Virtual memory/paging files

[quiksilverx181]

Ok, so i have been hearing alot lately about virtual memory and paging file sizes for better game performance, anyone care to explain to me what these are and what i should set these to for the computer in my sig? I play mostly BF2, CS, CS:S, starcraft and quake 4

 

[Xaeon]

It is my understanding that you might want to move the page file to a separate drive/ide channel from the drive with Windows on it. With a gig of ram, the games won't be using it that much, I don't think.

Take a warning with my words, however. I could be 100% wrong, so wait for more replies.

Edit: Maybe BF2 would benefit. I hear it eats ram like candy.

 

[burningrave101]

The page file is a place on your hard drive that is used as virtual memory for when your physical memory runs out. Because it is on the hard drive it is much slower then RAM. You can improve your page file performance by putting it on the first partition on a seperate hard drive on a different IDE channel. It does no good to put it on a different partition on the same drive or on the same IDE channel. Personally i would suggest just leaving it alone and adding more RAM to your system if you need more then a gig, which you will with BF2.

 

[Drudenhaus]

If the game is dipping into virtual memory there isn't much of a way to make the game run better other than buying more RAM. Your hard drive has access times in ms whereas RAM has access times in nanoseconds...