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

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rameshiyer

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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
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
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.
 

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My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bitIntel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Ignatz Special; 4 speed manual gearbox; factory air conditioning; one of one
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
CPU
Intel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked
Motherboard
AsRock Z170M Extreme 4, micro ATX
Memory
8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics Card(s)
none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Sound Card
onboard: Realtek ALC1150; external: USB Behringer UF0-202
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2340M 23 inch IPS
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
System: Crucial MX100 series SSD, 128 GB;
Data: Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, 1 TB;
Backup: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX-00D8PB0, 3 TB
PSU
Rosewill SilentNight 500 watt fanless, semi-modular
Case
Antec Solo II
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12S; Noctua F12 intake, Noctua S12A exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft 200 6JH-00001 USB
Mouse
Dell or Microsoft optical wired; USB
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Premium
Browser
Pale Moon
Other Info
All fans PWM; speeds at idle: CPU circa 500 rpm; intake circa 600 rpm; exhaust circa 600 rpm; CPU temps 27 idle and 47 C load in a warm room (27 C/81 F) when running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test.
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.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
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?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bitIntel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Ignatz Special; 4 speed manual gearbox; factory air conditioning; one of one
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
CPU
Intel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked
Motherboard
AsRock Z170M Extreme 4, micro ATX
Memory
8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics Card(s)
none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Sound Card
onboard: Realtek ALC1150; external: USB Behringer UF0-202
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2340M 23 inch IPS
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
System: Crucial MX100 series SSD, 128 GB;
Data: Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, 1 TB;
Backup: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX-00D8PB0, 3 TB
PSU
Rosewill SilentNight 500 watt fanless, semi-modular
Case
Antec Solo II
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12S; Noctua F12 intake, Noctua S12A exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft 200 6JH-00001 USB
Mouse
Dell or Microsoft optical wired; USB
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Premium
Browser
Pale Moon
Other Info
All fans PWM; speeds at idle: CPU circa 500 rpm; intake circa 600 rpm; exhaust circa 600 rpm; CPU temps 27 idle and 47 C load in a warm room (27 C/81 F) when running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test.
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 !!
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
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?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bitIntel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Ignatz Special; 4 speed manual gearbox; factory air conditioning; one of one
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
CPU
Intel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked
Motherboard
AsRock Z170M Extreme 4, micro ATX
Memory
8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics Card(s)
none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Sound Card
onboard: Realtek ALC1150; external: USB Behringer UF0-202
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2340M 23 inch IPS
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
System: Crucial MX100 series SSD, 128 GB;
Data: Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, 1 TB;
Backup: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX-00D8PB0, 3 TB
PSU
Rosewill SilentNight 500 watt fanless, semi-modular
Case
Antec Solo II
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12S; Noctua F12 intake, Noctua S12A exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft 200 6JH-00001 USB
Mouse
Dell or Microsoft optical wired; USB
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Premium
Browser
Pale Moon
Other Info
All fans PWM; speeds at idle: CPU circa 500 rpm; intake circa 600 rpm; exhaust circa 600 rpm; CPU temps 27 idle and 47 C load in a warm room (27 C/81 F) when running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test.
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.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
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.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
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.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
rameshiyer said:
Wonder how 47% of RAM is consumed though.
Click to expand...

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

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bitIntel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Ignatz Special; 4 speed manual gearbox; factory air conditioning; one of one
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
CPU
Intel Skylake i5-6600K, not overclocked
Motherboard
AsRock Z170M Extreme 4, micro ATX
Memory
8 GB HyperX DDR4-2666 (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics Card(s)
none; graphics are integrated on CPU
Sound Card
onboard: Realtek ALC1150; external: USB Behringer UF0-202
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2340M 23 inch IPS
Screen Resolution
1600 x 900
Hard Drives
System: Crucial MX100 series SSD, 128 GB;
Data: Samsung Spinpoint 103SJ, 1 TB;
Backup: WD Caviar Green WD30EZRX-00D8PB0, 3 TB
PSU
Rosewill SilentNight 500 watt fanless, semi-modular
Case
Antec Solo II
Cooling
Noctua NH-U12S; Noctua F12 intake, Noctua S12A exhaust
Keyboard
Microsoft 200 6JH-00001 USB
Mouse
Dell or Microsoft optical wired; USB
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Premium
Browser
Pale Moon
Other Info
All fans PWM; speeds at idle: CPU circa 500 rpm; intake circa 600 rpm; exhaust circa 600 rpm; CPU temps 27 idle and 47 C load in a warm room (27 C/81 F) when running Intel Extreme Tuning Utility stress test.
Letting the OS manage the pagefile is good advice. I would only change it if you have a space problem on the disk - e.g. if you have a small SSD. But as I said, in your system it will be rarely used.

For RAM usage look into Resource Monitor > Memory tab. That gives you the best picture. But if you have a lot of RAM, the system will use it - and that is good. Would you want to save it for a rainy day - LOL.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
Interesting that it dragged under SQL load, which is more I/O intensive. Are we sure there's not a disk issue here? I would agree memory is important, but unless we're talking 20 - 30 tabs in each browser your system should not be affected at all (I run a system with 8GB of RAM here with 40 - 50 tabs open in IE with no impact).
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 10 Pro x64Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.5GHz32GB DDR3Nvidia GeForce GTX970
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Custom
OS
Windows 10 Pro x64
CPU
Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard
Asus Maximus Hero VII
Memory
32GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia GeForce GTX970
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio
Screen Resolution
1920x1200
Hard Drives
1x Samsung 250GB SSD
4x WD RE 2TB (RAIDZ)
PSU
Corsair AX760i
Case
Fractal Design Define R4
Cooling
Noctua NH-D15
Yes, I checked it. It shows Chrome using 300Mb, followed by Firefox 258 Mb and IE9 234 Mb. Rest all less than 100Mb. SO far, sys hasn't 'hung' today, so just continuing my observation.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bitIntel Core i5 4308Gb DDR3 1333 MhzNVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
OS
Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 430
Memory
8Gb DDR3 1333 Mhz
Graphics Card(s)
NVidia GEForce GT 420M CUDA 1 Gb
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