You can check the current swappiness value on your Linux system with this command:

cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

or

sysctl vm.swappiness

common console result is

vm.swappiness = 60

To Change It Temporarily, Until Reboot

sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10

To make it permanent

echo vm.swappiness=10 | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-swappiness.conf



60 is aggressive and 10 is lower?


ChatGPT said:
Yes, exactly:

Swappiness = 60 (default on most distros)
→ The kernel starts using swap fairly early, even when RAM is not full.

Swappiness = 10
→ The kernel strongly prefers RAM, and only swaps when RAM is getting tight.

Swappiness = 0
→ The kernel avoids swap unless absolutely necessary (almost disables swap, but not entirely).

In Simple Terms:
Higher value (e.g., 60–100)
→ More aggressive swapping; can help free up RAM for disk cache but may slow things down (especially on SSDs or with low swap space).

Lower value (e.g., 1–20)
→ Less swapping; better responsiveness on desktops, fewer unnecessary disk writes.

For Asus X53E (i3 8 GB RAM, no hibernation, no gaming)

Swappiness = 10 is a great choice.

It minimizes swap usage but still gives you a safety net.