Iain Smith wrote:
> I have Win XP on my C drive and FS9 on my second drive. Which is the best
> drive to locate the VM or paging file and should I fix its value or let
> Windows manage it?
>
I've read the other messages but I reply to the original post in order
to reduce confusion, because I am going to reply to everyones at once.
Is it better to have FS and Windows on two different disks?
I don't see why it would make any difference. Assuming the disks are on
different cables (if two IDE drives connected with a single IDE cable,
they can't be accessed at once anyway -- SATA does not introduce this
problem) it would only make sense if the system has to load an OS file
and an FS file at once, which I don't think is likely to happen, at
least not very often. However, if a test proves me wrong, the difference
might be significant, since still today hard drives are bottlenecks in
our systems, as they have been since they exist.
Is it better to have the page file located on a different disk than
Windows and FS?
Again, assuming disks which are not connected on the same cable, there
is definitely an improvement in performance by doing so. If it is a disk
where the system is not going to do anything else (for example, a disk
where only MP3s and movies are stored, which the system won't be
accessing while flying) it will allow the system to retrieve files while
still using the page file, without one operation waiting for the other
one. The difference is not likely to be very apparent however, but since
every bit counts it might be one trick among others.
If Windows and FS are on different disks, where would it be better to
place the page file?
On which ever disk is less used during the current task, which in this
case, would be the Windows drive. I have not verified, so I'm still
guessing, but the FS drive is surely way more used during a flight than
the Windows drive.
Now that I've answered the basic questions, let's enter the real subject.
On a modern computer (one that was built within the last 2-3 years) all
of these questions are less important. Do you have 2 GB or RAM on your
machine? Yes? Why are you wondering where to place your page file, as it
won't be used much.
(Comments below are for XP. If you use Vista or Win 7, the terms might
be slightly different but you should find your way.)
Restart your computer (just to make sure you make the stats out of a
fresh computer), then launch FS, then have a flight. Just a regular one,
just like you do every day. Once you are done, open up the Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del), select the Performance tab, and check down under Commit
Charge. Commit Charge, despite a complicated term, is just the total
amount of memory in use by the system, physical and virtual (page file)
amounted together. Total should be labeled Current instead, it's the
amount of memory currently in use. Limit is how much memory is available
to the system (again, this is the sum of physical and virtual memory).
Peak is just what we are looking for right now, it's how much memory the
system has ever used at once since you last started the machine (that is
why I suggested you restart the computer earlier). If you have a lot of
memory, chances are that Peak is lower than your physical memory.
Windows did not need to use any page file, or did so in a minimal way
just because it was there but didn't really need it.
Of course I'm not proposing that you set no page file at all, because
there are times where you can exhaust all of your memory (starting more
applications at once, for example), and there are things Windows prefer
to place directly in the page file even if there is physical memory
left. So you could just let Windows handle it and there is little chance
that you will ever notice a difference.
If you have a machine which is less modern, or you are just a control
freak like I am, here are the tips which have always suit my needs.
Page file should be 1.5 to 3 times the size of the physical memory. Use
Task Manager to help you determine how much memory you are really using
on your machine. Setting it larger than necessary will not only waste
disk space, but will slow down seek operations by the OS when data needs
to be retrieved from there. I like to give it a fix size. So, for
example, if a machine has 512 MB of RAM, I might want to set a page file
of 768 MB to 1.5 GB, setting that value for both minimum and maximum
size, so it's fixed. If, most of the time, you use little memory, but
sometimes need a lot more, than you may set your minimum to 768 MB and
your maximum to 1.5 GB (using previous figures). Again, use Task Manager
to see your peak and determine what is best for you.
If you have a 32-bit system, don't even try to make a page file which
would make your total virtual memory over 4 GB, because that is the
limit a 32-bit system can handle.
I have 2 GB of RAM, and I have set a 2 GB page file (fixed). Since I
have only 1 drive, with two partitions, it doesn't matter which
partition I put it on, but I chose the second partition because I was
short of space on the first one. I very rarely peak at more than my
phisical memory, but I do for a few of my more demanding games (FS9 is
not one of them, perhaps FSX needs more, I don't know) and some
programing, picture and video edition tasks. If it was only for FS9, I
would have set the page file to something way smaller (like 512 MB). My
Peak indicates 1.4 GB and I have not restarted my computer for a few
days now.
Please use those advises as informative only. I am not an expert, just
someone who has spent 80% of his life in front of a machine.
Hope something in this has helped anyone
Tom
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