Need for page file with 12 GB RAM

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Windows 7 pagefile size with large RAM and SSD

I recently got my new PC with 12 GB RAM (running Windows 7 64bit). The default installation suggests a 12 GB page file on the system drive (which I think is both inefficient and expensive on a SSD drive...)

I'm wondering if I need any virtual memory at all, 12 GB being more than I had on my previous machine including the page file (I had 3GB RAM + 3GB pagefile).

Solution

Yes, you need a page file. Windows always needs to have at least a little bit of HDD space (or in your case SSD space) to function properly. Since you are using a SSD, I would lower the size of the page file down to around 0.5GB or so. Normally Windows likes to have 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM as a page file (seems ridiculous to me) as mentioned by this link. I don't know the specifics comfortably enough to explain why you need it (other than reasons you would need RAM and when your computer wakes from sleeping), but I know that your OS should have some allocated for a page file.

Update: After answering this question and attempting to do some research on other reasons Windows needs a page file, I noticed the conversation in the comments of the question...

Comments

[uxout]

You should also NEVER completely disable it. You might run fine forever like that, but it has the potential for unfortunate consequences. Recommended reading at ServerFault (question is about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 but logic is the same for other standard versions of Windows): serverfault.com/questions/23621/…

[kinokijuf]

On my Windows 8 system with 8GB of ram, the pagefile during normal use is only 1.5 GB.

[Jamie Hanrahan]

"get a 4GB (or whatever you choose) flash drive, and set your page file on that." Sorry, but Windows will not let you put a pagefile on a removable drive of any sort. I have edited your answer to remove that suggestion.

[Jamie Hanrahan]

To the OP's question... you don't always need a pagefile. But a very large number of questions here are complaints about Windows' "out of memory" messages. These are almost always fixed by creating a pagefile, or by specifying a larger initial size.