Opinion on Virtual Memory
Opinion on Virtual Memory
You're observing swap usage, which is usually fine unless you have unusual scenarios. The pagefile setting doesn't typically cause problems and can actually boost performance by moving memory to disk when needed.
Keeping Windows running with unused files helps free up physical memory for future needs. It’s usually best to maintain this setup.
Most users prefer keeping it as it is on the default settings. For an upgrade, think about purchasing a budget 16GB Optane stick for swap—prices start around $5 each on eBay, with shipping included. I recall buying a 3-pack for $10 once. Make sure you have an additional M.2 NVMe slot available.
You don't really need to enable swap, but you should have it set up so a memory dump is possible after a crash. Previously, the guideline was about having 1.5 times more swap than RAM, but with modern OSes and larger RAM capacities, that's no longer practical. Only disable page files completely if you're fully switching to a RAM-only setup, and turn off logs too so the OS doesn<|pad|> to just write to the drive. This approach is mainly used in embedded devices and rarely done on regular desktops.
Windows handles the page file automatically. Changing settings can lead to issues beyond specialized scenarios.
I'm unsure if it would be 1Gb with system-managed settings. The default has always been 50% of the memory for a long time.