Fast machine is slowed down by Virtual Memory.

Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on M6400 notebook with 16GB RAM.
With 16GB RAM does Vista really need any virtual memory?

My quad core, 16GB RAM notebook would be faster without hard drive
access due to virtual memory.

Can I turm off virtual memory or set it to some very low value
(possibly 0)?

My preference is to use the 16GB RAM and should that be insufficient
then I decide which programs to close. I don't want Vista using 4GB, or
6GB RAM, etc., and continually writing/reading to HD which slows things
down and does not make full use of the physical RAM present.

Can Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is
used then switch to virtual memory?


--
Laurence

Many programs are designed specifically to utilize virtual memory and will
malfunction in its absence. You won't know if you are affected until you try
it. And, 6 months down the road, when you install something like PhotoShop
(which needs virtual memory), will you even remember that you have it
disabled.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"Laurence" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on M6400 notebook with 16GB RAM.
> With 16GB RAM does Vista really need any virtual memory?
>
> My quad core, 16GB RAM notebook would be faster without hard drive
> access due to virtual memory.
>
> Can I turm off virtual memory or set it to some very low value
> (possibly 0)?
>
> My preference is to use the 16GB RAM and should that be insufficient
> then I decide which programs to close. I don't want Vista using 4GB, or
> 6GB RAM, etc., and continually writing/reading to HD which slows things
> down and does not make full use of the physical RAM present.
>
> Can Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is
> used then switch to virtual memory?
>
>
> --
> Laurence

Richard Urban wrote:
> Many programs are designed specifically to utilize virtual memory and
> will malfunction in its absence. You won't know if you are affected
> until you try it. And, 6 months down the road, when you install
> something like PhotoShop (which needs virtual memory), will you even
> remember that you have it disabled.
>

Virtual memory is this context is something else. Applications can
function just fine without a paging file as long as there is enough free
ram.

"dennis" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Richard Urban wrote:
>> Many programs are designed specifically to utilize virtual memory and
>> will malfunction in its absence. You won't know if you are affected until
>> you try it. And, 6 months down the road, when you install something like
>> PhotoShop (which needs virtual memory), will you even remember that you
>> have it disabled.
>>
>
> Virtual memory is this context is something else. Applications can
> function just fine without a paging file as long as there is enough free
> ram.

Depends on the application. There are some that will NOT function properly
without a page file....

Gordon wrote:

> Depends on the application. There are some that will NOT function
> properly without a page file....

Name one. And don't say "photoshop" like everyone does, because it can
do it just fine.

dennis wrote:
> Gordon wrote:
>
>> Depends on the application. There are some that will NOT function
>> properly without a page file....
>
> Name one. And don't say "photoshop" like everyone does, because it can
> do it just fine.

I would also like to hear what API call that will fail, if there is just
enough free ram...

"Laurence" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on M6400 notebook with 16GB RAM.
> With 16GB RAM does Vista really need any virtual memory?
>
> My quad core, 16GB RAM notebook would be faster without hard drive
> access due to virtual memory.
>
> Can I turm off virtual memory or set it to some very low value
> (possibly 0)?
>
> My preference is to use the 16GB RAM and should that be insufficient
> then I decide which programs to close. I don't want Vista using 4GB, or
> 6GB RAM, etc., and continually writing/reading to HD which slows things
> down and does not make full use of the physical RAM present.
>
> Can Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is
> used then switch to virtual memory?
>
>
> --
> Laurence


That is pretty much what happens already unless a process specifically needs
to write to a pagefile.. for that reason, it is best to keep a pagefile..

If you have lots of free disk space, leave it as system managed..

BTW, all operating systems employ page files..


--

Mike Hall - MVP Windows Experience
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

Richard Urban;1072123 Wrote:
> Many programs are designed specifically to utilize virtual memory and
> will
> malfunction in its absence. You won't know if you are affected until
> you try
> it. And, 6 months down the road, when you install something like
> PhotoShop
> (which needs virtual memory), will you even remember that you have it
> disabled.
>
> --
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Desktop Experience
>
>
> "Laurence" <> wrote in message
> news:...> > >
> > >
> > > Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on M6400 notebook with 16GB RAM.
> > > With 16GB RAM does Vista really need any virtual memory?
> > >
> > > My quad core, 16GB RAM notebook would be faster without hard drive
> > > access due to virtual memory.
> > >
> > > Can I turm off virtual memory or set it to some very low value
> > > (possibly 0)?
> > >
> > > My preference is to use the 16GB RAM and should that be insufficient
> > > then I decide which programs to close. I don't want Vista using 4GB,
> > or
> > > 6GB RAM, etc., and continually writing/reading to HD which slows
> > things
> > > down and does not make full use of the physical RAM present.
> > >
> > > Can Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is
> > > used then switch to virtual memory?
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Laurence > >

Thanks for your reply.
Okay, since it gets more complicated with applications using virtual
memory (even when there are GB's of unused physical memory!) then can
Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is used
then switch to virtual memory when needed or when an application
requires it?


--
Laurence

"Mike Hall - MVP" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Laurence" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> Running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on M6400 notebook with 16GB RAM.
>> With 16GB RAM does Vista really need any virtual memory?
>>
>> My quad core, 16GB RAM notebook would be faster without hard drive
>> access due to virtual memory.
>>
>> Can I turm off virtual memory or set it to some very low value
>> (possibly 0)?
>>
>> My preference is to use the 16GB RAM and should that be insufficient
>> then I decide which programs to close. I don't want Vista using 4GB, or
>> 6GB RAM, etc., and continually writing/reading to HD which slows things
>> down and does not make full use of the physical RAM present.
>>
>> Can Vista be instructed to first use all RAM and only when ALL RAM is
>> used then switch to virtual memory?
>>
>>
>> --
>> Laurence
>
>
> That is pretty much what happens already unless a process specifically
> needs to write to a pagefile.. for that reason, it is best to keep a
> pagefile..
>
> If you have lots of free disk space, leave it as system managed..
>
> BTW, all operating systems employ page files..
>
I used to work in Windows development, a long time ago. I imagine that
"all" testing has been done with a page file present. If Laurence turns it
off he will be letting all kinds of bugs out...

Earle

On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:31:38 +0200, dennis <> wrote:

> Richard Urban wrote:
> > Many programs are designed specifically to utilize virtual memory and
> > will malfunction in its absence. You won't know if you are affected
> > until you try it. And, 6 months down the road, when you install
> > something like PhotoShop (which needs virtual memory), will you even
> > remember that you have it disabled.
> >
>
> Virtual memory is this context is something else. Applications can
> function just fine without a paging file as long as there is enough free
> ram.


Two points here:

1. If you don't have a page file, you can't use all the RAM you have.
That's because Windows preallocates virtual memory in anticipation of
a possible need for it, even though that allocated virtual memory may
never be used. Without a page file, that allocation has to be made in
real memory, thus tying up that memory and preventing it from being
used for any purpose.

2. There is never a benefit in not having a page file. If it isn't
needed, it won't be used. Don't confuse allocated memory with used
memory.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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