[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Where did you hear this David?

either from a 'letter' printed in PCGamer or a letter posted at PCStats. Can't remember which, but the question was about how can I get the computer to stop using the swap file and force it to use my ram instead. I believe the reader said he had 2gig RAM and was frustrated when his computer lagged giving signs of massive HD action going on.

The response was basically to have him manually set his swap file size to the same min/max value (the value determined by going to the 'Performance Tab' in the Windows Task Manager [ctrl+alt+del] and getting the value from the 'Commit Charge(K) Peak' number and doubling this.) The person told him that doing this should greatly reduce the amount of HD Lag caused by windows managing the swap file. He also mentionned that win XP does not 'appear to use any memory above 512meg' the techie that answered the question said this must be a bug, because he has never seen his own 2gig RAM system ever make use of the extra memory. The techie contacted MS and got a reply that it was a known issue but should not lessen the performance of windows. (Duh! what a stupid response form MS.) of course I don't know if the response from MS was from an actual programmer of if it came through the customer support, but it's a strange answer indeed.

Personally I have my swap file at 768meg (I set it at this when I had 256 meg RAM I never noticed any lag due to intense swapfile activity.) FYI: when I had 256Meg RAM my 'Peak Commit' was at on average 380meg (which means I was obviously using my swap file) Now with my 512meg RAM I have noticed that it is pretty much locked at 480meg. So I guess that I might have to up my swapfile a bit, just in case.

FYI:2.0 I have a friend with 1.5gig of ram and I checked his system and his 'peak' is also at about the 480meg mark. It seams that Win XP has been 'optimized for 512meg RAM' and all evidence seems to support this 'known bug' Go ahead, check yout 'peak commit' see what numbers you have.

Nuf Said, Cheers!

[ March 05, 2004, 10:55: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]