Can you setup your Windows XP machine with "too much" virutal memory?

Question

I bought a Dell laptop that came with XP and I just went with the standard 256 MB of ram. I will eventually get more ram when I have the money, but in the mean time I just bumped up my virtual memory to over a gig to handle my programs.

I don't do anything fancy with this machine, just Word, Excel, Firefox/IE, etc. I know it is recommended that you keep your virtual memory about 1 1/2 to 2 times you ram (about 386 to 512 in my case). But, I wasn't sure if there is anything I need to worry about because I bumped up my virtual memory this high.

Answer 1

You may specify almost any amount to use for virtual memory but realize a things:

- A 32-bit operating system (I'm guessing you don't have the XP 64-bit version) really only handles around 4 GB of memory. You can do some tricks to get up to 6 GB of memory but this might be a server only option.

- You are dedicating disk space as memory. Set the start of the virtual sufficiently high so that it covers your typical load. The high virtual memory value should be reserved for when you exceed your typical usage. If you set the low end too low, you'll potentially have more fragmentation issues over time.

I think you'll be fine though if you keep it to 1-2 GB until you get the physical RAM but just keep in mind that performance will be degraded until you do so.

Answer 2

since virtual memory is disc space, setting the virtual memory limit higher will eat up disc space like a beast if you do anything that requires memory - to the limit you set it (1gb) at least.

there's no real harm in it, but normally leaving the virtual memory settings set to automatic is good enough for windows.

virtual memory tends to be slower than physical memory though, since reading and writing to a hard disk is slower than accessing a 'real' memory module.

no real issues with what you've done though, except if you start opening dozens of programs and games that use up all your physical AND virtual memory - which would cause your pc to seize up since the virtual memory limit has been set to 1gb and won't be adjusted upwards of that when needed.

Answer 3

ok first you need to know about the speeds of these things...
a hard drive, (with your virtual memory on it,) is like a car. it can go fast, but there are much faster things.
your processor, however, can go much faster.
lets call it a satellite. it can orbit the earth in 3 minutes or something.
the ram, is the space shuttle. it can slow down to take information from the hard drive, and put it on the processor.
now by bumping up your virtual memory, all you did was create a page file. it still can't go as fast as your ram, so it stores information on there until it is needed. like parts of your o.s.
so if you aren't using notepad, it stores it for later use.
by bumping your virtual memory you didnt increase your ram.

Answer 4

Well from a performance perspective, you cannot have "too much" virtual memory. This can only become a problem if you run out of hard drive space because too much of your space is allotted to virtual memory.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

ISTALL COMPUTER AS IT SPESIFIES ON ANY ONE OF THESE TWO WEBSITES BELOW

AND YOU CAN NEVER BE DISAPOINTED EVEN IF YOU TRIED

http://computersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/install-computers.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u_DHseKdu0

Answer 7

i think in the worst case it will cause a bit of disk thrashing.... i highly doubt you will be effected much... consider a 2gb kit as they are well under 100 dollars now for good good timing pc6400 kits.

Answer 8

need more memory ASAP. keep the hard drive cleaned and defragged
and keep the junk off

Answer 9

Absolutely a yes.

Answer 10

Yes, because it burns your CPU prossessor