How to correctly set the swap file?

Question

Windows

Good afternoon, colleagues.
Preface.
There is a computer with 4 GB of RAM. win7 and 60gb ssd. Resource-intensive applications are launched on this PC, but 10-20 percent remain in the RAM. The problem is that periodically an error pops up about the lack of RAM (you don’t need to talk about SSD, there are 20 gigs of free space left)
So. Tell me, please, how to correctly set the paging file in WINDOWS 7.
I re-read the mountain of forums, some say that you need to set less than the RAM, others say that you need to set more than the RAM. Still others say that it is generally better to turn it off for speed. But I still do not understand which option is correct and in general by what parameters it is set.

Answer 1

I advise you to just add memory, it's not that expensive. But the performance gain will be on the face. I have 12gig on my laptop - from experience I will say that this is not enough. On PC 32, and sometimes 28 is busy. I don't use a swap file. This slows down the system as a whole when the memory is full. I can’t even imagine what can be done on one ssd of 60 gig

Answer 2

It is better to leave "Automatic selection" - the system will decide how much it needs.

Answer 3

The correct option is to set as many as you need through experimentation. We do not know your tasks and needs - only you know them.

Answer 4

Since you have a paging file on the SSD - put it at the choice of the system.
Operators need to be added.
At the moment, the norm for an office computer is 8GB, if you plan to run something heavier than an office suite and a browser, then memory is 16GB or more.
The minimum SSD size is 120GB.
It is unrealistic to fit the system on 60GB, there will be no free space left, as a result it will work slowly and sadly.

Answer 5

I can suggest how I do it myself, and explain my considerations.
1. Since the swap file is an extension of RAM, in order to minimize the dip in performance, it must be placed on the fastest disk available.
2. Size - not less than the size of the RAM (and preferably 2 ... 3 times more). This recommendation ceases to be valid with really large RAM - more than 8 GB, here you can start doing without a swap at all.
3. Never set automatic swap size control! Since at the same time, as it is used, the paging file stretches and shrinks like an accordion, it gradually breaks into fragments, with all the consequences, and not all defragmenters can collect it back into a heap - it is not relocatable. It is best to set a certain size, the same at the minimum and at the maximum - then it will remain a single file.
4. And the last (a little offtopic) - I personally use Windu on an SSD on one of my computers, half the size of yours - and no problems. The RAM size is large (10 GB), so the swap set only 1 GB and placed it on the same SSD.