Paging and Hibernation on a SSD system with lots of RAM

[Cyber Akuma]

Probably going to go with Win7PRO, not a fan of Win8 so far.

I know RAM has never been that expensive over the years.... more or less.... but I find it insane that you can high a high end 32GB DDR3 dual channel kit for around $150 give or take.

This can be a problem if you have a SSD though.

IIRC, the hiberfil.sys will be the same size as your ram right? That's 32 gigs right there taken up. Is this file used ONLY for hibernation or also for taking advantage of the decreased bootimes (from a cold or warm boot, not a hibernation boot) in Windows 7 and 8? Since this is a desktop intended to stay on 24/7, I don't really need to hibernate it, I just want to make sure disabling hibernation won't interfere with anything else.

Then of course there is the pagefile.... I know by default it shrinks and grows as your system needs it, but I heard that the more ram you have the larger it can get. Why? Isn't the whole point of it to be virtual ram when your real system ram runs out? How can having more ram mean you also have to page more of it to the HDD? I know that although you can, its a pretty bad idea in general to disable the page file, especially since lots of software out there is hard-coded to use it (even though with 32GB of ram you are very unlikely to run out of memory anytime soon on a typical home desktop). So... any suggestions on that? Should I set it to stay a specific size? And if so, what size? Or are there any other recommendations or possibly settings I can use in Windows 7/8 to minimize it's use so it dosen't eat up space?

With the hibernation and paging file together that can take up to a max of 64GB (yes yes I understand this is a worse case and not entirely realistic scenario) of space, which when dealing with SSDs is a MASSIVE amount of wasted space.

[Astra.Xtreme]

I've always turned off the pagefile on my PC's using SSDs. It has absolutely no negative impact. And even though you set it to disabled, Windows will still create a temporary pagefile if needed.

I'd also turn off hibernation since it's a waste of space.

[mrp04]

This is true. I disable the hibernation file and functionality on my systems with SSDs as they all have at least 8GB RAM. I set page file to 4GB because with all this RAM it's not really necessary.

Also, you can get a 32GB DDR3 1600 kit for $100. I just got one last week from Newegg.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

From what I understand, when you install Windows 7 on an SSD, it detects it and makes several changes to minimize read/writes that it would normally do with a standard drive.

There also utilities out there, trying to remember names, that will disable / tweak the windows settings for you.

[The Dark Knight]

16 GB RAM and SSD's on both my desktops. Paging file and hibernation completely disabled. No negative impact ever encountered. :)

[+devHead Subscriber²]

With an SSD, you're better off disabling hibernation; heck, with Windows 8 and my BIOS configured for AHCI, there's hardly a difference in times between cold boot and returning from hibernation. As far as the pagefile, though, I wouldn't disable it; just set it to a small fixed amount (still on your SSD), and leave it at that. I've got an 80 GB SSD, and just over half of it is full with Windows and all my programs. If you get a 128 or 256 SSD, it's not gonna take a big hit space-wise, even if you don't fiddle with the pagefile.

[Cyber Akuma]

I fully plan to disable hibernation (especially since its a desktop that I plan to run 24/7) just as long as the hiberfile wasn't used for anything else. Sounds like it isn't, so yeah, off hibernation will go.

I am a little skeptical about disabling paging though, I Googled it and some people even with large amounts of ram had some software (namely games) crash on them with it disabled.

Also, you can get a 32GB DDR3 1600 kit for $100. I just got one last week from Newegg.

The kit I was looking at is 1866, but that was just a quick look, haven't researched my choice of RAM fully yet.

From what I understand, when you install Windows 7 on an SSD, it detects it and makes several changes to minimize read/writes that it would normally do with a standard drive.

There also utilities out there, trying to remember names, that will disable / tweak the windows settings for you.

Would it still detect its a SSD if its in RAID0? I am going with a motherboard with a chipset that specifically supports TRIM over RAID0 so using SSDs on it in RAID0 won't be a problem, as far as TRIM is concerned at least, but would Windows still be able to tell that's a SSD or just think its a HDD RAID?