dedicated pagefile partition

I plan on using a 40GB Maxtor w/2MB buffer for gaming on an athlon xp3000+ (a7n8x-e) and 512 MB of kingston pc3200 DDR (dual channel) and a ti4800 for LAN parties.

This 40 GB drive is free for data mutilation and experimentation, probably with a LINUX partion eventually and all sorts of reformats.

My idea is to create a 1024MB partition dedicated to the paging file on the center-most partition. I know this is mostly theoretical, i know there are issues with not booting from the central-most partition and so forth, but I want feedback from people who have actually TRIED this setup.
Next LAN is friday, quick responses please? I'm overloaded with homework as it is, so I won't have much time to test it as it is. it would be a fresh XP pro installation (legit of course) to the second partition and so forth, probably a 4GB partition for just XP and such and hte rest for games space (I have a seagate 120 for permanent storage and an 80GB maxtor 133/8MB buffer for my family's normal use)

Please, only those who have had experience actually attempting this.