What is the recommended virtual memory for my computer. I have 256mb of RAM and run on WinXP.
Current memory: Min is 512
Max is 768
All help is greatly appreciated!
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Kaolin is the best to answer this but i can say your a little short on RAM, most people who play consider 512 RAM as a basic minimum with 1K preferable.
I assume your asking because you are getting 'Low Virtual memory' messages. that could be that your RAm is too low cetainly upgrading mine sorted that out for me.
I assume your asking because you are getting 'Low Virtual memory' messages. that could be that your RAm is too low cetainly upgrading mine sorted that out for me.
I was getting the low virtual memory message till the other day. 2 things helped, 1. allowed windows to allocate amount of memory. It was a bit complicated to a ol' bugger like me, but someone who knew changed the settings and it worked better. 2. Got the same person to fit another 256mb. of mem. and an fx5200 video card at the same time. Now it all runs sweet!!
Good luck. It will work in the end.especially if kaolin gets hold of the prob. hehe ;0)
Good luck. It will work in the end.especially if kaolin gets hold of the prob. hehe ;0)
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.
Your amount of RAM can certainly make a difference in Virtual Memory problems, but Virtual Memory is actually hard drive space. So, you should also check to make sure you have enough free space on your hard drive for Windows to have room to manipulate your "swap file".
If you have enough RAM, the swap file won't be needed, and everything will run smoother, but hard drive space is cheaper than RAM, usually.
Programs running in the background while you are playing EQ will also use up RAM. Under XP, I believe you can look in Task Manager to see how much RAM each process has allocated.
As a direct answer to your original question, the usual recommendation for virtual memory size is double the amount of physical memory (RAM) in the machine. Personally, I just make sure i have plenty of free RAM (on the system drive, usually C:) and let XP handle it.
If you have enough RAM, the swap file won't be needed, and everything will run smoother, but hard drive space is cheaper than RAM, usually.
Programs running in the background while you are playing EQ will also use up RAM. Under XP, I believe you can look in Task Manager to see how much RAM each process has allocated.
As a direct answer to your original question, the usual recommendation for virtual memory size is double the amount of physical memory (RAM) in the machine. Personally, I just make sure i have plenty of free RAM (on the system drive, usually C:) and let XP handle it.
EQ takes about 500MB of RAM, and that's with most display options disabled and set to lowest. To play with decent performance options selected, you're going to take above that.
1GB RAM is almost a base requirement for EQ.
As far as recommended virtual memory, always set the max at 3X your RAM. This will make your system most stable - it's weird, doesn't make sense, but PC techs live by it.
1GB RAM is almost a base requirement for EQ.
As far as recommended virtual memory, always set the max at 3X your RAM. This will make your system most stable - it's weird, doesn't make sense, but PC techs live by it.
Depending on how often you max out both physical and virtual RAM, you would want to set min virtual at least to 2X and max virtual to 4X your physical RAM.
Anymore and you are wasting HDD space, any smaller and you get out of VM errors or instability/crashes.
Anymore and you are wasting HDD space, any smaller and you get out of VM errors or instability/crashes.
Unless you tend to run low on harddrive space, max it. Full power to the Virtual Memory!
Hell. I have, what, an 80 gig harddrive on mine? Despite all the stuff I put on it- and never delete- (seriously, you wouldn't believe what I have on here)- I still don't even hit the 40 gig mark, even with my VM setting maxed.
Harddrive space is cheap and plentiful these days. Take full advantage of it. (To be honest with you, 256 MB is extremely low memory for modern games and computers. You want to offset this with as much VM as you can afford. Frankly, I'd strongly recommend upgrading the memory, even if it's just taking another 256 MB chip and dropping it in. It's one of the cheaper and more effective upgrades one can do with a computer. Still, VM is a free way to help offset the issue.)
Hell. I have, what, an 80 gig harddrive on mine? Despite all the stuff I put on it- and never delete- (seriously, you wouldn't believe what I have on here)- I still don't even hit the 40 gig mark, even with my VM setting maxed.
Harddrive space is cheap and plentiful these days. Take full advantage of it. (To be honest with you, 256 MB is extremely low memory for modern games and computers. You want to offset this with as much VM as you can afford. Frankly, I'd strongly recommend upgrading the memory, even if it's just taking another 256 MB chip and dropping it in. It's one of the cheaper and more effective upgrades one can do with a computer. Still, VM is a free way to help offset the issue.)
ok here is abit of NEW SCHOOL on swap/virt ram thinking.
if you are sub 512M ram, then double or quad the swap/virt to physical ram.
so in the OP case with only 256M, he/she/it should be running 512 - 768 (might be off a tad on the high end) as windows will NOT allow for 4x so you are just fubar when it comes to really pushing your swap/vert mem.
best option is to, as mentioned several times, max out your physical ram to 1G, or best your MB will handle. you may only be able to run 768 or 512M, depends on your MB.
if you have 512M - 768M of ram, then a 1 to 1 ratio of swap/vert to physical is ok, if you are over 1G of ram, then you can cap your swap/vert at 256M, 512M if you think you really need it, but odds are you WILL NOT/SHOULD NOT need more then 256M swap/vert if you have 1G+ of physical ram.
RAM is way faster then any hard drive out today except for the ramdrives (google for them, they are DDR chained together to form a hard drive, really kewl, but not worth the cash) so to waist performance in swap/vert memory instead of phsyical ram is just that. much slower performance.
the old 2 to 1 ratio comes from the days with ram was measured in K vs M like it is today and was still required in the win9x days with 512M being the hard cap without major hacks to the registry in windows. with todays systems (hardware and OS) being able to handle much more ram, there is less and less need for swap/vert memory to be used.
you will waist HD space, and decrease the overall performance of your system if you have more then 1G of ram with a 2 to 1 ratio for swap/vert memory so you can get away with much smaller swap/vert partitions if you have more physical ram.
so to the OP, max out your vert. memory or upgrade to the max your MB can handle.
good luck.
if you are sub 512M ram, then double or quad the swap/virt to physical ram.
so in the OP case with only 256M, he/she/it should be running 512 - 768 (might be off a tad on the high end) as windows will NOT allow for 4x so you are just fubar when it comes to really pushing your swap/vert mem.
best option is to, as mentioned several times, max out your physical ram to 1G, or best your MB will handle. you may only be able to run 768 or 512M, depends on your MB.
if you have 512M - 768M of ram, then a 1 to 1 ratio of swap/vert to physical is ok, if you are over 1G of ram, then you can cap your swap/vert at 256M, 512M if you think you really need it, but odds are you WILL NOT/SHOULD NOT need more then 256M swap/vert if you have 1G+ of physical ram.
RAM is way faster then any hard drive out today except for the ramdrives (google for them, they are DDR chained together to form a hard drive, really kewl, but not worth the cash) so to waist performance in swap/vert memory instead of phsyical ram is just that. much slower performance.
the old 2 to 1 ratio comes from the days with ram was measured in K vs M like it is today and was still required in the win9x days with 512M being the hard cap without major hacks to the registry in windows. with todays systems (hardware and OS) being able to handle much more ram, there is less and less need for swap/vert memory to be used.
you will waist HD space, and decrease the overall performance of your system if you have more then 1G of ram with a 2 to 1 ratio for swap/vert memory so you can get away with much smaller swap/vert partitions if you have more physical ram.
so to the OP, max out your vert. memory or upgrade to the max your MB can handle.
good luck.
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