Is there a swap partition limit?

[N8behavior]

What is the correct size to create your swap partition? I have heard to double your ram but not to exceed 512mb. I have also heard to go about 25%-50% over your total ram but to keep it under a gig. That’s all well and good other than they conflict, but that aside I have 2 computers that I want to install Linux on, a desktop and a laptop and the laptop has 1 gig of ram and the desktop has 2 gigs. So what should my swap for each be? I am sure that it is all but obvious from my question but I am a newbie. I haven't decided which distro(s) I will use as of yet, just trying to plan it before I start the install. I wouldn't think the size would be distro dependent but then again what do I know? Any advice would be much appreciated. - Thanks in advance

[je_fro]

I'd do 512 on both of them. But 256 or 128 would be fine if diskspace is an issue.

[Pafnoutios]

I've heard others with that much RAM claim everything runs great without any swap. And perhaps with that much RAM you really don't need swap unless you are doing multimedia processing, software development, or computer aided research. I have 512MB of RAM and only notice swap being used when I'm compiling something.

[serz]

I don't know if there's a limit..

If you have 256/512 RAM I'd so 512 on both cases.

[dkeav]

there is no real limit on how big your swap can be, there is a implied limit, but that is a factor of what you use your computer for, someone that just plays games and browses the web with 2gb's of memory should be able to go just fine without any swap at all, or even very marginal amount

no someone that does rendering or complex folding, molecular calculations, they could need up to 4gbs of swap even with 4gb of memory and still might be pushing it depending on the application they are using and the work load

[N8behavior]

So then what, the rule of thumb is double your ram as long as you have 256 mb or less and the more ram you add to your system the more you subtract from your swap unless heavy apps are being run?

[dkeav]

yea basically

if your running the kind of app that requires that much memory or swap your technically inclined enough to know how you need to have the computer configured

if your not that person, yea a good round number like 512mb is peachy

[N8behavior]

"if your running the kind of app that requires that much memory or swap your technically inclined enough to know how you need to have the computer configured"

thats considering you use Linux and not windows. Anyway, the computer with 2 gigs of ram is a media center so I was curious with watching one movie, recording another movie, burning a cd and a dvd, and surfing all at the same time would this require more than 512 mb of ram? Also, If you make your swap to big does it really hurt anything other than loss of the extra memory?

[je_fro]

2 things:
There ARE no serious molecular modeling programs for windows. A few ports like vmd and spdbv, but nothing with real horsepower.

I would say that 512 MB is not enough for all that at the same time. If it starts to swap while you're burning a cd, you've got a new coaster for your beer. Cheers.

[dkeav]

the most memory intensive thing you mentioned there was recording a movie, for what your wanting to do all at once 1gig with a 512mb swap would be plenty