Windows 7: Virtual memory 64 bit

Windows 7 64 bit
cpu- i7
Ram- 20 GB
Graphic card- Nvidia Geforce GTX 580
My pc is designed for 3d graphic, good hardware for home 3d graphic use

About virtual memory,
i know this is a subject already debated in many threads however my question is expecially related to 64 bit system with many GB of ram.

I usually move my virtual memory to another hard disk then C where windows is installed, let say disk D ( i have 4 hard disks) custom manage with fix mimimum, maximum size, with my 20 Gb of phisical ram i assign 4 Gb of virtual memory.
Every tutorial suggest to assign 1 and half virtual memory Gb then phisical ram installed, probably most of them are related to 32 bit system cause 64 bit begun popular since windows 7, before not many pc where running 64 bit.
In a system as mine with 20 Gb of phisical ram may assign to virtual memory 30 Gb is not a little to much?
With the above pc speck mentioned and 20 Gb of ram how much virtual fix memory i can assign?



Thank a lot!

With 20B of ram, Windows 7 will do little or no swapping so Virtual Memory is not likely to be used at all.

Having said that, why not just let Windows manage it and forget about it or try turning it off and see what happens. If Win 7 needs it, it will use it, even if you have it turned off.

Thanks a lot for your answer.
With much ram as i have no swapping or very little as you said, that is right, is the eason why i ask my question,
anyway in my case, (my pcs work mainly with 3d softwares, my pcs have good hardware for home 3d graphic work) i need virtual mamory cause softwares that i mentioned above work beter with, better do not turn Virtual mem off.
So i think that my jugment of using 4 Gb of vortual fix memory is correct, it is a non sense implement the rule custom virtual memory must be 1 and halp the phisical ram installed.
Thank a lot!

I also agree that the rule of "1 and half" swap file of RAM installed would be too much for your case. The suggestion is relatively old and mostly applies when system have very limited RAM in comparison to their requirements, like when you have 256MB for WinXP.

20GB are far more than enough for a regular Windows 7 usage and most likely everything you do may fit into RAM (of course it depends on how you use the computer). 4GB seems a good conservative amount for have "just in case". Even disabling it would not be crazy if it don't gets used at all, and you save the slow disk IO for something more important.

You don't need 1.5x the amount of RAM for the pagefile. Set it to 1000MB Min and Max and you should be OK.

No matter what amount of RAM you have installed Windows will always place something in the pagefile, it is just how the memory management system works in Windows. So you do need to have a pagefile.

Thanks a lot for your help!

The 1 1/2 settings was back in the XP days when we tweaked every thing to make it work correctly. I do not try to out smart Windows 7 when it comes to any kind of memory usage. Window 7 will do it quiet well all by itself. It will change things as it is needed to be changed.

In my networking course, RAM x 1.5 was still the recommend setting for Windows Server (2K3, 2K8 and 2K8 R2).

I also agree with edwar's observation that Windows will still use the Page File even if you have plenty of spare RAM.