When you say you set virtual memory to 4096MB, I assume you mean "minimum" = 4096MB, but I have no idea what you set "maximum" to. 8GB is just at the boundary GC3 will need at the Beta 4 level (Beta 5 should be an improvement as they say they are including their first step of optimizing memory use, and said the improvement is in the 25% range).

Also, with a computer with 8GB, MicroSoft recommends the virtual memory be set at "minimum" = 8196MB and "maximum" = 24576. Change your virtual settings and see if it helps you. If not, you have two choices, 1) add more RAM (bumping it to 10GB may be enough) or 2) wait for Beta 5 (tentatively scheduled for the middle of this month). Even then, if you plan on playing the really big galaxies, you may still need to increase your RAM, but I recommend a "try it and see" approach.

I get the same issue.  Freezes all the time for a few seconds.  6GB of top notch gaming RAM and 9,121MB max page file.  What min/max should I change it to for this game?

I don't completely freeze myself, it is more like a pause while something is processing.  Changing my virtual memory had no effect.  I too hope for some major performance improvements this next patch.

I suspect the memory usage optimization in Beta 5 is only the first round. My guess is that the later Betas will have even more memory usage optimization. That just seems to be the nature of the beast called "game development".

I still once in a long while get freezes although I have 16 gb ram and a page file of about 22 gb.   So I am really thinking that the amount of ram isn't the problem.   It's probably the toughest debug there is though.   At least in a crash frequently it will be reproducible and a crash dump file will be produced.   It is true that you can force the creation of a dump file using the task manager when a freeze occurs before you kill the game process, and send a link to it with a ticket, but I am not sure that is much help.

One thing I wonder about is that it may be a graphics issue...my card is an HD 5700 (does have 1gb video ram) running about five years old now.   Even with latest drivers it may be having a problem.        

Still fairly confident that they will eventually get a  handle on this.

I keep toying with spending around $140 or so to get a new video card (which will work without upgrading my power supply).   But I think that is the point where I jump to a new rig entirely, and that isn't happening for a while.    And there is no guarantee that it will help, my suspicions to the contrary.

As I say, it isn't a huge issue for me.   I have about 17.5 hours into an immense game and have had 1 or 2 hard freezes, which isn't exactly a four alarm fire.

Personally I have 16 GB of RAM, around 48 GB of virtual memory, and a Radeon R9 280X with 3GB of memory. Yet, I've been getting random freezes ever since I started playing back in beta 2. I highly doubt it has to do with system specs, unless my CPU is too slow for GC3, as I'm running on a stock i7-930.

It is worth noting that beta 3 cut down on the amount of freezes I get significantly. They still occur however; they happen anywhere from the middle of selecting a decision, to browsing the tech tree, to even when I'm just looking around the main map.

I did save the game during the wait freeze.  I thought if I quit and reloaded it would be gone, but nope, the save is stuck in the wait mode.  I will upload it later today, I read the bug submission thing and it seems...complicated...

OK, I am playing turn 187 of my immense game and I happened to have Windows Process Explorer (a dl from microsoft) running.   The game hung, and I glanced at the Memory use and there was no change, steady with over 6 gB physical memory available.   But when I clicked the GPU tab, it showed the use drop immediately to near zero and the GalCiv process replaced by something called csrss, which appears to be a windows process.

Well, if the game hung it's to be expected that demands on the GPU would end, so I don't know if this is really any new information.   

I am getting a huge amount of disk swapping which slows the game down a massive amount and makes it almost unplayable. I have 4GB RAM. The machine is probably 3-4 years old with Win7 64 bit.  I'm hoping there will be significant memory optimisation in the next beta. Many wonderful strategy games released in recent year or two play just fine on my machine.

I was looking at 

EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti SC 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card

for $155 at Amazon, which I could use without upgrading my power supply.  Now, I agree, it's not a great card perhaps, but it is way better than the HD 5700 AMD thing I have infesting my desktop at the moment.   My issue with going better  is that then I will need a power supply(current is 350w), and at that point my 5 year old XPS should be recycled for a new box anyway.   And I am trying to hold off on that move.  

Your point is well taken though in that partially upgrading will just mean you have redo shortly anyway.

To be sure, at my age I just can't play shooters and other fast reflex games with any satisfaction, so I do try to stick to turn based strategy (or pseudo turn based like Paradox games).

OK will do when I get some time.