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ZDNET Highlights
- The rising prices of RAM have made it more expensive to upgrade your PC.
- Virtual RAM is an inexpensive way to increase the performance of an older computer.
- The use cases of virtual RAM are limited because it cannot match the speed of physical RAM.
It’s been a rough seven months or so for buyers. RAM and PC prices have soared to record levels, driven in part by the rise of generative AI and macroeconomic turmoil. Due to changing prices, upgrading your old computer – or purchasing a new system – is now more expensive than ever. There is some good news. RAM prices have started rising recently Drop, but only a little; Memory and hardware are very expensive.
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Affordability remains a major problem, although solutions exist, albeit limited.: : Virtual RAM. Also known as virtual memory, this resource management feature allows PC owners to use a portion of their device’s storage drive as an extension of system memory. As Lenovo explains“This creates the illusion of a larger, continuous memory space”, as if your computer has access to more resources.
This is a good way to push your computer’s memory beyond its limits. However, it comes with important caveats. Virtual RAM is only a temporary solution to expanding a PC with limited memory, not a full replacement for physical RAM.
Why is virtual memory not a true RAM alternative?
Virtual RAM cannot perform as well as physical RAM. It exchanges speed and responsiveness for additional resources. pc gaming brands Corsair says thisStating that even the fastest SSDs are “about 10 times slower than RAM, and a hard drive hundreds of times slower.” Remember: RAM is designed for high-speed, temporary storage of active data, while SSDs and hard drives are built for long-term storage.
To put this in perspective, let’s look at a real-world example using my PC and compare the speed of my 32GB DDR4 RAM to the speed of my PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.
You can find the theoretical maximum bandwidth of your memory by multiplying the MT/s value by the number of bytes sent per transfer.
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My desktop’s RAM runs at 2400 MT/s (megatransfers per second) and has two 64-bit channels (8 bytes). So, 2,400 MT/s × 8 bytes is equal to 19,200 MB/s (megabytes per second).
Compare this to the speed of my SSD. Using CrystalDiskMark, I measured its read speed at ~6,700 MB/sec and write speed at ~6,200 MB/sec. This is less than one-third the speed.
Even with a high-end SSD, the speed difference between my RAM and storage drives is significant. My DDR4 RAM can reach 19,200 MB/s, while the SSD can reach 6,700 MB/s. Virtual RAM on my PC will be slower, have higher latency, and be less responsive overall.
There is also a problem of memory thrashing. Thrashing occurs when the computer spends too much time moving data between RAM and storage drives, which can result in freezing, heavy lag, and poor performance. lenovo, in another postStates that some memory management techniques, such as page replacement algorithms, can reduce the likelihood of thrashing, but nothing is perfect.
Where does Virtual RAM help?
Although I’ve focused so far on the limitations of virtual RAM, virtual memory can be a really helpful tool in the right circumstances. The main thing is to use it responsibly. I recommend using virtual RAM to temporarily increase the performance of lightweight machines.
Low-cost laptops often don’t have extra memory, so resources can run out quickly. In such situations, virtual memory can help the system run smoothly, prevent crashes, and improve overall stability.
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A good example of a device that can benefit from virtual memory acer aspire go 15A laptop we often recommend because of its affordability. At the time of this writing, it’s on sale for $275. That low price comes at the expense of performance. It only has 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, which is quite low by today’s standards.
Activating virtual RAM in such a case won’t turn the laptop into a high-powered machine, but it will allow the Aspire Go 15 to better handle more tasks without slowing down or crashing.
How to Activate Virtual RAM in Windows 11
If you want to enable Virtual RAM in Windows 11, the process is quite straightforward. Start by typing “view advanced system settings” in the Windows 11 search bar and clicking the first entry that appears. This will launch the System Properties window.
From here, go to “Advanced” > click “Settings” under the “Performance” section > click “Advanced” again in the new window > click “Change” under the Virtual Memory section. As seen in the image below, uncheck the box labeled “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” at the top.
To install virtual memory, you will need to choose a drive to use. In this scenario, my PC only has C: drive, so this is my only choice. If your computer has multiple drives, use whichever is the fastest. Next, select “Custom Size” to allocate a specific amount of drive space for virtual memory, measured in MB. As a general rule, 1,000 MB is approximately 1 GB. Windows will provide a recommended value, such as 5,000 MB. For my needs, I would allocate 8,000 MB (or 8 GB).
When it comes to the maximum size, online forums suggest setting it to three times the initial size, which is 24,000 MB (24 GB) in this example. Once done, click “Set”, then click “OK” > “OK” on the next page, then restart your computer to apply the changes.
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When you’re finished using the virtual memory, return to the same virtual memory window and double-check “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” at the top.
Can you disable virtual memory completely?
It is possible to disable virtual memory by selecting “No paging filing” in the System Properties window, then clicking “Set”, but this is generally not recommended. As Lenovo explainsPCs rely on the interaction between physical and virtual memory. Disabling virtual memory will cause all kinds of performance issues.
Do Apple computers have virtual memory?
Yes, but it behaves differently than a Windows PC. Apple says That MacOS uses “Reserved Virtual Memory”. It acts like Windows virtual memory, temporarily moving data from RAM to the hard drive when physical memory is limited. The main difference is that secure virtual memory is encrypted. It cannot be increased or decreased.
