I ordered 2 more sticks of RAM this morning, which will bring my total up to 4 Gb. (Matching brand and model, no overclock.)I've been reading up on how to make use of this in FSX, and it seems to me there are four steps, three if you have Acceleration.1. Edit boot.ini; see http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...d=405828&page=5(2. Modify FSX.exe to use extra memory. [This is not necessary with Acceleration, since it's already been done.])3. Download and install the latest (November 2007) DirectX update: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7634584. Prior to this summer, DirectX had a bug that conflicted with using more memory; see http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2007...ress-space.aspx for explanation from Phil Taylor.4. Set the paging file size. According to Phil Taylor: "Accel/SP2 is marked witht the LARGEADDRESSAWARE flag, and with the OS boot tweak will use up to 2.5G of process address space. in this case, your page file size needs to be larger too. certainly a page file size >4G is good, and <4G might not be enough."My question is: what do you recommend I set the paging file size to? I will have WinXP Pro SP2 and 4 Gb RAM. Obviously the answer will be > 4G, but how much?

>>My question is: what do you recommend I set the paging file>size to? I will have WinXP Pro SP2 and 4 Gb RAM. Obviously the>answer will be > 4G, but how much?As you already know, certainly it needs to be at least 4 gb because you want it to be large enough to handle an entire memory dump if you get an app that misbehaves.I'd probably go with 5 or 6 gigs and be done with it. 4, 5, 6 gigs, either way, it's not a big consideration, since hard drives are so cheap these days.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>I'd probably go with 5 or 6 gigs and be done with it. 4, 5, 6>gigs, either way, it's not a big consideration, since hard>drives are so cheap these days.Thanks, Rhett. My concern isn't disk space, just efficiency: at what point does a paging file get so big that it's actually slow?

If anyone's following this, step #2 is in parentheses because it's already done for you in Acceleration/SP2.

....If anyone's following this, step #2 is in parentheses because.... Nice use of terminology..good to see!!Parentheses ()Brackets []Braces {}RegardsJim

>Braces {}>That's "curly brackets" where I come from!! :DRhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>>Thanks, Rhett. My concern isn't disk space, just efficiency:>at what point does a paging file get so big that it's actually>slow?They're always slow. :) Really, I doubt there is any significant performance difference between 4, 5, or 6 gig page file, but I have never done any scientific testing with that. You might want to Google that, because I bet someone has.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

RhettMS suggests (WINXP Pro SP2) that a paging file still be established on the system drice (C:| in my case, as well as creating another paging file on another drive in its own partition (I am able to do this). My question: Should the total paging file be say 6GB or should each pf be 6GB each?ThanksPeter Hayes

>2. Modify FSX.exe to use extra memory.Could someone explain how this is accomplished? I'm installing 4 GB tomorrow (cheap as heck right now, and 4 GB will prepare me to jump to 64 bit w/full utilization when I make that decision), and am going to use the /3GB switch, but am not aware of how to change the app.

>Could someone explain how this is accomplished? I'm installing>4 GB tomorrow (cheap as heck right now, and 4 GB will prepare>me to jump to 64 bit w/full utilization when I make that>decision), and am going to use the /3GB switch, but am not>aware of how to change the app.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=search explains how to perform step #2 (which is not necessary if you have Acceleration or SP2 installed).

Thanks David, much appreciated....I'm still 'hanging' with XP for the time being. Does this work for 32 bit XP as well?

>Thanks David, much appreciated....I'm still 'hanging' with XP>for the time being. Does this work for 32 bit XP as well?It's supposed to. (I haven't tried it yet.) The link in step #1 explains the XP-specific stuff.

>It's supposed to. (I haven't tried it yet.) The link in step>#1 explains the XP-specific stuff.Gotcha, thanks again. One more thing, with 4 GB of RAM, what would your (or anyones) recommendation be for the /userva= switch? more than 2560?Please excuse my ignorance about this stuff.....I've read so much about these 4 GB switches the last couple days, it is taking me time to absorb something I'm not completely familiar with.

The microsoft article, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316739on using/3GB /Userva=applies only to "the Windows Server 2003 family".What evidence is there that it works with XP?gb.

>What evidence is there that it works with XP?Here's some stuff from Phil Taylor's blog in June of this year:"D3DX was running afoul of one of these rules ( HINT: one of the last 2 rules ) and this could cause a crash when using virtual address space above 2G was enabled on FSX. While I still don