Is Virtual Memory dead?

posted by  mneon (8)  12 months ago (blogs.msdn.com)

To figure out whether virtual memory makes sense, you have to look at the following factors:

• RAM size


• Disk size


• RAM speed


• Disk speed

It's the relationship between these values that matter.  (All of these are considered in the context of a fifth factor: price.  For example, you can usually find a way to buy more RAM, but it may mean replacing the motherboard, switching to a 64-bit OS, etc.)

In the last decade or two, we've seen RAM and disk sizes grow steadily.  RAM speed has increased quite a bit, as well, but disk s