Is this possible?

[compdoc]

> would there be any disadvantage to make the swap space even larger?

All nix/bsd operating systems including Ubuntu, (and I think Windows but I never check) create a swap partition that’s as large as the amount of ram you have.

I always use that default, even though under optimal conditions it should barely be used. I think it’s a bad idea not to have any swap. 

Also, as Bob said, I never heard of an OS killing processes. It should just slow to a crawl, while the drives go crazy reading and writing. 


> Another thought is to use a small SSD for swap.

That’s a good thought, but even better to just install the entire OS on an ssd. Prices arent that bad these days. A decent 240G on sale is around $80.

MLC is said to last longer than TLC drives. (that’s the type of nand chips that SSDs use)


> Would you recommend going with the Z170 chip

I considered the 970 and 990 AMD chipsets to be 'gaming' chipsets, and they always sold for a premium. I feel the same way about the Z170 chipset. If that’s what you want, fine, but you might end up in the same situation where some onboard devices aren't supported. 

In fact, I recommended the earlier generation of chipsets with socket 1150 for that reason. They've been around a while and are well supported, and it's still much faster than what you have. Motherboards that support 32G start at $65. 

I would also recommend a separate video card, because they have their own memory, and because its faster. I think one would help with large numbers of windows open on the desktop.