4GB RAM with XP: What should the Virtual memory setting be?

[shivendra]

I have searched about something that Virtual Memory should manually be set to 2 times the amount of RAM and let Windows Manage it. So after coming to some conclusion, since Windows XP will be able to only recognize 3gb of ram, even though the BIOS recognized all 4gb ram, then should I set it at 6144 or more or let Windows manage it the way it want? Thanks for any information.

[Justvicks]

Actually, the suggestion to set Virtual Memory to 2gb of ram or 1.5gb of ram is also a suspect, and it never made any sence for any NT-based operating system, so its a bad suggestion for Windows XP. Also the suggestion to fix the Virtual Memory instead of letting the Operating System manage it is usually intended to reduce the OS overhead needed to manage the Virtual Memory. So, you wont be able to set Virtual Memory to 4gb under a Windows XP 32 bit operating system.

[shivendra]

Thank you for the advice, I will let Windows manage it only.

[Viceman]

Yes, if you have 32 bit operating system then it will only recognize a max of 3.25gb of ram. Therefore you should set the page file to automatic and incase you have more then one performance hard drive in your computer then set an automatic page file for same. Also, it is always recommended to let your system choose how much virtual memory ram to use, expecially on your boot drive.