No Memory Compression

BunnyJ · Dec 7, 2021

Anixx said:
I enabled it a week ago, still no memory compression.

My understanding is memory compression only works when there's something to compress.

Anixx · Dec 11, 2021

BunnyJ said:
My understanding is memory compression only works when there's something to compress.

So, I solved the issue: there is no memory compression when there is no pagefile.

BunnyJ · Dec 11, 2021

Anixx said:
So, I solved the issue: there is no memory compression when there is no pagefile.

Yes.. and it helps to have more than 4gb of RAM.

PerpetualCycle · Dec 11, 2021

Anixx said:
I enabled it a week ago, still no memory compression.

automatic?

ShamrockRig · Dec 11, 2021

Anixx said:
So, I solved the issue: there is no memory compression when there is no pagefile.

Out of curiosity, Why do you want memory compression in this particular scenario?

Anixx · Dec 11, 2021

Devlin1888 said:
Out of curiosity, Why do you want memory compression in this particular scenario?

When I play a game and have a browser opened, the system often crashes because of "out of memory" event.
If I enable a pagefile, the system becomes much slower, so I hoped, memory compression could save the day.

Currently I enabled a small pagefile (200 MB) and memory compression works fine, saying it saved me another 200-300 MB.
So far, I could have browser, game and e-mail client opened and working at the same time with no noticeable slowdown.
This is much better than under Windows 8.1 but still, why does memory compression want a pagefile (at least 16 MB) at all?

ShamrockRig · Dec 11, 2021

Anixx said:
When I play a game and have a browser opened, the system often crashes because of "out of memory" event.
If I enable a pagefile, the system becomes much slower, so I hoped, memory compression could save the day.

Currently I enabled a small pagefile (200 MB) and memory compression works fine, saying it saved me another 200-300 MB.
So far, I could have browser, game and e-mail client opened and working at the same time with no noticeable slowdown.
This is much better than under Windows 8.1 but still, why does memory compression want a pagefile (at least 16 MB) at all?

Okay so thats pretty crazy that you're using 4gb of system ram to try and play games whilst using a browser etc. Me sitting on my desktop with just my browser open im using 6-high 7's gb of ram which some would consider pretty high, I do have mouse and keyboard software suites etc always running due to profiles for each and rgb controllers etc that alot of normal users wouldn't so maybe take away 1gb or so for my extras, when gaming with a browser open i can be anywhere between 9gb and 15b depending on the game, I agree with everyone else here, Buying more ram is the only way you're really gonna see an improvement here. Anything else will be so miniscule it won't matter enough.

Anixx · Dec 11, 2021

Works fine just now. I am considering reducing the pagefile to the minimal allowed size (16 MB).

amirbahalegharn · Feb 22, 2022

thanks for the "enable pagefile" tip . i also had the same problem,now with my 8gb ram, after I had specified 800MB-5GB pagefile, i can easily use "iobit smart ram" or "turbo boost" of the iobit advanced system care to disable some mostly-useless services and compress datas in ram and give me around half of my last Usage -with browsing which I use Slimjet as it's ram footprints is lower than other chromium browsers I've tested including opera which I previously used- and i can now have enough ram to open some demanding programs or games that need at least 3-4gb without being forced to close the browser with all open tabs(more than 70-150tabs)

x BlueRobot · Feb 23, 2022

Anixx said:
why does memory compression want a pagefile (at least 16 MB) at all?

That's because the Store Manager is only able to compress paged pool and therefore a page file will be required to allow this. Why the minimum of 16MB? I assume based on Microsoft's own testing, this was the minimum required to gain any appreciable performance benefit.

Anixx said:
When I play a game and have a browser opened, the system often crashes because of "out of memory" event.
If I enable a pagefile, the system becomes much slower, so I hoped, memory compression could save the day.

That's because you're running on 4GB RAM which is pretty inadequate for today's standards. Why does your system become slower with the page file enabled? That's because the Memory Manager is constantly having to page to and from the disk because of your inadequate amount of physical memory.

P.S. I understand this is a very old thread but I just wanted to answer some of the OP's questions which weren't answered.

Deleted member 8037 · Apr 6, 2022

compression will not compress if the virtual disk is closed. check virtual memory settings.

electronicsguy · Mar 4, 2023

" If you are thinking memory compression is the answer to low memory issues you are mistaken," - what's mistaken about it? Memory compression is for saving memory footprint size of processes. If it leads to reduction in the paged files, then it should provide better performance for processes that need the extra memory.
Compression doesn't guarantee you will see extra space free up - but it provides an opportunity to. Or else, why have the feature?

If you have less than 4GB, memory compression will help in some cases. (depends on exactly what you run on your machine). If you have 16GB or more, you may not be consuming the full RAM so compression won't help here.

cereberus · Mar 13, 2023

Anixx said:
So, I solved the issue: there is no memory compression when there is no pagefile.

Actually, it is not that simple. I have a pagefile, and I noted my pc is not using compressed memory. I have 16 GB RAM.

Like you, I tried

Code:

Enable-MMAgent -mc

Sysmain was enabled etc.

So I reduced memory available to Windows in 4 GB.

At 16, 12, 8 GB - no compressed memory.
At 4 GB - compressed memory kicked in.

So somewhere between 4 GB and 8 GB, memory compression kicks in.

This site describes it quite well - key paragraph:

"Is there a downside? Well, yes and no. Compressing and uncompressing the data takes some CPU resources, which is why not all data is stored compressed—it’s only compressed when Windows thinks it’s necessary and helpful. Compressing and uncompressing the data at the cost of some CPU time is much, much faster than paging the data out to disk and reading it from the page file, though, so it’s usually worth the tradeoff."

What Is Memory Compression in Windows 10?

Windows 10 uses memory compression to store more data in your system’s memory than it otherwise could. If you visit the Task Manager and look at your memory usage details, you’ll likely see that some of your memory is “compressed”. Here’s what that means.

www.howtogeek.com

Conclusion: Windows is clever enough to decide if compressed memory is required.

The point at which it requires will differ from person to person of course e.g. what apps / how many are being run at a time.