Disable page file?

Collapse
X
Collapse
+ More Options
Posts
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • shovenose
    Send Doge Memes
    • Aug 2010
    • 6575
    • USA

    #1

    Disable page file?

    So I've got a Lenovo IdeaPad V570. I accidentally wiped out my Windows install and all my data (oops) while installing Fedora. Unforuntunately some of my things (wireless, etc) don't work under Linux. So I reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, blah blah blah...

    Anyway, since it was ridiculously slow for a computer with 6GB of RAM and a Core i5 CPU, I've decided to do whatever I can to make it faster. And since the 5400rpm hard drive is by far the bottleneck, I figured I should disable the pagefile... I've got 6GB of RAM, is it safe to do?

    Any other performance tips that I may not have thought of, please post
  • joshnz
    Badcaps Veteran
    • Feb 2011
    • 969
    • New Zealand

    #2
    Re: Disable page file?

    It is about 70% safe if you somehow manage to run out of ram hell breaks loose i"ve had it happen a few times.
    My pc
    CPU : AMD PHENOM II x4 @ 3.5Ghz
    MB : ASUS M4A89TD PRO USB3
    RAM : Kingston ValueRAM 16gb DDR3
    PSU : Cooler Master 850W Silent Pro
    GPU : ATI Radeon HD 6850

    Comment

    • shovenose
      Send Doge Memes
      • Aug 2010
      • 6575
      • USA

      #3
      Re: Disable page file?

      Lol. Like what sort of hell? Demons coming out of the fan vents?
      just kidding; seriously what happens?

      Comment

      • joshnz
        Badcaps Veteran
        • Feb 2011
        • 969
        • New Zealand

        #4
        Re: Disable page file?

        Windows starts stopping it's applications turns off themes and recommends you close the application using the most memory. if it fails to free enough memory the system crashes.
        My pc
        CPU : AMD PHENOM II x4 @ 3.5Ghz
        MB : ASUS M4A89TD PRO USB3
        RAM : Kingston ValueRAM 16gb DDR3
        PSU : Cooler Master 850W Silent Pro
        GPU : ATI Radeon HD 6850

        Comment

        • mariushm
          Badcaps Legend
          • May 2011
          • 3799

          #5
          Re: Disable page file?

          Don't disable it. Set it to fixed size, minimum 64 MB, maximum 64 MB, reboot the system.

          There's still lots of stuff in the Windows kernel that behaves differently if there's a page file or not, making some parts drop in performance when there's no page file even though you have lots of ram.
          There's also lots of programs out there that do stupid things by assuming there is a page file present and windows itself likes to use the page file for some tricks.

          But the very least, you're forcing the memory manager of Windows to assume you're always running out of memory.

          If you already have 6 gigabytes of memory, windows 7 is already smart enough not to touch the page file so often. You can see the frequency with SysInternals Process Monitor / File Monitor.

          If you have little ram and disable the page file and you fill the memory, it's possible to get corrupted windows (sections of windows only white or black), fonts could dissapear from the screen and you'd see all the text on screen like the font in the command line, could lose the internet connection as the network driver/tcp ip stack can't create memory buffers for new connections , the video card's driver could crash, blue screens etc

          Since you have six gigs but you're probably using mostly 32 bit apps which are by the design of the 32 bit architecture limited to using a maximum of 2 GB per process, so no single 32 bit app could fill the whole 6 GB of memory and cause you issues.

          Comment

          • c_hegge
            Badcaps Legend
            • Sep 2009
            • 5219
            • Australia

            #6
            Re: Disable page file?

            only 5400rpm? most new laptops have 7200RPM drives (at least most of the ones we sell at work do)
            I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

            No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

            Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

            Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

            Comment

            • PCBONEZ
              Grumpy Old Fart
              • Aug 2005
              • 10661
              • USA

              #7
              Re: Disable page file?

              http://lifehacker.com/5426041/unders...dnt-disable-it
              .
              I'd set min and max to about 2GB and try it for a while there.
              .
              .... And get a faster drive.
              .
              Last edited by PCBONEZ; 11-09-2011, 01:05 AM.
              Mann-Made Global Warming.
              - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

              -
              Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

              - Dr Seuss
              -
              You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
              -

              Comment

              • mariushm
                Badcaps Legend
                • May 2011
                • 3799

                #8
                Re: Disable page file?

                I agree with everything in that article except the idea of setting the size variable (showing 2GB - 8 GB in picture and mentioning 1 GB - 2 GB in the text).

                Set it fixed size, it gives you the benefit that after restart, Windows will erase the previous variable pagefile and attempt to create the new pagefile in a location that's only free space and therefore the page file won't be fragmented. But even if it doesn't manage to do that, you can later on use a good defragger like O&O Defrag to move the page file at the beginning of the drive and get the lowest access times to it.

                Set it to whatever you want but a fixed size. Fixed 64 MB - 256 MB should be enough if you have six GB of RAM but you can also go for 1-2 GB, it doesn't really matter. Windows won't page more just because the page file is big.

                Just a note: don't set the page files bigger than 4 GB - if the OS is 32 bit, it won't be able to use memory mapping to map the page file to memory so seeking data into the page file will be slower.
                With 64 bit operating systems, this shouldn't be an issue anymore but then again, 4 GB makes no sense anymore.

                Comment

                • PCBONEZ
                  Grumpy Old Fart
                  • Aug 2005
                  • 10661
                  • USA

                  #9
                  Re: Disable page file?

                  I agree. - Good article except for that.
                  Setting the min-max to the same size is proven to help....
                  ... And the author didn't know the reason for it so his objection is invalid.
                  .
                  Mann-Made Global Warming.
                  - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                  -
                  Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                  - Dr Seuss
                  -
                  You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                  -

                  Comment

                  • Sudum Gumudu
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2005
                    • 97

                    #10
                    Re: Disable page file?

                    You can put the pagefile in a RAM disk. Did that in my main rig with 8GB of RAM using a RAM disk program available for free at http://memory.dataram.com/products-a...ftware/ramdisk.
                    Works like a charm.

                    Comment

                    • PCBONEZ
                      Grumpy Old Fart
                      • Aug 2005
                      • 10661
                      • USA

                      #11
                      Re: Disable page file?

                      That's an interesting idea but doesn't in take away from RAM available for active programs?
                      .
                      Mann-Made Global Warming.
                      - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                      -
                      Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                      - Dr Seuss
                      -
                      You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                      -

                      Comment

                      • mariushm
                        Badcaps Legend
                        • May 2011
                        • 3799

                        #12
                        Re: Disable page file?

                        As most programs are still 32 bit, they won't use more than 2 GB of memory each. So with 8 GB of memory installed, a 2-4 GB disk won't make much difference.

                        Comment

                        • Sudum Gumudu
                          Senior Member
                          • Sep 2005
                          • 97

                          #13
                          Re: Disable page file?

                          Originally posted by PCBONEZ
                          That's an interesting idea but doesn't in take away from RAM available for active programs?
                          .
                          It does, but with lots of installed RAM, 6 - 8 GB or more, you can easily allocate say 500-1000 MB of it for the RAM disk, to put a small swap file and windows temp files, and still have plenty left for programs. Haven't run out of RAM yet.

                          Comment

                          • Old Thrashbarg
                            Member
                            • Jan 2010
                            • 20

                            #14
                            Re: Disable page file?

                            That's an interesting idea but doesn't in take away from RAM available for active programs?
                            Yes. The only instance where it would make any sense whatsoever is if you have a 32-bit OS on a machine with >4GB RAM installed, and use a ramdisk program that can create a ramdisk above the OS's addressing limit.

                            Unless you happen to have a setup like that for whatever strange reason, running the pagefile in a ramdisk is absolutely counterproductive.

                            edit: Come to think of it, there is one other case where it could be useful, not for performance but for reliability/longevity in systems with SSDs... putting the pagefile in memory would save write cycles, which could be a good thing if you have a lower-end drive without good wear-leveling.
                            Last edited by Old Thrashbarg; 11-11-2011, 12:19 PM.

                            Comment

                            • PCBONEZ
                              Grumpy Old Fart
                              • Aug 2005
                              • 10661
                              • USA

                              #15
                              Re: Disable page file?

                              Not a good option with a 32-bit OS with max of 4GB RAM then.
                              OS is already hogging some RAM.
                              Add that with too big RAM-Disk and you could easily have less than 2GB left for programs.
                              .
                              .
                              I've set up some servers using smaller Raptor drives as dedicated Page/Swap File drives.
                              Heads on the OS drive don't have collateral duties that way. - Works pretty well.
                              Works well with Dual/Multi-Boot set-ups too.
                              .
                              Last edited by PCBONEZ; 11-11-2011, 12:22 PM.
                              Mann-Made Global Warming.
                              - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                              -
                              Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                              - Dr Seuss
                              -
                              You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                              -

                              Comment

                              • mariushm
                                Badcaps Legend
                                • May 2011
                                • 3799

                                #16
                                Re: Disable page file?

                                Originally posted by Old Thrashbarg
                                Yes. The only instance where it would make any sense whatsoever is if you have a 32-bit OS on a machine with >4GB RAM installed, and use a ramdisk program that can create a ramdisk above the OS's addressing limit.
                                Even on 64bit operating systems, the 32 bit applications aren't magically able to use more than 2 GB of memory each. So it works the same way.

                                But it's a bit pointless, since 64 bit operating systems use as much memory as possible to cache recently accessed files in memory and other things, so page file latency is no longer such a big issue.

                                Comment

                                • PCBONEZ
                                  Grumpy Old Fart
                                  • Aug 2005
                                  • 10661
                                  • USA

                                  #17
                                  Re: Disable page file?

                                  Originally posted by Old Thrashbarg
                                  Yes. The only instance where it would make any sense whatsoever is if you have a 32-bit OS on a machine with >4GB RAM installed, and use a ramdisk program that can create a ramdisk above the OS's addressing limit.
                                  Yes except the program runs -IN- the Windows OS.
                                  Not so sure going above the Windows addressing limit is possible from inside Windows.
                                  .
                                  Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                  - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                                  -
                                  Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                                  - Dr Seuss
                                  -
                                  You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                  -

                                  Comment

                                  • Sudum Gumudu
                                    Senior Member
                                    • Sep 2005
                                    • 97

                                    #18
                                    Re: Disable page file?

                                    The RAM disk program I mentioned can utilize RAM above 4GB for use as a RAM disk on 32-bit OS:es (!) Can be quite useful.

                                    Comment

                                    • PCBONEZ
                                      Grumpy Old Fart
                                      • Aug 2005
                                      • 10661
                                      • USA

                                      #19
                                      Re: Disable page file?

                                      You would have to have a system with a 32-bit OS that has more than 4GB of PHYSICAL RAM to do that.
                                      .
                                      That's rather weird way to build a system.
                                      You'd be building it just to run that program.
                                      .
                                      Last edited by PCBONEZ; 11-11-2011, 12:53 PM.
                                      Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                      - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                                      -
                                      Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                                      - Dr Seuss
                                      -
                                      You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                      -

                                      Comment

                                      Related Topics

                                      Collapse

                                      • Forest79
                                        Lenovo ThinkStation P520 BIOS file needed
                                        by Forest79
                                        Hello,

                                        I got a Lenovo ThinkStation P520 (Type 30BF) from a friend, asking me for a repair. Windows 11 offered a firmware upgrade as an optional update, and it failed.
                                        The emergency flash procedure from the hardware manual has also failed. So, I asked an acquaintance with better skills to flash the BIOS directly.

                                        However, the chip (a Macronix MX25L25673GMI-08G) has a size of 32 MB, and the BIOS file from the Lenovo website (extracted with UEFITool) has a little more than 16 MB. Thus, the software my acquaintance used (SiberiaProg v1.45, with a CH341A Programmer)...
                                        07-23-2023, 07:39 AM
                                      • hazem3636
                                        need Bios Bin file Dell server 220
                                        by hazem3636
                                        hi everyone

                                        i need dump file for dell server r220
                                        i have download Flash BIOS executable file but i dont know how to conver it to Bin file

                                        i have check on youtube there is some programs are doing this method of creating Bin file from ExE file .


                                        if anyone has this method please need his supporting .

                                        all the best

                                        EXE file is attched and Original Bin file from the Bios Chip is attached also

                                        and dell website "https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=mrxv...
                                        11-05-2022, 06:20 AM
                                      • brotank
                                        Lenovo C861 Ryzen 5 disable 4GB samsung onboard ram
                                        by brotank
                                        I quiet struggling with board lenovo c681 to disable 4gb samsung onboard ram because they're faulty, I followed the instruction on the schematic to disable them with resistor codes but still not detecting the ram on the slot.

                                        can someone disable onboard ram from my dumped bios, please 🙏

                                        I tried the other bios on this forum with disabled onboard ram, but no success

                                        my final try is to find someone that can help disable onboard ram in my dumped bios attached in this post.

                                        after that I officially give up 😂

                                        thanks for awesome jobs 😊...
                                        03-16-2025, 12:51 PM
                                      • Sebastian Codrean
                                        BIOS file for ASUS F542UN laptop
                                        by Sebastian Codrean
                                        Hello to all of you! I need help with a BIOS file.
                                        The BIOS chip is fried on my Asus F542UN laptop, and I bought a new chip that needs programming. I have a CH341a programmer but I need a .bin BIOS file. On Asus support page the firmware has another extension, .310 and from reading on this forum I understand that that file is not complete BIOS.
                                        So, in short I need the "complete" BIOS .bin file to flash on the new chip. Another issue is that on back of the case the label says F542UN but on the sticker on the motherboard it's X542UN.
                                        02-20-2025, 10:25 AM
                                      • maanee11
                                        Help to get Lenovo BIOS bin file for Thinkpad T560
                                        by maanee11
                                        Hello Everyone,

                                        I have Thinkpad T560 Which has corrupted BIOS. I have acquired Ch341A SPI flasher to program the BIOS externally. I see that to program the BIOS, i need a bin file for the BIOS. I was able to extract the .exe file of BIOS from Lenovo given here in this link:

                                        https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/au/en/p...me=BIOS%2FUEFI

                                        In the extracted files, I see that BIOS containing file has extension .FL1 and I need to extract or convert it...
                                        05-15-2022, 11:59 AM
                                      • Loading...
                                      • No more items.
                                      Working...