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virtual memory video

Code_Breaker

By Code_Breaker,
in Industrial Forum

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Code_Breaker Newbie

Code_Breaker

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I recently saw a Mastercam video instructing that it was BEST the change your 'virtual memory" from the default setting "custom size" to "System managed size" which allows your computer to determine what it needs when it needs it.

 

Has anyone else seen it? Where can I see it again? I want to show it to my IT guy ...

 

thanks

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bogusmill Newbie

bogusmill

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Virtual memory or page file is what is set aside on the HD for those times when memory is full. The overflow goes on the HD. A 32bit OS can only address 4GB ram so if your ram and virtual memory add up to 4GB any more is a waste. Also what ever your video card memory size is will be matched by system memory. So with 4GB ram and a vid card with 750MB ram your system will only say it has 3.2GB ram.

 

A 64bit OS is a whole other thing. It can address something like 128TB of ram so just put in as much ram as will fit.

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Code_Breaker Newbie

Code_Breaker

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FYI ... for those who do not understand virtual memory and how it is used by the computer:

 

With virtual memory, what the computer can do is look at RAM for areas that have not been used recently and copy them onto the hard disk. This frees up space in RAM to load the new application.

Because this copying happens automatically, you don't even know it is happening, and it makes your computer feel like is has unlimited RAM space.

 

Because hard disk space is so much cheaper than RAM chips, it also has a nice economic benefit.

 

The read/write speed of a hard drive is much slower than RAM, and the technology of a hard drive is not geared toward accessing small pieces of data at a time. If your system has to rely too heavily on virtual memory, you will notice a significant performance drop. The key is to have enough RAM to handle everything you tend to work on simultaneously -- then, the only time you "feel" the slowness of virtual memory is when there's a slight pause when you're changing tasks. When that's the case, virtual memory is perfect.

When it is not the case, the operating system has to constantly swap information back and forth between RAM and the hard disk. This is called thrashing, and it can make your computer feel incredibly slow.

 

 

The area of the hard disk that stores the RAM image is called a page file. It holds pages of RAM on the hard disk, and the operating system moves data back and forth between the page file and RAM.

 

The amount of hard drive space you allocate for virtual memory is important. If you allocate too little, you will get "Out of Memory" errors. If you find that you need to keep increasing the size of the virtual memory, you probably are also finding that your system is sluggish and accesses the hard drive constantly. In that case, you should consider buying more RAM to keep the ratio between RAM and virtual memory about 2:1. Some applications enjoy having lots of virtual memory space but do not access it very much. In that case, large paging files work well.

 

One trick that can improve the performance of virtual memory (especially when large amounts of virtual memory are needed) is to make the minimum and maximum sizes of the virtual memory file identical. This forces the operating system to allocate the entire paging file when you start the machine. That keeps the paging file from having to grow while programs are running, which improves performance. Many video applications recommend this technique to avoid pauses while reading or writing video information between hard disk and tape.

 

Another factor in the performance of virtual memory is the location of the pagefile. If your system has multiple physical hard drives (not multiple drive letters, but actual drives), you can spread the work among them by making smaller pagefiles on each drive. This simple modification will significantly speed up any system that makes heavy use of virtual memory.

 

HTH

cheers.gif

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Reko Rookie

Reko

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This was a great thread, guys! Excellent information.

 

I got an "Out of Memory" error just last week using Surface/Finish/Blend. I work on huge parts so the slices of the tool paths are enormous. I just downloaded a program with 1,250,000 lines of code.

 

Anyway, I changed my minimum/maximum virtual memory to 8000/8000 and it worked. (Is this okay?)

 

MasterCam X4 Mill Level 3

Dell Precision T3400

Intel Core Duo CPU 2.33 GHz

2.33GHz,2.00 GB RAM

Windows XP Pro SP3

NVIDIA Quatro FX 570

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