One other major reason to have some Page ram ( as opposed to none). Even if you find you can run some software with no page ram, If your Pc were to crash, unless you have a minimum amount of Page ram, the OS cannot produce a Crash Dump -- so you loose any hope of determing the details of the crash. But -- who reads Crash Dump files in any case lol

CUSTOM Value ( recomemded size, with MIN = max ). This will result in the least about of Page File Fragmentation. Page File is NOT "all" about size. It gets fragmented with use, and FSX is not very good about managing the fragmentation.Eventually, it will request a chunk of Page File, and altough there is a lot free, there will not be a big enough Free block for it to acquire. Then OOM.

Nope, page file is all about size. You're messing virtual and physical memory together. Application is requesting virtual memory and virtual memory only, it is receiving chunks from its virtual memory. If the virtual memory is fragmented, then the above error will occur, but that has nothing to do with page file. Page file is divided into fixed sized chunks, pages, and it is possible and real, that one big chunk of virtual memory isn't mapped on sequential pages in page file. In fact, application has no idea wheter and what parts of its virtual memory are in the physical ram or page file. When page file is fragmented, then only outcome is even more degraded performance when page file has to be use extensively.

There is a registry setting that will CLEAR your page file on shutdown. ( mainly for security purposes)It does slow down the shutdown process... BUT, each time you then restart windows, you have a CLEAN, (and therefore defragged) page File, with 100% of it available.

You start with clean page file each time you start the os, because you start your mapping table from scratch on each boot. And OS will start to write to it from the beginning, because all entries in the page file are no longer valid. Cleaning will not defrag the page file in and way.

Sorry Chris I see what you wanted to know mostly did not have anything to do with the page file. One thing to keep in mind on memory is that with 32 Bit windows whatever devices in your system have onboard memory will need to be mapped in the first 4 gig of system memory. That means if you have a GTX Video Card with 1.5 gig memory onboard it has to me mapped by windows and so instead of 4 gig of memory you only have 2.5 gig of usuable memory. The reason I bring this up is because video cards are getting insane amounts of memory on board these days and it used to be 4 gig was enough for anything but now its not. 64-bit windows does not have this limitation and can use all 4 gig of your memory. People think that just because FSX is a 32 bit application and can only use a max of 4 gig of ram that, that is all you need system wise. But what if FSX is using all your memory? What is Windows going to use? To run FSX optimially and give your other addons and Windows enough Ram I always suggest 6 to 8 Gigs of System Memory. Your CPU reaching 100 percent usage has nothing to do with the memory. It just means its getting overloaded, and and as much as you hate to hear it, probably means you need to upgrade to something faster.

I'm sorry, but there will be no computer upgrades in my near future. Components maybe, but no new pc. I have to work with what I have. I fall within the minimum requirements, so I should expect the product to be able to work on my system without crashing it. The processor is generally averaging about 60 percent usage, but it occasionally spikes to 100 even when sitting on the ground in NGX powered off and not touching a thing. Not occuring with any other plane. I've submitted a ticket to tech support on it. I'm generally getting smooth frame rates and performance comparable to MD-11.

When page file is fragmented, then only outcome is even more degraded performance when page file has to be use extensively. You start with clean page file each time you start the os, because you start your mapping table from scratch on each boot. And OS will start to write to it from the beginning, because all entries in the page file are no longer valid. Cleaning will not defrag the page file in and way.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314834 Geoff

What I meant with clean is that the OS will start to rewrite the page file as it starts to store pages in it. It will not append them, nor will the data stored there previously affect the writing logic in any way. For the OS it's logically clean. Cleaning it up physically is only a security matter and has no effect on performance.

Many, Many, Many views on this topic. Why is a very different matter. Mostly, people take what they heard and spin it. This is the reality of the situation. On a machine that has 4GB's of RAM you would run a page file. Running Microsoft Office can gobble up 800mb's if you have multiple documents open. Combine this with the needs of Windows and you run into a wall around 3.2GB's of Memory Use. Now, if you do run a Page File, do not let windows manage it for you. No, Windows does not know better then you. If you set it too something stupid like 100mb's then yes, please hit yourself in the head. If you run a page file with 4GB's of RAM, I would run a 1:1 ratio. When I run through server setup's I will run a 1:1 ratio. A client machine will benifit as all windows OS's are watered down server suites. If you think thats to much in a day when storage is $15 per 100GB's, well sorry. 6GB+ of RAM, axe the Page File. I have some 600 development box's running with no Page File. This is NOT for performance, there is NONE. This is only for security, as the Page File is a leak in our system. Also, it saves space if you have a large RAM Pool. So, in short, you can run no page file. There is no performance difference, I would never run a Page File on a SSD, just watch the I/O's that windows will push with a Page File even not in use. Furthermore, Do not let the system manage the page file unless you love the Idea of windows destroying your free space with fragmentation. Set it to 1:1 and forget it. Large or small the page file will not change performance, and hard drive space is cheap enough to run a page file at this ratio and call it safe for low RAM settings. Last note: If you have 6GB's+ of RAM and run any legacy programs, you will need a Page File, as the program will address itself to this location.