topic Re: Stumbled upon a ram disk.. in Computers & Electronics

Stumbled upon a ram disk..

rogevibe — Mon, 04 May 2020 05:32:15 GMT

So the latest adventure started with checking out how my computer was using ram memory is executing 3D intensive graphics tasks which benchmarked rather poorly as per Performance Test benchmark

I run the benchmark graphics test components and watched memory usage in real time using freeware System Explorer

what ? only 28% of system memory being used and still 228MB paged out in virtual memory space on the ssd ?

( high speed storage used in support of computer oparations and tasks = ram memory + memory storage in the form of a dedicated file on the disk drive,( page file) . the former fast , the latter relatively slow)

From my observations did not seem optimal

So what to do ? well maybe trick the app into loading paged out parts of it programming onto high speed ram memory, rather than the lower speed page file on the ssd

sort of a high speed virtual memory - a page file located in ram memory

With extra ram memory now available and usage about half , a ram disk might be worth a try

A ramdisk creates storage space functionally the same as a conventional disk drive most are familar with, but in ram memory space ( but stored data is erased when the computer is shut down)

But this is ideal for creating an additional page file , which can be user configured within Windows via control panel

A good thing is that Windows will tend to use the fastest page file accessable first - so will favour the ram drive page file , once it loads ( will not speed up start up , does tend to slow down start up a little as it takes time to load as is a start up configured app)

Anyhow I found a inept owner friendly ramdisk app , freeware AMD Radeon Ramdisk

Settled on creating a approx 1.2GB ram disk , and then 1GB volume ( displays as a drive in Windows explorer )

8GB total installed ram memory - normal max usage about 4GB - max shared system memory 1.6GB - Windows elbow room 1GB

Configured to start at computer start

so the results - did not make any difference to the benchmarks results - 3D rating remained lamentatable

However did wake up time to complete security scanning of files by 30% faster and web browsing using Edge browser is much more snappier now

So for my normal usage and desired computer performance has been a good improvement

( Another unexpected delight has been quicker duration in shutting down now - and i suppose less wearing of the ssd for longer life)

Re: Stumbled upon a ram disk..

rogevibe — Thu, 07 May 2020 10:48:54 GMT

More or less finished refurbishing subject computer - is working as per my requirements

Silent , fast booting , quick launching of applets and apps , reasonably quick security scanning times, fast webpage rendering , rich images.

These projects donated by respected acquaintances are not for resale - is an interest of mine and I keep them as valued possessions

some collect paintings , old books , stamps , play sports , what ever - each to their own

BootRacer says

Not bad for a H57 chipset mainboard

Re: Stumbled upon a ram disk..

rogevibe — Thu, 21 May 2020 00:14:54 GMT

In case anyone is wondering why a ramdisk may speed up some tasks , compare your own benchmarked disk drive which stores the page file ( the extended virtual memory space of solid state ram memory ) with that of page file performance in ram memory space

1GB is only maybe 20% of allocated page file space but Windows will tend to use the fastest storage device first - so is reasonable to expect that even such a small capacity ramdisk will be well used

The other advantage is for those using SSD's which are reputed to suffer " wear " - a ram drive for the page file should reduce this - and for those with electro-magnetic drives , should be evidenced by less clicking noise during task processing

However for any particular usage resource system memory requirements there should be enough excess free memory space to create a ramdisk without compromising other ram intensive sub-systems like graphics shared system memory or else performance or quality will be degraded

In the end maybe only observably useful for some computers and usage

As usual , if in doubt , don't.