win xp virtual mem. settings

just wondering what people recommend for virtual memory settings for windows xp (sp2).  i have 1GB of RAM.  no two online sources seem to agree :/

people seem to agree that it works best when on a drive other than the one windows is installed on, so that's what i've done.

currently my settings are:
c: 2-64 MB
d: 1024-1536 MB

Doesn't matter, but one thing you will want to do: prevent XP from resizing the swap. Pick a decent size and set it permanently (make sure you defrag the drive first).

Only you know what size to set it to, depending on the program mix you have. If you have 1GB of ram, I have a difficult time imagining why you'd need another 1GB swap, but perhaps that's safest.

The recommended size of your virtual memory is 1.5 times the amount of your physical memory.

Don't ever set your pagefile smaller than your physical memory. Everything that is in physical memory basically also has a "spot" reserved for it in the pagefile. Basically, larger pagefile = better, but then again, the old x86 arch can't really support more than 4 GB address space.

You sure, >>4?

That's only with certain algorithms. Question is, does XP use one of them? It works just fine with less swap...

>>2

see a lot of people don't think it's a problem to let windows resize the swap, but i think it was working better before, so i'll keep it at one size.  i'm also not sure what you mean when you say to defrag before i set the v. mem. settings...i've already got a swap file, you can't mean turn virtual memory off, defrag, and then set it, right?  if i've already set one i can just defrag, right?

Swap files do not defrag while mounted (used by the system). In fact a lot of files cannot be moved or defragged. The closest you can come is to boot in safe mode and run defrag there (you should always run defrag in safe mode).

If your swapfile is not fragmented, then there's no reason to disable, boot in safe mode, defrag, reboot, remount.

The reason for not wanting XP to resize the swapfile is that it will naturally lend to the swapfile becoming fragmented over time, thus requiring the disk head to move greater distances and do so more often. This slows everything down, shortens the life of your drive, etc.