Massive Pagefile size

Chuuko · March 23, 2017

so i have 16gb ram and in literally every game my pc as like a 24gb pagefile usage. I havnt really bothered with this and just let it be but a ton of people started telling me that this is not normal and it should be MUCH lower. I have not really found much info about this anywere else so ya any help is appreciated

mariushm · March 23, 2017

Windows adjusts the page size automatically using a generic formula. The base rule it uses is something simple like [ Installed memory size x 1.5 ] ... so if you have 16 GB of memory installed, it will default to creating up to 24-30 GB page file, as long as there is room on the hard drive holding the page file.

Just because the page file is that big, it doesn't mean the operating system uses that much.

If you have the page file configured as adjustable and there's space on the hard drive, rather than reusing empty space in the page file (from places where data was before but now it's no longer needed anymore so it got deleted), Windows will simply enlarge the page file up to the size you allowed it to use because it's slightly faster.

You can safely tweak the behavior by configuring the page file to a fixed size (enter the same minimum and maximum page file size as the same value) and that will alter the operating system's behavior, after reboot Windows will reserve that much space on the hard drive in a large block (as continuous as possible) and reuse space more efficiently since now it will keep better track of where in the fixed size file it has places to write data do.

For a 16 GB installed memory , a fixed page file size of around 6 to 8 GB should be enough for all applications and games.

0x1e · March 23, 2017

It's says 24GB but it's not.

As @mariushm said, it's just reserved.

The same way the hibernate file reserves space, or when you download a game from Steam. origin or Uplay. They will say it's 50GB (assuming it's a 50GB game) size almost instantly although you've downloaded almost nothing yet. That's because that 50GB is locked as it's reserved for the game and it doesn't want it used by something else.