Windows 7 page file (using photoshop / 3d software quite a lot)

Well , my pc is now working , with a new mobo.

And i have formated my SSD (doing a secure erase) and i have installed windows 7 again but with AHCI enabled , because i wanted it , and i have enabled IDE instead.

I have read that when you use a SSD , is recomended to put the page file in another disk if you can and as i have four hard disks , i could use 25-30 gb partition for that if need.

I have 8 GB ram , i have read that microsoft in technet recomends use 1,5 times the ram that you have , that is 12 GB , and a maximum of 3 times the ram (24 GB).

I want to use windows for Photoshop and 3d modeling / design / rendering and cg work in general (i am learning now , and i will not be doing things very heavy , at least in a few months, but i want to optimice the pc for 3d work & 3d hobby) and for some game and general things.


Having 8 Gb ,for what i use ny pc , should i use 12 GB page file or better instead 24 GB ?

Is counterproductive to use too much page file , have more than should , will slow the system ?

Microsoft , i think says that is not bad to have the page file in the same disk if is a ssd because page file uses a lot ramdon access , but a lot of people say that is better to not place the page file in a ssd and in general also place it in other hardisk for better performance.

I am tempted to use the 3 x amount ram recomendation , as i have plenty space ,but i dont want to slow the system or have a worse performance.

For example , when you have 4 or more GB ram free , could be the page file be used instead of ram , in some moments , and make the system / app work slower ( I think ram is faster than SSDs ).

If use pagefile is better in some moments instead of ram , ok , perfect , but i want to knos if use a too big page file could be bad , included when working with 3d apps .

Thanks for the help

I don't have an SSD drive, but I do know that the Page File is "usually" double the size of the RAM. So if you have 8GB of RAM, make your Page File size 16GB.

The Page File needs to be on a separate hard drive also. The Page File will work the fastest when you place the partition for it at the beginning of the hard drive, which is on the outer areas of the platters in the hard drive. Since the hard drive starts writing there, and the fastest spin is there, the Page File will be most efficient in the 1st partition on the hard drive.

Also, Thrax posted this in another thread. I am just quoting him. ALL the credit goes to him.

trial install on SSD

Yes , I have read that , and did .

Thanks for your help

So use 16 Gb , ok

I would personally use a 4GB page file. The recommendation that the page file be 1.5x your system RAM is from an era when most systems only had 1GB (or less!) of system RAM. Having such a big page file compensated for the lack of RAM.

Now, however, anyone with 4GB or more of system RAM can easily get away with a 4GB page file. I have 6GB of RAM and run a 2GB page file.

I have done that in the past and I agree with you. Some admin at another website forum was vehement about the fact that the Page File HAD to be twice the size of the RAM.

I am not trying to argue with you, I trust what you state here. Why is there so much conflicting information about Page File sizes?

I will probably change my Page File back, especially since it never uses more than about 1.3 GB at most.

Thanks for the tip! As always, you're a wealth of info.

Having read all posts in this thread, I agree with you, I also have played with the swap file settings.
I would like to make a suggestion though, there is no complete solution to the swap file issue, windows will use it one way, and other app's will use to their discretion as well.
My solution was to use 2 fast SATA hardrives in raid 0 config. Combined with 4 gig of ram and impressibly fast hard drive performance in raid 0, my system is not slowed down by any app. The swap file issue is now moot with me.

Is this done in the os or Photoshop?

It's managed through Windows 7. Go to Computer and right-click, then Properties and then Advanced System Settings.

Go to the Settings button in the Performance section and then Advanced tab in Performance Options. Click the Change button in the Virtual Memory section.

There you'll see where the Paging File is located and change its size.

Photoshop (at least the version I have CS3) has 2 places to control it caching. One in Bridge and on in Photoshop. Both are under the preferences in each application.