a normal game. Read the requiments for the game, how much ram is suggested. Is the game on the compatible list?
Windows Vista Compatibility Center
If you want to increase the size in small increments, go right ahead; assuming that you have the required space.

If the game is cpu intensive, the graphics card could, indeed, be at fault.
Is the card sufficient to meet the demands of the game? All this information should be on the box that the DVD came in. If not, Im sure that online the information is available.

Here are the requirements of the two games that are failing. Unless I'm missing something, my system exceeds those requirements. Am I missing something? I've included a partial of the DxDiag Report below as well.

First Game

• Windows 7/Windows Vista/Windows XP
• 1 GHz Pentium 3 or equivalent
• 512MB RAM
• DirectX 9.0c

Second Game

Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7
Pentium III 1.0 GHz or better (1.0 GHz Vista)
384 MB System RAM (512 MB Vista)
64MB Video RAM
Internet Explorer 5.0+, AOL 5,6 or MSN browsers
Direct-X 9c (10 Vista)
Direct-X compatible sound card
Keyboard & mouse required
Joystick and game pad are not supported


Below is part of the DxDiag 64 bit


Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.101014-0432)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KT334AA-ABA m8530f
BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/05/08 17:18:43 Ver: 5.18
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9550 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 6910MB RAM
Page File: 2023MB used, 11889MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 64bit Unicode


Ya know, I just noticed that the report above says: Page File: 2023MB used, 11889MB available

Glad Niemiro told me Paged and Virtual are NOT the same or I would have been confused by this