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Windows XP: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about?
- 8/7/09 1:17 PM
He meant
by MarkFlax - 8/29/09 4:17 AM
In reply to: Simple Steps Go a Long Way - Solution Part II by janetjinmk
He meant, if your system is running on low RAM, anything less than 512MB, performance would be greatly increased by adding more memory to the system. On my XP computer I have 2GB of RAM and I notice a significant performance boost.
There are many articles in Google about this, eg Adding RAM to your XP PC.
My first step towards this would be to go to http://www.crucial.com/ and use their "Crucial System Scanner Tool" or "Crucial Memory Advisor(tm) tool" and let Crucial scan your system to recommend how much RAm your system could pgrade to, and more significantly, what type of RAM is best.
I hope that helps.
Mark
Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about?
by lockerridge - 7/25/09 11:40 PM In reply to: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It is another memory that your Windows programs uses to enable you to multitask with several different operations going at the same time. When on the internet we are surfing with a browser like Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox as an example of the two most popular ones used.
They give you the ability to open up several tabs which are separate windows to different websites. When you open up too many of these tabs or if you are working offline with photo editing or graphics ( two big memory users on everyone's PC or playing games places huge demands for of all kinds of memory you can give them.) your computer has a preset amount of memory it allows for this type of activity. And when you are almost out of free virtual memory.. it will shut you down, before risking damage to the system itself.
If you have a pretty large RAM memory (Random Access Memory... they just love all these things we have to remember in our memories don't they?) on your computer you can up the amount of MBs you can allow your virtual memory to use, without any problem. I have mine set to the maximum allowed with my 512 MB of RAM.
To get to this wonderful place to change this amount of memory allowed.. is really pretty simple.
If your running XP.. and I do not know anything about Vista .. but it should be the same thing I hope.
Click onto your Start Menu and choose MY COMPUTER from the list there. When that page is up on the monitor over to the side will be boxes with options for links to access information about your computer.. in the top box choose...VIEW SYSTEM INFORMATION.
This will get you a pop up box with tabs on it to view things on your computers system.
Choose the ADVANCED tab and you should see the top option is one that takes you to the settings for things like virtual memory.. and according to your individual machine.. it will give you your maximum allowed amount of memory for virtual memory you can use.. I max mine out, cause if you start running programs and an alert pops up telling you you do not have enough RAM memory to do something.. then go back into this settings and reduce it.. little by little till you have it tweaked just right..
good luck..
Hmmm...
by Olifrench - 8/8/09 3:10 AM In reply to: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about? by lockerridgeNo offence, but I think this post is quite inaccurate. The poster seems to confuse real memory (RAM) and virtual memory (disk).
Technical terms are used because they remove ambiguity.
When changing your virtual memory settings you do not change the "amount of memory allowed". What you change is how much disk space can be used to supplement the RAM you have.
The previous poster has 512MB of RAM in his system. RAM is used mainly for loading programs so that the system can access their instructions at the speed of RAM and for the data the programs work on.
If you have requirements for more than your available physical memory (RAM) then the virtual memory kicks in, if it is enabled. The system uses a 'paging' algorithm which decides which parts of the used RAM can be moved to the virtual memory area on the disk (a dedicated file) for the least cost. Moving pages of memory to the disk frees memory and removes the physical limitation (the 512 MB in the poster's case).
The cost to the system is speed, because when pages in virtual memory are needed again they need to be swapped back in (if the RAM is still fully used other pages have to be transferred to virtual memory to allow the virtual memory pages back in real memory).
This is why if you have more RAM, fewer concurrently running programs (including services, of course) and less data you will have less of a need for virtual memory and more speed.
I'm feeling a little nostalgic...
by PsychGen - 8/8/09 4:33 AM In reply to: Hmmm... by OlifrenchThis thread has taken me back to the early days when RAM was so expensive a paging file was a must. Back when the OS was called Disk Operating System. RAM on a PC was from 128mb to 512mb. DOS only required 640K. Everything over 640k was for data and applications, we called then programs then. All memory requirements over what the system needed went to a PAGING FILE on the hard drive. Computers and OS's have been built this way ever since. IMHO it's about time to let the paging dinosaur die. RAM is cheap! We can now boot from a thumb drive which is essentially a type of RAM drive. Perhaps the future will bring 'drive less' computers, machines with terabytes of ram and the OS conveniently, permanently mounted in an E-PROM. With wireless connectivity to internet connected file servers, who needs a drive?
Yes, but...
by Olifrench - 8/8/09 8:08 AM In reply to: I'm feeling a little nostalgic... by PsychGenTo kill the dinosaur you need not only enough physical RAM but also an addressing scheme that allows the system to access it and a 32-bit address can only reference a 4GB address space (then remove the 1/2 GB used by devices).
Since we still page with 4GB of RAM, removing paging would only result in the system not being able to continue when we have too much going on.
I suppose we'll laugh at our paultry 4GB memory in 10 years time when, maybe, we'll have a thousand times as much...
Handling large chunks of memory
by PsychGen - 8/8/09 8:47 AM In reply to: Yes, but... by OlifrenchWhen large HDs started showing up and windows had a drive size limit (address manager) we worked around it by partitioning the drive. Could we not partition our RAM to work around. I.E. 32 bit system can only access 4GB. If I have 4 GB in slot 1 and 4 GB in slot 2, why cant I keep whats in RAM in bank 1 and switch to bank 2 if needed?
RAM flip-flop
by Randy Walter - 8/8/09 2:42 PM In reply to: Handling large chunks of memory by PsychGenWhy not just buy a 64 bit machine and make it easy on yourself?
Apparently...
by PsychGen - 8/9/09 6:07 AM In reply to: RAM flip-flop by Randy Walterthe 64 bit machines also have memory limitations. So, why not expand the concept to include them? The Wright Brothers were told they were crazy too...
Apparently so ...
by Randy Walter - 8/9/09 3:23 PM In reply to: Apparently... by PsychGenYeah well, duh! What was your first clue? I don't think the limitations of 64 bits are the issue here. It seems to me we are talking about home computing not expanding a commercial installation. BTW, I checked with DELL and I was informed I can get up to 24G RAM installed at the factory in the 64 bit machine. That is over six times what is available for the 32 bit computers. That is like comparing the Wright brothers airplane to a 747 jumbo jet ...
Memory partitions
by Olifrench - 8/9/09 2:34 AM In reply to: Handling large chunks of memory by PsychGenYes, it would be good it it could be done but because memory is accessed directly by position you would need another bit for 2 partitions, 2 bits for 4, etc... Now 33 or 34-bit computing is not practical when the common chunk, the byte, is 8 bits long.
Disks are accessed differently. For a start you don't get an individual byte from a disk, you get a whole sector at a time. Then there is a whole system of folders (directories) holding file information and pointers to sectors, etc...
Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about?
by jimw501 - 7/26/09 1:03 AM In reply to: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When Windows was installed, one of the files created on disk was a "page file", also known as "virtual memory". This file is used to temporarily store memory pages from the hardware main memory when an application needs more physical memory than is actually available. Doing this allows Windows to expand a user's real ("physical") memory as needed to allow large programs to run. The system from time to time will try to expand this "page file" if enough contiguous free disk space is available to expand the file. The message is warning you that Windows is trying to create a larger "page file". It does take considerable time to do this. A couple of things you can do to help is eliminate uneeded and temporary files, plus defragment your hard drive. Information on virtual memory can be found using the Control Panel "System" Applet->System Properties->Advanced tab->Performance button->Advanced tab->Vitual Memory. This is assuming the use of Windows XP.
Virtual Memory Error
by billbalding - 7/26/09 7:01 AM In reply to: Windows Virtual Memory is too low--what's that all about? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Set your page file size to 3X your installed RAM. Set Min, Max values to same number.
Where
by toddward2 - 8/7/09 6:26 PM In reply to: Virtual Memory Error by billbaldingWhere do you go to do this.
Virtual Memory
by drrasheed - 8/9/09 8:58 PM In reply to: Virtual Memory Error by billbaldingDear friends,
From the discussions so far I have come to the following conclusions. This problem will persist
• For those who have allotted low disk space for the OS.
• For those who have less than 1 GB RAM
• For those who are not educated as to disk cleanup, defragmentation etc
The following people will be benifitted
1. those with large C-drive – I mean reasonably large say up to 40 GB for the C Drive.
2. those who have created a special drive for the swap files – up to 5 GB
3. those who have a second physical hard drive, on which a dedicated partition is allotted for the ‘swap files’ – ie a drive on the second hard disk for the Virtual memory.
4. those who have more than 2 GB RAM
But nobody answered my query as to what will happen if I installed a large say – 6GB – of RAM and tweaked the system for a ‘0’ sized VM, I mean no ‘page files’ at all.
No VM
by Randy Walter - 8/9/09 9:46 PM In reply to: Virtual Memory by drrasheedLet's say for the sake of discussion you have a computer than can access the entire 6G RAM and you disable the VM. Then you run giant applications that consume all 6G RAM. Logically speaking it seems to me the computer should still work. However, since the VM is basically a method to help speed up the CPU throughput your response time would probably be about as long as it takes for Christmas to arrive. Try it and let us know how it works for you ~ that is, if you still have a working computer to post with!
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