SSD, PageFile and Low RAM

[Devrim]

Hi friends. I'm confused.

 

I have 128GB SSD, 16GB RAM.

 

When I installed SSD, I disabled pagefile. Because I remember I've read some articles about enhancing the lifetime of SSD drives. So, I disabled it.

 

Now... In the middle of the mission or flight, I get low RAM warning by Windows. If I ignore (click on cancel) it, after a while DCS goes pufff :) suddenly. No crash, no log or something. It just quits to desktop.

 

But actually, it seems I have 6GB RAM already. DCS uses about 10GB.

 

I focus on disabling pagefile. It's a suspect for me. I've just read some web pages and what all say is enabling pagefile back.

 

***

 

You SSD users! Did you disable pagefile? If yes, do you get low RAM warnings?

If you didn't, what do you think about extending SSD's lifetime? Or disabling pagefile has no benefit for that?

 

Thanks a lot!

[GeorgeLKMT]

I haven't disabled anything. All these tips were relevant years ago when first consumer SSDs with low endurance appeared on the market. My SSD is rated at 72TB, I have written 15TB in two years. And that's heavy computer usage, probably 12h+ a day.

[Knock-Knock]

Maybe Im just naive, but often the internet blow 'issues' completely out of proportion.

I have my page file enabled, and my PC is running 8-12 hours every single day (I use it for work too). The SSD that Windows is on, is soon 3 years old. I dont worry one bit that it will 'wear' out my SSD. If a SSD cant handle to run Windows, normally, then what is the point of putting it on the market.

 

Probably some concerns from when SSD's started their life, pre-mainstream. So like 10 years ago.

[Fri13]

The normal writing amount isn't a problem, as the SSD usually withstands about 50GB writing every day in the next 3-5 years.

 

But, page file can be more dramatic as Windows can write many gigabytes per day.

 

So sure, if wanted to be 100% sure that SSD writing amount is minimal so you maximize SSD lifetime to over 10-15 years, disable it. But consider that, how long are you going to run the same SSD?

[Devrim]

Right. I've been using this SSD just for a year (maybe not) and I'm already planing to buy new one...

[T_A]

Unfortunately , 16GB is not cutting it for DCS , it sometimes leaks memory and jump from 6GB to 12GB usage (for DCS exe only)

 

i had to re-enable page file on my SSD , i considered upgrading to 32GB ram, but honestly its not worth it for just minimizing my SSD wear (by the time it would matter i`ll be upgrading anyway)

[Devrim]

T_A, you've suffered from same problem?

[lanmancz]

I have also 16GB RAM and I never had this problem. I would recommend re-enabling your page file so that background processes can be swapped away when DCS starts to demand more RAM. The thing you describe is really a non-issue today as GeorgeLKMT says. Current SSDs can happily work for many years without any negative effects. In fact they are built with additional memory chips to automatically replace any worn out sectors - this is all done automatically by the drive firmware. I wouldn't worry about it. In fact I just checked my OS SSD SMART data and after 16000 hours in operation (3+ years in use) I got only 2 relocated sectors so far.

[splash]

My Crucial has a reported endurance of up to 220TB total bytes "written". Today it has been written 1,3 Tb according to CrystalDiskInfo, but you have to take into account that I cloned my old 1Tb mechanical disk and run lots of speed tests. Mine is the 750 Gb version and if I'm realistic, probably I will run out of capacity before end its lifetime.

 

I would left the pagefile in the SSD and if you are low on space you can reduce its size.

[T_A]

T_A, you've suffered from same problem?

 

Yes , you should enable page file (i found limiting it to 4GB to suffice)

[Devrim]

Ooookay! :)

 

Thanks a lot friends.

I'll enable it.

[BitMaster]

I run my system usually 24/7 and only reboot if I really need to.

 

PF enabled on every single drive installed and letting Win10 decide if and which it uses.

 

 

**

FYI:

*edit: I have set the min/max amount for each drive manually, 16GB each HDD, 8GB each SSD.

[Fri13]

I have also 16GB RAM and I never had this problem. I would recommend re-enabling your page file so that background processes can be swapped away when DCS starts to demand more RAM.

 

I have 16GiB on this machine, and I needed to disable paging file as otherwise Windows 7 and 10 (both installed) memory compression kills DCS and drops the FPS every now and then (like every 20-30 seconds) to around 15-20 for few seconds and then back.

The DCS doesn't consume the RAM at all of that, but Windows just wants to get RAM to be empty. And even when DCS and Windows is on SSD, it isn't fast enough to process the data of compression.

 

Disabling paging file increased heavily FPS and removed all the FPS drops.

This is the problem with DCS that it has so large cache for textures and such that Windows want to swap them when ever possible, even when they are being loaded just in.

[BIGNEWY]

16gb RAM here and use " let the pc manage pagefile " never have a problem

[Devrim]

Thanks for inputs guys.

 

Fri13; I'll observe FPS when enable pagefile.

 

Last night, for a reason I uninstalled DCS World 2 and I got +47 GB free space in SSD.

I haven't enabled pagefile yet, and entered V.A. server again and long time I did fly without any problem.

 

Next days will tell if this is a coincidence or not...

 

I had only 1.47GB free space on my SSD (This was a missing information for my 1st post - I don't know if it had any importance. Sorry.)

[BitMaster]

JESUS & MARIA !!!!

 

1.47GB FREE is killing your SSD in NO TIME pal !!!!

 

Read about SSDs to understand why but wearleveling only properly works with enuff free space..I keep at least 30GB available at all times on any SSD as a MINIMUM :)

 

1.47 also kills your Windows !!!

[Devrim]

Oh! Serious?!

 

Luckily (and at least) I'm alive! :D

 

Thanks for warning!

[BIGNEWY]

I use one SSD for my OS only

 

the rest of my SSD's and SSHD are for DCS and gaming, just to make sure I have plenty of room.

[Devrim]

Wow man! I'm speechless. :)

[kobalt_]

2 things that pop up in my mind reading this thread :

 

- Windows DOES need a pagefile enabled 99% of the time, say at least 4Gb regarding your set up. It loads many things in this file, not only stuff for your current front program. Always keep pagefile (from my experience) activated. You can find more infos about this on various dedicated websites and help forums.

 

- It is hugely recommended to let 10/15% of free space when using a SSD, to prevent cell failures. This is called over-provisioning (many explanations available, like there)

 

Take care of your beloved SSD :smartass:

[Devrim]

Ok. Damn man. I've read many so-called articles about SSDs.

None of them was talking about this percentage.

 

Thanks a lot.

[Svend_Dellepude]

IMHO pagefile tuning was a thing of the 90's/early 00's when disk's were slower and RAM were fewer.

Back then you could speculate in having the PF on a an additional disk than your OS and/or game disk so you didn't have to read and write on the same disk.

HDD's back then were small but expensive and not as reliable as today! :D

Windows up until XP also didn't do a very good job of managing PF, so all these things together could give you a little extra fps if you got it right.

Or maybe it was all placebo but it was fun doing the tweaks and fiddling in sysreg to try to squeeze your rig just a little more.

These days it matters less, SSD and plenty of RAM seems to solve most problems and pf or not, i'm pretty sure your SSD is gonna have a long good life.

The only thing there is to say about SSD and HDD in generel is that if you like your data, then give them a good home. Don't buy crappy, cheap disks. :)

[Kuky]

I disable Pagefile. I prefer lots of system RAM for the OS and any app to use that instead of HDD, even if its SSD. Unless there is memory leak in OS or app you're using you'll never run of RAM (if you have enough) in any normal use.