Do I need a swap file if I have 2 GB of RAM?

[Dadster]

I see messages about enormous swap files, but I thought that Windows could only address 2 Gig. If I have 2 Gig, do I really need any paging?

And I've seen messages about programs that "need" a swap file. How can that be, if Windows maintains absolute control over it?

 

[gcunning]

No you shouldn't but I would set a static sized one of say 128-256 MB depending on what you have available. This will keep it from slowing down your system, but should avoid errors if a program does somehow require it. I posted the below in answer to another question hope it helps....

You don't want to use the swap file if you don't have to.
The swap file is used when you are out of RAM and need to write to the slower Harddisk.
If your not using it its because you have a healthy ammount of ram and shouldn't need it unless you open some very memory intensive programs.
Right click the "my computer" icon on your desktop and choose properties.
Look around and you will find a "role for this computer" it should have the options of home user, laptop and network server. Set this to Network server, it has nothing to do with the actuall role of the computer, just the memory useage, if you have more than 32mb you want to be a network server.
Also there is a place to set your swapfile settings here also. Choose to set your own settings, ignore windows warnings that you shouldnt do this. What you want to do is set the minimum and maximum the same number, this keeps the swap file one solid size, and it doesn't have to write to the FAT everytime it is used and resized.
If you have a small Hard disk 2-4gigs, set your swap file to 384mb, if you have a larger disk, or plenty of space, use 512mb or even 768 (if you have a large 20+gig disk and wont miss the space)
You can right click the recycle bin and set it to 1% instead fo 10% of the HD to get some space back.
Aother option you have is to overclock your CPU. raising the motherboard BUS will speed up the system more than increasing the multiplier, if this last line doesn't make any sense, find someone to help you do this that understands overclocking, or go read up on it at the many hardware web sites out there.

 

[Dadster]

I'm really wondering if 2 GB of RAM would eliminate the POSSIBILITY of Windows needing to swap - as 32 bits leaves open the possibility that an operating system could address up to 4 GB.

(I haven't kept up with the innards of how PC's work. I've been using mostly mainframes for the last few years.)

As for the newer versions of Windows, where do they stand on addressable memory?

 

[cdogg]

There is a difference between the "need" and the "purpose" of the swap file. While it is true that the more RAM you have the less Windows should need the swap file, the function of the swap file is built-in to the core of virtual memory. In other words, certain types of memory allocation called by various programs expect to see some sort of swap file - large or small. If you remove it altogether, you can actually hurt overall performance in some applications.

Although the risk of problems isn't high, typically you want to leave some sort of swap file for access. 128MB should be good enough if you have a large amount of RAM.

By the way, you mentioned you had 2GB of RAM. What version of Windows? Is it stable? It's not uncommon for Win9x/ME systems to have problems with amounts greater than 512MB.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[Dadster]

This is for "the next project." Just a little something to handle matrices. It will(probably) be on the latest version of Windows. (I want to be able to pick things up off-the-shelf - easy to budget, hardware drivers cater to Microsoft, etc.)

Glad to know that the Win 9x's have problems with storage size. I remember that was a problem in Win 3.1x, too (still have a box running that, at home!)

The GUI part is insignificant, the app would work fine in text. Stability is more important, and the operating system is subject to change. Windows is just so easy to get hardware for.