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Several Easy Steps to Boost Your Computer's Speed

Step 16Adjust Virtual Memory

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16 comments

Mar 2, 2010. 2:24 AMpeukman says:

Another tip i always use with 2 physical hard drives, i remove virtual from C: and put it on the other drive (i.e. D:).

With only One physical drive, on first install i always create a partition for this virtual memory (as we do on Linux for swap). Thus no fragmentation of the virtual ram file.

I never let Windows setting size itself. I always set the same value for min and max virtual size :RAM x2 (4Gb on 32bit).

Jul 5, 2010. 9:17 PMlukethebook333 (author) says:

I put in a blurp about it in the image, thanks!

Jul 21, 2009. 7:24 AMslyskawa says:

You are incorrect in stating that using "virtual memory" will not slow down your computer. Using your hard disk as memory is thousands of times slower than using actual memory. The advantage of setting virtual memory high enough is that it allows you to continue working when the programs you are using need more memory than what is actually installed in your PC. Your goal should be to have enough memory so that it doesn't use any virtual memory (or hard disk) to run active programs. You can do this by not running as many programs at the same time or by increasing the amount of physical memory in the machine. Unless you are running the 64-bit version of windows xp or vista (most people are running the 32-bit version), then the maximum amount of physical memory that your system can use is 4GB. Their may be additional limitations put on by your motherboard, so check to make sure it can accept whatever you are putting in. The bottom line is that if you want to "speed up your computer", make sure that it does not use virtual memory, make sure you have enough physical memory to handle the programs you are using or reduce the number of programs you run at the same time so it fits in you physical memory.

Jul 4, 2010. 2:23 PMDamionLee says:

Sorry, but to correct this, Virtual Memory is not solely used as over flow for your RAM. It is intrinsic to Windows and a number of software titles require Virtual Memory to operate. Virtual Memory does not slow down the computer - it provides a caching system which allows the OS to pre-store data which 'may' be required in RAM. This is much faster that creating the data on the fly. People have reported that they have successfully run a PC without Virtual Memory, and indeed I have on occasion turned it off for testing. However, this is not recommended because you are not 'actually' running without Virtual Memory - Windows starts using RAM as Virtual Memory, and thus lowers the amount of physical memory you have available. The most efficient way to use Virtual Memory in a single hard drive system (has in part been mentioned below) is to create a partition especially for it. Ideally this should be located at the beginning of the hard drive, and should be sized slightly larger than your swap file. Minimum and Maximum size should be set identical. In older versions of Windows FAT32 was a faster system. However, from Windows XP it appeared to become 'artificially' slower than NTFS. For the purposes of a Virtual Memory partition, you do not need the error checking and backup facilities of NTFS, however, we are being pushed that way because of performance.

Aug 28, 2009. 1:15 AMdaemonfist says:

I second this post. In fact I recommend letting Windows manage your virtual memory for you. If windows has allocated more that twice your physical RAM you probably need more physical RAM. As well, letting Windows manage your VMem allows it to grow and shrink (to some degree) as needed, where as setting it does not. Grabbing sysinternal's PageDefrag tool, might be a better option for optimizing the VMem.

Apr 21, 2010. 2:00 PMREA says:

dont set it to high or you might screw your hard drive. i did it a year ago, set it to 10 gb, and when i booted up windows didnt even start. i suggest skipping this unless you know exactly what to do and what it can do.

Dec 10, 2009. 10:21 AMAmyLuthien says:

Just adding a handy tip, it's quicker to click Start > Run and then type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, that'll pull your System Properties window right up, without having to go looking for it. This works for 2000 (as I recall) and XP. I do not know about Vista or Windows 7, not having used those versions, but I can't imagine Microsquish has changed them that much?

Thanks for writing this ible!

Dec 10, 2009. 5:46 PMlukethebook333 (author) says:

Thanks for the tip! I'll add that in.

Dec 10, 2009. 11:46 PMAmyLuthien says:

No problem!

Jul 20, 2009. 2:19 PMBriguy9 says:

Limitless RAM thing made me lol. I have mine set to like 4.5GB of virtual memory, and my actual RAM size is about 512MB. Thinking about upgrading.

Jun 1, 2009. 10:31 AMREA says:

wow. i almost clicked "ok" on the image... this is a great step! im using most of my normal memory and was wondering how to use HDD space as memory.

Jun 1, 2009. 10:45 AMlukethebook333 (author) says:

Yep. And the great thing about it is that you can choose other drives as well. If your low on RAM, check out my last step to improve it. It usually will cost you about $20 to update your chips. Here is the step: <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/S9GPUJHFRL6BEZ9/">http://www.instructables.com/id/S9GPUJHFRL6BEZ9/</a> Here is newegg.com. I find it to be the best deal for RAM. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=17&name=Memory">http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=17&name=Memory</a> Again, make sure you get the right number for the RAM, each computer is specific. Good Luck, and thanks for looking!

Mar 22, 2009. 12:23 PMlordyoyo says:

It's not a "program", it's just a setting. And the guideline to set it is to set it from 1.5 times your RAM to double.

Mar 22, 2009. 12:41 PMlukethebook333 (author) says:

Made a note, thanks for your help!

Jan 9, 2009. 3:00 PMdude111115 says:

Oh DUDE! I FORGOT TO TELL YOU A LAST STEP FOR XP USERS!!!!!!! YOU HAVE TO CLICK THE SET BUTTON AND RESTART FOR IT TO TAKE EFFECT!!!!! enjoy!

Jan 9, 2009. 4:03 AMdude111115 says:

Oh wait, heres a Con. If your sharing a computer then you might not want to do this because you could tick someone off! haha.....

Jan 9, 2009. 4:01 AMdude111115 says:

There are no pro's and con's except if you use pretty much all the free space you have on your hard drive it might slow a little. the pro is it will go a hell of a lot faster and you can actually use more than all of your RAM ( wich is good for me when i exceed my 1gb ) because my computer will still work when it runs out of RAM.