Strategy for Speed...

[Fishy]

Let's say, the hardware looks like this:

 

P4 - 3.2GHz, not dual core

RAM - 2G

Video - Decent, 6800 w/ 256

HD - Two of them, a 7,200 noname and a (new) 10,000 WD

MB - Whatever goes out that week as a Dell XPS 400

Windows XP

 

What is the best strategy for placement of Windows swap files vs. where the application files live?

 

It is a speedy CPU, plenty of RAM... It seems to me the tradeoff is in the speed of access to application files vs. the windows swap file. When starting out, I put a big swap file on the fast drive. Seems faster, but you know how the mind sees what it wants to...

 

What are other's experiences?

 

Fishy

[efs2]

For what it's worth, my first thought is that it doesn't much matter where you put the swap file. With 2GB of system RAM and 256MB of graphics RAM, it seems unlikely that you are going to need it much if at all, unless you are doing some big video editing projects or other applications that eat a fantastic amount of RAM.

Also, regardless of where you put it, if you need it while flying LockOn, your FPS will drop to slideshow regardless of where it is.

Ed

[nscode]

Actually, with that much RAM you can try and turn swap (page) file off completly.

[Jay]

Actually, with that much RAM you can try and turn swap (page) file off completly.

 

It's possible to turn swap file off, but it can cause problems - some applications may not work properly. IMHO it's better to tweak a regedit.exe this way:

 

Find the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

 

1. Find the dword DisablePagingExecutive, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows to keep data in memory instead of paging to harddrive.

 

2. Find the dword LargeSystemCache, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows kernel to run in memory - improves system performance a lot.

 

Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

 

I use these settings with 1,5 Gig of RAM and it improved system performance significantly - especially in Lomac (actually Lomac is the only application that forced me to upgrade RAM to 1,5 Gig :rolleyes:)

 

Finally I found one more tweak tip, but haven't tried it yet so don't know if it works - here it is:

"Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex to 4000 if you have 128MB of RAM or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB or set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of RAM - this tweak will speed up your disckcache."

 

I hope it will work for you.

 

Jay

[nscode]

I had no problems running without pagefile even on 512 MB... except the times I actaually run out of mem :D

[Jay]

I had no problems running without pagefile even on 512 MB... except the times I actaually run out of mem :D

 

You're right, it's usually not an issue, but who knows in Windows... :D

[JaBoG32_Prinzartus]

It's possible to turn swap file off, but it can cause problems - some applications may not work properly. IMHO it's better to tweak a regedit.exe this way:

 

Find the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

 

1. Find the dword DisablePagingExecutive, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows to keep data in memory instead of paging to harddrive.

 

2. Find the dword LargeSystemCache, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows kernel to run in memory - improves system performance a lot.

 

Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

 

I use these settings with 1,5 Gig of RAM and it improved system performance significantly - especially in Lomac (actually Lomac is the only application that forced me to upgrade RAM to 1,5 Gig :rolleyes:)

 

Finally I found one more tweak tip, but haven't tried it yet so don't know if it works - here it is:

"Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex to 4000 if you have 128MB of RAM or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB or set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of RAM - this tweak will speed up your disckcache."

 

I hope it will work for you.

 

Jay

Jay, would you advise me to use you rtweak with only 1 Gig of Mem also? I'd love to give it a try.

 

But "LargeSystemCache" does not exist anywhere in my registry, at all.

[Jay]

Jay, would you advise me to use you rtweak with only 1 Gig of Mem also? I'd love to give it a try.

 

But "LargeSystemCache" does not exist anywhere in my registry, at all.

 

This tweak (first 2 steps) is recommended for more than 512 MB of RAM, so yes - you can use it without problems. But to be honest, I upgraded from 1 Gig to 1,5 Gig (unfortunately my mobo has only 3 memory slots), because I wasn't satisfied with Lomac performance with 1 Gig. I would advise you to upgrade too, if you can. It's worth the money, especially now when RAM modules are so cheap.

 

I don't know why you don't have the LargeSystemCache dword in your registry, it should be in the key I've mentioned above. Or you can create it on your own - it should be no prob. Again - this dword's setting is very important for improving system performance with more than 512 MB of RAM.

 

Good luck. Maybe you'll find this link valuable:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/Windows2000/RegistryTips/Miscellaneous/Memorymanagementparameters.html

[Kula66]

2. Find the dword LargeSystemCache, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows kernel to run in memory - improves system performance a lot.

 

Hmmm ... thats not actually true ... enabling large system cache means the mem manager will trim process working sets more agressively than system cache ... it tends to be used on file servers. It will actually force processes to shed memory quicker at the expense of the cache. It may well force chunks of kernel out of RAM quicker ... but then hopefully, it will be chunks of the kernel you don't need right know!

[Jay]

Hmmm ... thats not actually true ... enabling large system cache means the mem manager will trim process working sets more agressively than system cache ... it tends to be used on file servers. It will actually force processes to shed memory quicker at the expense of the cache. It may well force chunks of kernel out of RAM quicker ... but then hopefully, it will be chunks of the kernel you don't need right know!

 

OK, I think that the real-life effect is more important here than theoretical advantages/disadvantages. I use this setting and it works just fine, way better than original setting. May be it's only a side effect and the main is the one you explained to us - but who cares? It works... ;)

[Pilotasso]

It's possible to turn swap file off, but it can cause problems - some applications may not work properly. IMHO it's better to tweak a regedit.exe this way:

 

Find the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management

 

1. Find the dword DisablePagingExecutive, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows to keep data in memory instead of paging to harddrive.

 

2. Find the dword LargeSystemCache, double click it and set the value to 1 decimal - this allows Windows kernel to run in memory - improves system performance a lot.

 

Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

 

I use these settings with 1,5 Gig of RAM and it improved system performance significantly - especially in Lomac (actually Lomac is the only application that forced me to upgrade RAM to 1,5 Gig :rolleyes:)

 

Finally I found one more tweak tip, but haven't tried it yet so don't know if it works - here it is:

"Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex to 4000 if you have 128MB of RAM or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB or set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of RAM - this tweak will speed up your disckcache."

 

I hope it will work for you.

 

Jay

 

Just tried this myself, I will experiment with LOMAC tonight, but so far I have already noticed a great deal of system responsiveness increase specialy browsing through directories with large number of files (with thumbnails). It refreshes far faster than before.

 

THX!

[Kula66]

OK, I think that the real-life effect is more important here than theoretical advantages/disadvantages. I use this setting and it works just fine, way better than original setting. May be it's only a side effect and the main is the one you explained to us - but who cares? It works... ;)

 

Agreed ... if it works on your system, thats great ... systems have so many variables, there are few certain fixes - just do system restore points before you change anything, and try and do tweaks one at a time!

[Fishy]

Thanks All, there is some good stuff in this thread.

 

One thing I was hoping to get some discussion on was the issue of having two physical drives. I had seen things elsewhere in which people speculated that a second physical drive could speed up the whole process of accessing application files and the windows swap file. Seems logical, both processes could be taking place simultaneously. Where is the speed advantage though, in the placement of the swap file on the fast drive or the application files?

 

Thoughts or experiences?

 

I really like Jay's idea of how to direct windows to keep data in memory, much faster potentially. Will try.

 

Fishy

[Kula66]

Fishy, the more physical drives you spread your OS, page file and app over the better ... this means to more concurrent I/Os you can perform. Also, the faster the drives the better - 10,000 rpm are always better than 5400rpms ...

 

So, 3 drives is always better than 1 ... but how much better? If you have enough RAM, all the files you require (OS and Apps) get read and established into RAM so negating the benefit of more drives ...

 

This is why a memory leak (which I fear has crept into 1.12) has such a negative impact on performance ... app leaks memory = less memory for cache = more physical disk I/O = less overall performance.

 

As for Jays idea, if you force a Large System cache, you reduce the amount of RAM available for apps working set ... but, if it works for him, give it a try!