Short form: I want to use a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick as RAM, but seem to be unable to use more than 4GB, due to the system requirements, limiting what I can enter for values (size). WHY?? More detail: The computer is a desktop machine, having a 3.0GHz dual-core processor, and 4GB RAM installed. I believe the hard drive is a 1T. I have a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick, which I want to use to boost the RAM, for games, and such. There are 3 spare USB ports on the back of the tower. The flash drive is new, with NO files saved on it. When I go into the Settings; Computer; Virtual Memory, the computer is not allowing me to enter a value greater than 4096 in the field for "Initial Size" or "Maximum Size", for the Page File of the USB drive. The Value for C: that I see is: "2096-4092". Main Question: Is there some reason why I cannot allocate more of the memory stick for RAM? (Does the flash drive need to be formatted?) Does the values for C: need to be changed? I presently have "4090" entered for values "Initial Size" and "Maximum Size" in the custom size, for the Page File of the USB Drive. Screenshot provided of Virtual Memory Settings screen: (you can see the L: drive settings (selected), and the C: settings, also) http://prntscr.com/336ocy Question 2: Also, is the "4G" of RAM which I have added to the machine, being added to the 4GB which is already installed in the tower? Question 3: Does the OS wait until the system RAM is full before using the External RAM? Thanks! edit to add: What I learned from Microsoft article "How To Set Performance Options in Windows XP": http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/en-us To manually change the size of virtual memory, follow these steps: ... Note After you change the size of the paging file, you may be prompted to restart Windows. If you are prompted to restart, the changes will not take effect until Windows is restarted. ... To have Windows select the best paging file size, click System managed size. The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RAM, the minimum size is 384 MB, and the maximum size is 1152 MB. For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size as performance can decrease if a paging file is too large. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use lots of memory , such as graphics programs or games. What I am unclear of here, is that, as you can see in the screenshot, the Recommended Size under Total paging file size for all drives is 3019M. And, the values set for the Paging File in C are 2046-4092 . The tower has been rebuilt, and has 4GB RAM . I do not know if these numbers reflect an original build of 2GB, whereas 3GB (3019M) would be 1.5 times the installed RAM, perhaps. Under Virtual Memory, I see the following (shown in screenshot): Drive C Space available: 725194MB *Custom Size Initial Size: 2046 Maximum Size: 4092 Total paging file size for all Drives Minimum allowed: 2MB Recommended: 3019MB Currently Allocated: 2046MB Given that the system has 4GB RAM installed, shouldn't the minimum be 1.5 times that value, or ~6000MB ? (not 3019MB), and the maximum be 3 times ? (not 4092) "The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size." Can I change the values on the Virtual memory for C drive to 2046-12000MB ? That is what I am reading from the article. But, it also says to not have a paging file on the same drive as the programs. "Try to avoid having a paging file on the same drive as the system files, usually drive C." Also, why am I unable to enter values greater than 4096 for the USB drive in Initial or Maximum? I also have a question as to whether I should select "Programs" or "System Cache" in memory usage, due to the cache requirements of games, running very few programs. edit 2: I learned that the usb drive needs to be formatted in NTFS, so I did that, which isn't easy, as that isn't a selection in the choices in the Format menu, without going into Device Mgr. A friend was telling me about formatting a usb drive ex-fat for a newer application, and got me thinking. I had selected FAT32 for this one, and had noticed no change in the page file graph usage after adding the drive, like it wasn't getting any data placed on it. So, as custom settings for this USB drive, I have the Initial value at 4091 and the Maximum at 4096, with "System Cache" selected as opposed to "Programs" in Memory usage, in Performance settings. Any answers or tips would be appreciated. Am I on the right track?

I lookes in Task Mgr at the list yesterday, and a lot of them at the top were Dragon or avg (my antivirus). Here are 2 screenshot today. I woke today to the message: Your virtual memory is low. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory. Tiger direct got an order last night for one 2GB identical memory card to the one like I currently have installed. I will work on trimming the processes.

68 running processes consuming nearly all but 175MB of your installed RAM, it all depends on what your do with the computer but I would say that you need to do some more trimming. There are six critical system services, Windows XP needs these services to start and run properly. These critical processes cannot be killed, killing them would end the Windows session: Csrss.exe (Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem) Lsass.exe (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service) Smss.exe (Session Manager Subsystem) RpcSs (Remote Procedure Call Server Service)** Winlogon.exe (Windows logon process) services.exe (Windows Service Controller) ** RpcSs runs inside one of the SvcHost.exe. RpcSs is not critical in its own right and strictly speaking Windows XP can run without it but hardly anything runs without it. These are the 6 critical NT processes, without these 6 items things don't work too well! Along with that the Task Manager would show: System (the kernel or kernel-mode threads) System Idle Process (Not a process or service but a single thread that runs on each processor, its sole task is to account for processor idle time or time spent doing nothing.) There you have it, the minimum 8 items that will or should always show in the Task Manager, add the Task Manager itself to the list and it will give you 9 processes. By no means does this mean that you should be running your Windows installation with these bare processes, (you most likely shouldn't), it simply tells you that many processes running on computers are not critical or necessary in the real sense and that you can do away with almost everything running except for the above mentioned processes. Somewhere in there between 9 processes that will always show in the Task Manager and the 68 that you have running 59 of them or so could be turned off and your Windows installation would still run properly! If you think about this it will allow you to get a better handle on the situation and it will help you make some of your decisions with more confidence. There are no right or wrong number of processes or services that you should have running on your computer but having so many of them running that they consume all the available memory is not good practice, if you don't use them or need them turn them off. Only you know what you use the computer for and what is convenient and helpful for you so you will have to decide what to keep and what you can do away with. A machine with fewer processes and services running is easier to maintain and troubleshoot, less possibilities of things going wrong and less stuff to weed through when things do go wrong. Once you get things weeded out keep an eye on your running processes, make it a habit of taking a look at the process list after you boot the machine and get familiar with the list. If you get your list down to 20 processes and all of a sudden after you boot the machine there are 21 then investigate, what is the new process and why is it running? Is it something you want or need? Or is it a virus or other such pest? Keep in mind that almost every program that you install will want to add itself or one of it's components somewhere in a startup location, keep an eye on this an if you don't need these programs to start go in the programs options and turn them off, only use tools like Autoruns to turn these items off if you cannot do it in the program itself. Also keep an eye on the running services, some programs start unnecessary services and often times these services spawn other services or processes that run for nothing. The advantage of turning these unwanted items off in the programs rather than in Autoruns is that the better programs will also properly turn off other related processes or services which may be starting at boot time. John

Screenshot after removing some Services/Programs:

Yes, sir. I remembered you writing that. That is exactly why I went back after changing my mind for the better. The matched set of 2GB cards which he had, may have been fine for me, but I just think the 533MHz vs. 800MHz was a grade lower, AND being on a low budget as it is, the $50 was $12-15 more than I planned on spending on RAM, plus, I don't really need two cards. So, I will get an identical Patriot card from Tiger, or a spec-identical Crucial. I should start another "Question" thread, as I am having major difficulties with one of my laptops with Windows 7. It is acting strange... Maybe a Restore is in order.

To take advantage of dual channels the modules must have the exact same specifications, the modules must be identical to each other to perform correctly, the easiest way to ensure this is to buy modules from the same manufacturer. Modules from different manufacturers will work if the specs are identical but not all RAM is created equally and sticking to the same brand assures better results. You can mix modules with different speeds and latencies, the motherboard will automatically detect this and run at the lowest speed and latency. Mixing voltages is just plainly a bad idea and an invitation for trouble. John

Having trouble: Adding RAM with a USB memory stick to a Windows XP desktop that has 4GB installed

Anonymous

Short form:

I want to use a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick as RAM, but seem to be unable to use more than 4GB, due to the system requirements, limiting what I can enter for values (size). WHY??

More detail:

The computer is a desktop machine, having a 3.0GHz dual-core processor, and 4GB RAM installed. I believe the hard drive is a 1T.

I have a 16GB USB flash drive memory stick, which I want to use to boost the RAM, for games, and such. There are 3 spare USB ports on the back of the tower. The flash drive is new, with NO files saved on it.

When I go into the Settings; Computer; Virtual Memory, the computer is not allowing me to enter a value greater than 4096 in the field for "Initial Size" or "Maximum Size", for the Page File of the USB drive.

The Value for C: that I see is: "2096-4092".

Main Question:

Is there some reason why I cannot allocate more of the memory stick for RAM?

(Does the flash drive need to be formatted?)

Does the values for C: need to be changed?

I presently have "4090" entered for values "Initial Size" and "Maximum Size" in the custom size, for the Page File of the USB Drive.

Screenshot provided of Virtual Memory Settings screen: (you can see the L: drive settings (selected), and the C: settings, also)

http://prntscr.com/336ocy

Question 2:

Also, is the "4G" of RAM which I have added to the machine, being added to the 4GB which is already installed in the tower?

Question 3:

Does the OS wait until the system RAM is full before using the External RAM?

Thanks!

edit to add:

What I learned from Microsoft article "How To Set Performance Options in Windows XP":

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417/en-us

To manually change the size of virtual memory, follow these steps:

...Note After you change the size of the paging file, you may be prompted to restart Windows. If you are prompted to restart, the changes will not take effect until Windows is restarted.

...

To have Windows select the best paging file size, click System managed size. The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size. For example, if you have 256 MB of RAM, the minimum size is 384 MB, and the maximum size is 1152 MB.
For best performance, do not set the initial size to less than the minimum recommended size under Total paging file size for all drives. The recommended size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer. It is good practice to leave the paging file at its recommended size as performance can decrease if a paging file is too large. However, you may increase its size if you frequently use programs that use lots of memory, such as graphics programs or games.

What I am unclear of here, is that, as you can see in the screenshot, the Recommended Size under Total paging file size for all drives is 3019M.

And, the values set for the Paging File in C are 2046-4092.

The tower has been rebuilt, and has 4GB RAM.

I do not know if these numbers reflect an original build of 2GB, whereas 3GB (3019M) would be 1.5 times the installed RAM, perhaps.

Under Virtual Memory, I see the following (shown in screenshot):

Drive C

Space available: 725194MB

*Custom Size

Initial Size: 2046

Maximum Size: 4092

Total paging file size for all Drives

Minimum allowed: 2MB

Recommended: 3019MB

Currently Allocated: 2046MB

Given that the system has 4GB RAM installed, shouldn't the minimum be 1.5 times that value, or ~6000MB ? (not 3019MB), and the maximum be 3 times ? (not 4092)

"The recommended minimum size is the same as 1.5 times the RAM on your computer, and 3 times that figure for the maximum size."

Can I change the values on the Virtual memory for C drive to 2046-12000MB ?

That is what I am reading from the article. But, it also says to not have a paging file on the same drive as the programs.

"Try to avoid having a paging file on the same drive as the system files, usually drive C."

Also, why am I unable to enter values greater than 4096 for the USB drive in Initial or Maximum?

I also have a question as to whether I should select "Programs" or "System Cache" in memory usage, due to the cache requirements of games, running very few programs.

edit 2:

I learned that the usb drive needs to be formatted in NTFS, so I did that, which isn't easy, as that isn't a selection in the choices in the Format menu, without going into Device Mgr.

A friend was telling me about formatting a usb drive ex-fat for a newer application, and got me thinking. I had selected FAT32 for this one, and had noticed no change in the page file graph usage after adding the drive, like it wasn't getting any data placed on it.

So, as custom settings for this USB drive, I have the Initial value at 4091 and the Maximum at 4096, with "System Cache" selected as opposed to "Programs" in Memory usage, in Performance settings.

Any answers or tips would be appreciated.

Am I on the right track?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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149 answers

Anonymous

2014-03-26T16:35:06+00:00

I lookes in Task Mgr at the list yesterday, and a lot of them at the top were Dragon or avg (my antivirus).

Here are 2 screenshot today.

I woke today to the message: Your virtual memory is low. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory.

Tiger direct got an order last night for one 2GB identical memory card to the one like I currently have installed.

I will work on trimming the processes.
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T03:18:52+00:00
68 running processes consuming nearly all but 175MB of your installed RAM, it all depends on what your do with the computer but I would say that you need to do some more trimming.

There are six critical system services, Windows XP needs these services to start and run properly. These critical processes cannot be killed, killing them would end the Windows session:
- Csrss.exe (Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem)
- Lsass.exe (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service)
- Smss.exe (Session Manager Subsystem)
- RpcSs (Remote Procedure Call Server Service)**
- Winlogon.exe (Windows logon process)
- services.exe (Windows Service Controller)
** RpcSs runs inside one of the SvcHost.exe. RpcSs is not critical in its own right and strictly speaking Windows XP can run without it but hardly anything runs without it.

These are the 6 critical NT processes, without these 6 items things don't work too well! Along with that the Task Manager would show:
- System (the kernel or kernel-mode threads)
- System Idle Process (Not a process or service but a single thread that runs on each processor, its sole task is to account for processor idle time or time spent doing nothing.)
There you have it, the minimum 8 items that will or should always show in the Task Manager, add the Task Manager itself to the list and it will give you 9 processes.

By no means does this mean that you should be running your Windows installation with these bare processes, (you most likely shouldn't), it simply tells you that many processes running on computers are not critical or necessary in the real sense and that you can do away with almost everything running except for the above mentioned processes. Somewhere in there between 9 processes that will always show in the Task Manager and the 68 that you have running 59 of them or so could be turned off and your Windows installation would still run properly! If you think about this it will allow you to get a better handle on the situation and it will help you make some of your decisions with more confidence.

There are no right or wrong number of processes or services that you should have running on your computer but having so many of them running that they consume all the available memory is not good practice, if you don't use them or need them turn them off. Only you know what you use the computer for and what is convenient and helpful for you so you will have to decide what to keep and what you can do away with. A machine with fewer processes and services running is easier to maintain and troubleshoot, less possibilities of things going wrong and less stuff to weed through when things do go wrong. Once you get things weeded out keep an eye on your running processes, make it a habit of taking a look at the process list after you boot the machine and get familiar with the list. If you get your list down to 20 processes and all of a sudden after you boot the machine there are 21 then investigate, what is the new process and why is it running? Is it something you want or need? Or is it a virus or other such pest?

Keep in mind that almost every program that you install will want to add itself or one of it's components somewhere in a startup location, keep an eye on this an if you don't need these programs to start go in the programs options and turn them off, only use tools like Autoruns to turn these items off if you cannot do it in the program itself. Also keep an eye on the running services, some programs start unnecessary services and often times these services spawn other services or processes that run for nothing. The advantage of turning these unwanted items off in the programs rather than in Autoruns is that the better programs will also properly turn off other related processes or services which may be starting at boot time.

John
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T01:33:28+00:00

Screenshot after removing some Services/Programs:
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Anonymous

2014-03-26T01:27:07+00:00

Yes, sir.

I remembered you writing that. That is exactly why I went back after changing my mind for the better.

The matched set of 2GB cards which he had, may have been fine for me, but I just think the 533MHz vs. 800MHz was a grade lower, AND being on a low budget as it is, the $50 was $12-15 more than I planned on spending on RAM, plus, I don't really need two cards.

So, I will get an identical Patriot card from Tiger, or a spec-identical Crucial.

I should start another "Question" thread, as I am having major difficulties with one of my laptops with Windows 7. It is acting strange... Maybe a Restore is in order.
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2014-03-26T00:48:43+00:00

To take advantage of dual channels the modules must have the exact same specifications, the modules must be identical to each other to perform correctly, the easiest way to ensure this is to buy modules from the same manufacturer. Modules from different manufacturers will work if the specs are identical but not all RAM is created equally and sticking to the same brand assures better results.

You can mix modules with different speeds and latencies, the motherboard will automatically detect this and run at the lowest speed and latency. Mixing voltages is just plainly a bad idea and an invitation for trouble.

John
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