Running XP-Pro with no swap file - possible?

I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do not turn it off. With
2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still is used some. What you
want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce the number of staledated
hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram can actually slow things
down. As always use moderation.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
"Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..

> Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory. Very fast dual Xeon
> system.
>
> What would be the effect and/or problems associated with eliminating the
> swap file completely? It is possible?
>
> I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into memory and eliminate all
> virtual
> memory swaps.
>
> Thanks, Joe
>
>

Some programs may insist on having some virtual memory
(pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to run
completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4 GB of
space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that it will
be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have 2 GB
RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so you can
easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.

And read the article http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


"Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote in
message news:[email protected]..
|I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do not
turn it off. With
| 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still is used
some. What you
| want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce the number
of staledated
| hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram can
actually slow things
| down. As always use moderation.
|
| --
| Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
| "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
| news:[email protected]..
| > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory. Very
fast dual Xeon
| > system.
| >
| > What would be the effect and/or problems associated with
eliminating the
| > swap file completely? It is possible?
| >
| > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into memory and
eliminate all
| > virtual
| > memory swaps.
| >
| > Thanks, Joe
| >
| >
|
|

Thanks for pointing me to that article/link. Very interesting read!

I do a lot of work with Photoshop CS and Pshop always seems to swap out
images to the disk!! It is really annoying when it has to "re-load" a 133+
MB file from the dern disk when the system has gobs of memory. And, yes,
I've tried cranking-up the Pshop mem usage allowance within the program
too...

Perhaps it would be good to find a utility that allows the administrator to
specify a program's (and all it's dll's) to a specific processor, specific
priority, and not to flush anything to disk (a permanent setting). There
are programs I use that would likely benefit from this...


"Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote in message
news:uSW$[email protected]..

> Some programs may insist on having some virtual memory
> (pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to run
> completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4 GB of
> space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that it will
> be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have 2 GB
> RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so you can
> easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.
>
> And read the article http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
>
>
> --
> The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
> But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
>
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote in
> message news:[email protected]..
> |I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do not
> turn it off. With
> | 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still is used
> some. What you
> | want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce the number
> of staledated
> | hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram can
> actually slow things
> | down. As always use moderation.
> |
> | --
> | Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
> | "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message
> | news:[email protected]..
> | > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory. Very
> fast dual Xeon
> | > system.
> | >
> | > What would be the effect and/or problems associated with
> eliminating the
> | > swap file completely? It is possible?
> | >
> | > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into memory and
> eliminate all
> | > virtual
> | > memory swaps.
> | >
> | > Thanks, Joe
> | >
> | >
> |
> |
>
>

You may be able to set Photoshop CS to see and use that
extra RAM. Check Adobe's help or email their tech support.

Remember, that Windows and the application, plus your
background applications are using RAM too. 2 GB sounds like
a lot and it would have been in the days of DOS or Windows
3.x, but with XP, Photoshop, printer and scanner drivers,
USB and Firewire drivers, and all the other (often bloated)
software that is running, you may not have that much "free
RAM" left over.

You might setup a profile for use while using Photoshop that
runs minimum services and you can set RAM to run
applications with a higher priority.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


"Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
| Thanks for pointing me to that article/link. Very
interesting read!
|
| I do a lot of work with Photoshop CS and Pshop always
seems to swap out
| images to the disk!! It is really annoying when it has to
"re-load" a 133+
| MB file from the dern disk when the system has gobs of
memory. And, yes,
| I've tried cranking-up the Pshop mem usage allowance
within the program
| too...
|
| Perhaps it would be good to find a utility that allows the
administrator to
| specify a program's (and all it's dll's) to a specific
processor, specific
| priority, and not to flush anything to disk (a permanent
setting). There
| are programs I use that would likely benefit from this...
|
|
| "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote
in message
| news:uSW$[email protected]..
| > Some programs may insist on having some virtual memory
| > (pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to run
| > completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4 GB of
| > space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that it
will
| > be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have 2 GB
| > RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so you
can
| > easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.
| >
| > And read the article http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
| >
| >
| > --
| > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
| > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
| >
| >
| > "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote
in
| > message news:[email protected]..
| > |I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do not
| > turn it off. With
| > | 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still is
used
| > some. What you
| > | want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce the
number
| > of staledated
| > | hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram can
| > actually slow things
| > | down. As always use moderation.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
| > | "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
| > message
| > | news:[email protected]..
| > | > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory.
Very
| > fast dual Xeon
| > | > system.
| > | >
| > | > What would be the effect and/or problems associated
with
| > eliminating the
| > | > swap file completely? It is possible?
| > | >
| > | > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into memory
and
| > eliminate all
| > | > virtual
| > | > memory swaps.
| > | >
| > | > Thanks, Joe
| > | >
| > | >
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

I hear ya on the 2gb current ram size but that's why I went with a
Supermicro E7525 based board. It maxes at 16gb of ddr2-3200 ecc memory.
Their current ddr-2700 boards can use 32gb (slower mem though). Hopefully I
won't have a problem with the 16gb limit anytime soon, heh.

I'll look into the "software profiling" you suggested. Never done that
before.

Thanks!
Joe

"Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..

> You may be able to set Photoshop CS to see and use that
> extra RAM. Check Adobe's help or email their tech support.
>
> Remember, that Windows and the application, plus your
> background applications are using RAM too. 2 GB sounds like
> a lot and it would have been in the days of DOS or Windows
> 3.x, but with XP, Photoshop, printer and scanner drivers,
> USB and Firewire drivers, and all the other (often bloated)
> software that is running, you may not have that much "free
> RAM" left over.
>
> You might setup a profile for use while using Photoshop that
> runs minimum services and you can set RAM to run
> applications with a higher priority.
>
>
> --
> The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
> But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
>
>
> "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
> | Thanks for pointing me to that article/link. Very
> interesting read!
> |
> | I do a lot of work with Photoshop CS and Pshop always
> seems to swap out
> | images to the disk!! It is really annoying when it has to
> "re-load" a 133+
> | MB file from the dern disk when the system has gobs of
> memory. And, yes,
> | I've tried cranking-up the Pshop mem usage allowance
> within the program
> | too...
> |
> | Perhaps it would be good to find a utility that allows the
> administrator to
> | specify a program's (and all it's dll's) to a specific
> processor, specific
> | priority, and not to flush anything to disk (a permanent
> setting). There
> | are programs I use that would likely benefit from this...
> |
> |
> | "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote
> in message
> | news:uSW$[email protected]..
> | > Some programs may insist on having some virtual memory
> | > (pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to run
> | > completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4 GB of
> | > space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that it
> will
> | > be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have 2 GB
> | > RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so you
> can
> | > easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.
> | >
> | > And read the article http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
> | >
> | >
> | > --
> | > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
> | > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
> | >
> | >
> | > "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com> wrote
> in
> | > message news:[email protected]..
> | > |I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do not
> | > turn it off. With
> | > | 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still is
> used
> | > some. What you
> | > | want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce the
> number
> | > of staledated
> | > | hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram can
> | > actually slow things
> | > | down. As always use moderation.
> | > |
> | > | --
> | > | Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
> | > | "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
> | > message
> | > | news:[email protected]..
> | > | > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory.
> Very
> | > fast dual Xeon
> | > | > system.
> | > | >
> | > | > What would be the effect and/or problems associated
> with
> | > eliminating the
> | > | > swap file completely? It is possible?
> | > | >
> | > | > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into memory
> and
> | > eliminate all
> | > | > virtual
> | > | > memory swaps.
> | > | >
> | > | > Thanks, Joe
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > |
> | > |
> | >
> | >
> |
> |
>
>

XP Pro on a dual CPU board can support 4 GB per CPU or a
maximum of 8 GB. What OS do you intend to use and what CPU
when you expand that thing to 16 GB?

BTW, Intel reports on their website that their mobo with 4
GB installed will only have about 3.5 GB available because
some of the RAM is mapped to other uses.


"Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:OHsLQ$[email protected]..
|I hear ya on the 2gb current ram size but that's why I went
with a
| Supermicro E7525 based board. It maxes at 16gb of
ddr2-3200 ecc memory.
| Their current ddr-2700 boards can use 32gb (slower mem
though). Hopefully I
| won't have a problem with the 16gb limit anytime soon,
heh.
|
| I'll look into the "software profiling" you suggested.
Never done that
| before.
|
| Thanks!
| Joe
|
| "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote
in message
| news:[email protected]..
| > You may be able to set Photoshop CS to see and use that
| > extra RAM. Check Adobe's help or email their tech
support.
| >
| > Remember, that Windows and the application, plus your
| > background applications are using RAM too. 2 GB sounds
like
| > a lot and it would have been in the days of DOS or
Windows
| > 3.x, but with XP, Photoshop, printer and scanner
drivers,
| > USB and Firewire drivers, and all the other (often
bloated)
| > software that is running, you may not have that much
"free
| > RAM" left over.
| >
| > You might setup a profile for use while using Photoshop
that
| > runs minimum services and you can set RAM to run
| > applications with a higher priority.
| >
| >
| > --
| > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
| > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
| >
| >
| > "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
| > news:[email protected]..
| > | Thanks for pointing me to that article/link. Very
| > interesting read!
| > |
| > | I do a lot of work with Photoshop CS and Pshop always
| > seems to swap out
| > | images to the disk!! It is really annoying when it
has to
| > "re-load" a 133+
| > | MB file from the dern disk when the system has gobs of
| > memory. And, yes,
| > | I've tried cranking-up the Pshop mem usage allowance
| > within the program
| > | too...
| > |
| > | Perhaps it would be good to find a utility that allows
the
| > administrator to
| > | specify a program's (and all it's dll's) to a specific
| > processor, specific
| > | priority, and not to flush anything to disk (a
permanent
| > setting). There
| > | are programs I use that would likely benefit from
this...
| > |
| > |
| > | "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm>
wrote
| > in message
| > | news:uSW$[email protected]..
| > | > Some programs may insist on having some virtual
memory
| > | > (pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to
run
| > | > completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4
GB of
| > | > space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that
it
| > will
| > | > be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have
2 GB
| > | > RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so
you
| > can
| > | > easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.
| > | >
| > | > And read the article
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
| > | >
| > | >
| > | > --
| > | > The people think the Constitution protects their
rights;
| > | > But government sees it as an obstacle to be
overcome.
| > | >
| > | >
| > | > "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com>
wrote
| > in
| > | > message
news:[email protected]..
| > | > |I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do
not
| > | > turn it off. With
| > | > | 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still
is
| > used
| > | > some. What you
| > | > | want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce
the
| > number
| > | > of staledated
| > | > | hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram
can
| > | > actually slow things
| > | > | down. As always use moderation.
| > | > |
| > | > | --
| > | > | Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
| > | > | "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote
in
| > | > message
| > | > | news:[email protected]..
| > | > | > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory.
| > Very
| > | > fast dual Xeon
| > | > | > system.
| > | > | >
| > | > | > What would be the effect and/or problems
associated
| > with
| > | > eliminating the
| > | > | > swap file completely? It is possible?
| > | > | >
| > | > | > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into
memory
| > and
| > | > eliminate all
| > | > | > virtual
| > | > | > memory swaps.
| > | > | >
| > | > | > Thanks, Joe
| > | > | >
| > | > | >
| > | > |
| > | > |
| > | >
| > | >
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

I have 4GB RAM and dual ddr but Windows only shows 3.5 RAM Is that not the
limit unless one uses PAE?


"Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..

> XP Pro on a dual CPU board can support 4 GB per CPU or a
> maximum of 8 GB. What OS do you intend to use and what CPU
> when you expand that thing to 16 GB?
>
> BTW, Intel reports on their website that their mobo with 4
> GB installed will only have about 3.5 GB available because
> some of the RAM is mapped to other uses.
>
>
> "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:OHsLQ$[email protected]..
> |I hear ya on the 2gb current ram size but that's why I went
> with a
> | Supermicro E7525 based board. It maxes at 16gb of
> ddr2-3200 ecc memory.
> | Their current ddr-2700 boards can use 32gb (slower mem
> though). Hopefully I
> | won't have a problem with the 16gb limit anytime soon,
> heh.
> |
> | I'll look into the "software profiling" you suggested.
> Never done that
> | before.
> |
> | Thanks!
> | Joe
> |
> | "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm> wrote
> in message
> | news:[email protected]..
> | > You may be able to set Photoshop CS to see and use that
> | > extra RAM. Check Adobe's help or email their tech
> support.
> | >
> | > Remember, that Windows and the application, plus your
> | > background applications are using RAM too. 2 GB sounds
> like
> | > a lot and it would have been in the days of DOS or
> Windows
> | > 3.x, but with XP, Photoshop, printer and scanner
> drivers,
> | > USB and Firewire drivers, and all the other (often
> bloated)
> | > software that is running, you may not have that much
> "free
> | > RAM" left over.
> | >
> | > You might setup a profile for use while using Photoshop
> that
> | > runs minimum services and you can set RAM to run
> | > applications with a higher priority.
> | >
> | >
> | > --
> | > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
> | > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
> | >
> | >
> | > "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message
> | > news:[email protected]..
> | > | Thanks for pointing me to that article/link. Very
> | > interesting read!
> | > |
> | > | I do a lot of work with Photoshop CS and Pshop always
> | > seems to swap out
> | > | images to the disk!! It is really annoying when it
> has to
> | > "re-load" a 133+
> | > | MB file from the dern disk when the system has gobs of
> | > memory. And, yes,
> | > | I've tried cranking-up the Pshop mem usage allowance
> | > within the program
> | > | too...
> | > |
> | > | Perhaps it would be good to find a utility that allows
> the
> | > administrator to
> | > | specify a program's (and all it's dll's) to a specific
> | > processor, specific
> | > | priority, and not to flush anything to disk (a
> permanent
> | > setting). There
> | > | are programs I use that would likely benefit from
> this...
> | > |
> | > |
> | > | "Jim Macklin" <p51mustang[threeX12]@xxxhotmail.calm>
> wrote
> | > in message
> | > | news:uSW$[email protected]..
> | > | > Some programs may insist on having some virtual
> memory
> | > | > (pagefile) available even if they have enough RAM to
> run
> | > | > completely. Just because there may be 500 MB to 4
> GB of
> | > | > space reserved on the hard drive does not mean that
> it
> | > will
> | > | > be used, RAM is always used first. But if you have
> 2 GB
> | > | > RAM, I'd bet you have at least 200 GB hard drive so
> you
> | > can
> | > | > easily afford to set aside 1 GB to VM.
> | > | >
> | > | > And read the article
> http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > | > --
> | > | > The people think the Constitution protects their
> rights;
> | > | > But government sees it as an obstacle to be
> overcome.
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > | > "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(nojunk)@msn.com>
> wrote
> | > in
> | > | > message
> news:[email protected]..
> | > | > |I recommend that you keep the pagefile small but do
> not
> | > | > turn it off. With
> | > | > | 2GB of ram the pagefile is used less, but it still
> is
> | > used
> | > | > some. What you
> | > | > | want to do is keep the pagefile small to reduce
> the
> | > number
> | > | > of staledated
> | > | > | hits. A large pagefile combined with a lot of ram
> can
> | > | > actually slow things
> | > | > | down. As always use moderation.
> | > | > |
> | > | > | --
> | > | > | Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
> | > | > | "Josef Gonko" <[email protected]> wrote
> in
> | > | > message
> | > | > | news:[email protected]..
> | > | > | > Hello. My new system has 2gb of system memory.
> | > Very
> | > | > fast dual Xeon
> | > | > | > system.
> | > | > | >
> | > | > | > What would be the effect and/or problems
> associated
> | > with
> | > | > eliminating the
> | > | > | > swap file completely? It is possible?
> | > | > | >
> | > | > | > I'd much rather have EVERYTHING loaded into
> memory
> | > and
> | > | > eliminate all
> | > | > | > virtual
> | > | > | > memory swaps.
> | > | > | >
> | > | > | > Thanks, Joe
> | > | > | >
> | > | > | >
> | > | > |
> | > | > |
> | > | >
> | > | >
> | > |
> | > |
> | >
> | >
> |
> |
>
>

/PAE switch permits addressing > 4 GB (2^32 = 4,294,967,296 = 4 GB). The
PAE version of the kernel presents 64-bit physical addresses to device
drivers.