Page file on a RAMDISK

[Azatoth]

Can anyone with better knowledge and understanding explain exactly why it doesn't make sense to put page file on a ramdisk?

[VinZie]

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=43257

[Oshino Shinobu]

Basically, it would be faster and more efficient to free up some RAM so that you don't even need to go into the page file. The whole point of a page file is for an overflow from RAM... So if you have the room to have a page file on RAM, you also have that RAM that could actually be used as RAM. 

EDIT: It's essentially having the RAM overflow onto RAM that is less efficient, slower and has more latency due to the RAMDisk software. 

[Enderman]

because the entire point of a page file is to put stuff on a storage drive because there isnt enough ram...

by making a ramdisk youre just using up ram that could have been used in the first place

[Azatoth]

Thank you everyone for such a fast response. So using page file on a ramdisk makes some weird ram..sepction thingy.

[typographie]

I'm probably paraphrasing the link above somewhat, but things get put into the page file because they sit idle a lot. Windows generally knows better than to put the game you're currently playing or the work you're currently doing into the page file as long as you have enough physical memory for it's most important data.

 

Basically, if you've got enough RAM to bother making a RAM disk, you've probably got enough RAM not to see any performance benefit from putting your page file on it.

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, Azatoth said:

Thank you everyone for such a fast response. So using page file on a ramdisk makes some weird ram..sepction thingy.

It's just a matter of a poor management of resources. Better to use the RAM as RAM than a drive with a page file. 

EDIT: Theoretically, it would actually work just fine, it's just that it doesn't really make sense. 

[TidaLWaveZ]

It's just straight up counterproductive.

[Azatoth]

Would it actually make more sense on a 32bit system? Because you have wasted ram on it ( I know that it would make sense upgrading to a 64 bit system, but just for the sake of the idea )

[typographie]

1 minute ago, Azatoth said:

Would it actually make more sense on a 32bit system? Because you have wasted ram on it ( I know that it would make sense upgrading to a 64 bit system, but just for the sake of the idea )

If I'm not mistaken, your Windows license entitles you to both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of your specific version (e.g. Home). Personally I'd rather just do a clean install of the 64-bit version if I were in that position.

 

But yeah, I guess if you're sticking with 32-bit for some reason a RAM disk might be a way to avoid wasting RAM.

[Azatoth]

1 minute ago, typographie said:

If I'm not mistaken, your Windows license entitles you to both the 32-bit and 64-bit editions of your specific version (e.g. Home). Personally I'd rather just do a clean install of the 64-bit version if I were in that position.

 

But yeah, I guess if you're sticking with 32-bit for some reason a RAM disk might be a way to avoid wasting RAM.

The 32-bit version has less space, that would be the only reason, but now almost everyone has at least 500GB hdd. Just wanted to know. Thanks for the answer.