Windows 7: What should be the optimum Virtual Memory in Win 7 HP (64-bit)

Hi,

I have an Acer notebook which shipped with 3Gb RAM which I found inadequate and recently upgraded to 8Gb (2x4Gb). However, I noticed that the performance of the system hasn't improved enough (haven't quite noticed it yet), despite the huge upgrade. In fact, have retained the default setting for virtual memory to let windows manage it. Have observed that compared to earlier, now my system seems to drag at times when I use all three browsers (IE9, FF8, and Chrome 16) with several tabs open. Have tested the new RAM modules by running the Memtest86 tool which found no errors.

Would like to know what should I do to change system settings (possibly virtual memory) to get more out of my recent memory upgrade and improve system performance. Thanks.

Regards,

Ramesh

When it's dragging, what do you see in Task Manager or in Resource Monitor??

Force it to drag and take a screenshot of Resource Monitor. How much blue do you see in the graphs?

I also let Windows manage virtual memory with 4 GB of RAM and don't yet have any issues.

When my system got hung couple of times since last week-end when I upgraded my RAM, I wasn't able to check even Task Manager as there were several application windows open and it seemed as though sys was short of RAM. I suspected the new RAM may be the issue hence ran Memtest86+ which reported no probs.

Since I wasn't able to use the sys at all, I just couldn't check the status of memory usage in Resource Monitor, though in Task Manager it showed that mem usage was about 39% (i.e. about 3.2 Gb). Doesn't happen often, so don't know what triggers this sudden 'freeze' at times. Hence, though I noticed an 8.4 Gb pagefile.sys file in C:\ it seems sys performance hasn't quite improved.

Look at the boot tab of msconfig.

Choose advanced options.

Uncheck "maximum memory" if it is checked.

Is the full 8 GB of RAM acknowledged in the BIOS and throughout Windows--in Resource Monitor for instance?

Do you have any possible driver issues or any bangs in Device Manager?

Are you fully satisified you got compatible RAM?

Yes, the Maximum Memory option is unchecked in MSConfig->Boot->Advanced Options. Also, the full 8 Gb RAM is in use as seen in BIOS as well as Resource Monitor. No driver issues noticed in Device Manager either. Since I suspected RAM module may be incompatible, that is ruled out after I ran MemTest86+ Tool too. Checked with couple of other tools as well. So, though my new memory modules seem ok, there is no significant performance boost post RAM upgrade. Wonder how I can figure out the reason. Sure seems some tuning issue somewhere !!

Does it drag ONLY with all 3 browsers and many tabs open and at no other time?

Can you get a peek at Resource Monitor as you open up more and more tabs to confirm that additional memory is being used by each new tab? Does the total memory used visibly climb toward 8 GB?

I'm wondering if it one particular browser that is causing the problem.

Have you played around with virtual memory settings?

Haven't noticed any particular task or browser using unusually high memory, though Task Manager shows 47% usage (3.2Gb used, 4.2Gb Free in Resource Monitor). Sure, I have a dozen tabs open in Chrome and F'fox, but doesn't seem too high. Let me observe spike in memory usage and see. Thanx for your inputs.

1. A pagefile of 1GB should suffice. You will have very rare page faults, but some programs need the pagefile even if there is plenty of available RAM.

2. What made you think theat more RAM would speed up your system. With your applications there is only a very minor gain because you have more RAM for caching. A gain would only be noticable if ran complex 3D applications like CAD. But with browsers and the usual vanilla applications there is no gain. You would have had more gain if you had invested the money into an SSD.

Well, my office IT guy suggested I let Windows manage the virtual memory settings as well as the pagefile. Also, I had highly memory intensive apps like MS-SQL Server 2008 installed earlier, but uninstalled it as my sys seemed to drag during SQL Server usage (querying). So, as advised by my IT guy I upgraded RAM to be able to use SQL Server once again, though I am yet to re-install it on my notebook. So, besides IE9, FF8, and Chrome 16, I have hardly any apps open simultaneously (except MS-Outlook). Wonder how 47% of RAM is consumed though.

What is revealed by the memory column of the processes tab of Task Manager? That will rank processes in order of memory used.