Why it is bad to store the page file on a RAM disk? - Page 3

Originally Posted by Sarec 

I agree that they were probably just checking existing pagefile and that they shouldn't do it. However, fact remains that I have seen a number of applications that just do.

Originally Posted by Idonno 

Well OK, Then I'll start right off by saying I have 4GB out of 24GB of system ram dedicated to a RanDisk/Page file. Before you judge though, I'm not here to argue the validity of this configuration under normal circumstances. If you bear with me here a little, I'll explain.
Background: A little I year ago I decided to build a fairly extreme PC. (specs can be found in below)
My goal was to build a really good all-around PC for anything I chose to do, Including but not limited to A/V editing, Overclocking and Gaming. I'm not really that big into gaming or overclocking but when I do choose to do it I don't want to be too limited by my PC.
After completing my build and becoming comfortable with over-clocking this PC. I set out to find the fastest overclock I could run 24/7 safely and verified this with several burn-in apps. I then moved on to benchmarking to see how my new build stacked up with other PC's. It did very, very well especially in benchmark Apps that tested the entire system. The most notable was PassMark performance test. With PassMark my system benchmark was 7774.49 placing me 3rd of over 350,000 PC's benchmark-ed worldwide if you don't count the top 5 (EVGA Classified SR-2's with dual CPU motherboards) but, still 8th if you did.
I have since reset every thing to default speeds except for a mild CPU OC of 3.8MHz since I want this PC to last a long time but, I still occasionally play with the OC a little.
Issues: In spite of the fact that benchmarks aren't everything, this is a formidable PC in real world use. Certainly the most formidable all around (single CPU, Non-server) PC I have ever built/owned.
That said there were 2 issues that plagued this build since the beginning. The 1st was excessive micro-stutter from my HD6870 crossFire set up.
The 2nd was an occasional Audio/Video stutter when listening/watching different media files. the best way I can describe the stutter is that the audio sound is it's like a repetitive da,da,da,da..........approx 12-18 of these "da" sounds in about 2 seconds to with a quick video freeze for each "da" .
The first issue (micro-stutter) is not uncommon and in fact is likely more common in a dual HD6870 crossFire set up than any other video hardware set up I know of. Exactly how bad the issue is perceived to be is again very subjective. For me with 3 monitors in eyefinity with a resolution of 5670 X 1080 and a strong desire to use the highest possible game settings, I perceived the problem as extreme. Even though I don't game much this was supposed to be MY ultimate PC.
The second issue (occasional Audio/Video stutter) was very different from micro-stutter and only happened rarely (about once per day on avg.) and it could happen on playing any type of Audio or Video media on any player, web based or not it didn't matter.
Diagnosis: While it is commonly known why micro-stutter occurs in most instances, that was not the case with my 2nd issue (occasional Audio/Video stutter). Although I did find a few people that had described the exact issue, I could not find any fix for the problem. It is worth noting that the only commonality was Windows 7-64Bit.
I tried absolutely every thing possible to diagnose this problem with the exception of swapping my CPU, PSU and motherboard. Absolutely all other hardware was temporarily swapped out and checked one by one and wherever possible all voltages were checked with a multimeter, including the PSU and motherboard.
All drivers were checked. All codecs were checked and deleted/installed one by one wherever possible/necessary, the same goes for software. I did several complete formats and re-installs of my OS on several different hard drives in both raid and non-raid configurations.
All possible bios settings/options that I thought might even remotely affect this problem were tried as well!
Eventually I gave up on fixing this problem and was considering RMA'ing my motherboard. As annoying as I found this issue, it was fairly rare so I wasn't in a big hurry to be without this PC while waiting on a motherboard RMA that may or may not even fix the problem.
Solution: About six months ago while reading a post about a possible micro-stutter fix I came across my eventual solution: A RamDisk dedicated to pagefile as the only paging file on my system. I have found a few similar posts since then.
It is exactly because I DO NOT have a lack of understanding as how Windows is SUPPOSED to use the paging file and the causes of micro-stutter that I completely disregarded this fix for another five months and I might have never tried it had I not found a free win 7 64bit certified RamDisk App.
With nothing to lose I gave it a shot. To my surprise this completely eliminated all micro-stutter and the 2nd issue (occasional Audio/Video stutter) has been completely eliminated as well.
Questions: I know beyond a shadow of a doubt these problems are no longer issues at all. What I don't know is WHY. It makes no sense and I have to wonder if the solution is some how just masking an underlying problem. However that makes about as much sense as this fix working in the first place.
I'm glad it worked, but it would be nice to Know HOW and WHY! Any Ideas?

Originally Posted by Idonno 

Thanks for you response!
There is only one professional Video editing app. that I use that could benefit from adding that 4GB of ram back into the system ram and even then the benefits are not huge. I am both thrilled to death that both issues are fixed and annoyed as hell that the fix makes no sense. The reason why could be important!

Originally Posted by Idonno 

I think the most likely culprit is my motherboard although one would think that the overall performance would suffer if it was and that just isn't the case.

Originally Posted by Idonno 

I have not tried putting the pagefile back on the hard drive and I will, but I imagine the issues will return. Although if they didn't that wouldn't be the first thing that hasn't made sense here.
Do you know of any thing that could help me further diagnose the problems?

Originally Posted by DuckieHo 

Try opening Resource Monitor -> Disk.
Watch what is read/writing to C:\pagefile.sys
I believe ProcessMon can track files: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645

Originally Posted by DuckieHo 

Only the system could.... because all access must be through TLB maintained by the OS. However, the volume/frequency of read/writes might provide some info on what Idonno issue might be.