ReadyBoost quick question

[Spike]

We just got my wife a new X60s laptop and added another gb of ram. The specs are 1.66 LV C2D, 2GB, GMA 950, 5400 100GB SATA, etc... I am going to install Vista ultimate on it this week (thanks hot deals for the launch event info, 2x vista and 2x office 2k7) and had a quick question. While I'm sure the 2GB will allow for vista to run decently, I noticed the laptop had an SD slot. We don't have any cameras that take SD (they are all CF) so we don't need the slot. Can I get a 133x SD 1 or 2GB card and use that for a ready boost drive? Or will it pretty much be useless and offer no performance increase?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Brian48]

Yes, you can. Whether or not you'll actually notice any performance improvements using Readyboost with one type of flash memory or another, is another story.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Brian48
Yes, you can. Whether or not you'll actually notice any performance improvements using Readyboost with one type of flash memory or another, is another story.

Cool, thanks for the answer. I just see all these SD 1GB cards for $5 or free AR and wonder if there is enough increase in performance to be worth such a tiny investment.

 

[bsobel]

The correct answer is a strong 'maybe'. It really depends on the speed of the flash reader and the speed of the sd card. If the card is fast enough but the reader isn't, no go. Obviously it's easier if the reader is fast enough and you can just get a better card.

Unforuntately few OEM's are giving specs on the readers yet (expect that to change very soon because of this issue). So your stuck with trying it out and seeing if it works (Vista will automatically test it and offer ReadyBoost if it can use it)

Bill

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: bsobel
The correct answer is a strong 'maybe'. It really depends on the speed of the flash reader and the speed of the sd card. If the card is fast enough but the reader isn't, no go. Obviously it's easier if the reader is fast enough and you can just get a better card.

Unforuntately few OEM's are giving specs on the readers yet (expect that to change very soon because of this issue). So your stuck with trying it out and seeing if it works (Vista will automatically test it and offer ReadyBoost if it can use it)

Bill

Sounds good. It was just an idea to cheaply eek out a little more performance. Lenovo was kind enough to use a single stick for the ram so the upgrade to 2GB was easy but I figured if there was an unused slot that could possibly add some performance for $10 why not.

I'll give it a whirl later this week with a slower SD card I have hanging around to see if it works. thanks!

 

[nZone]

I think ReadyBoost will become an unusable feature in the future...well it's debatable.

My system has 2GB physical RAM; I got a ReadyBoost certified flash drive (Kingston Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost). I didn't see any improvement.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: nZone
I think ReadyBoost will become an unusable feature in the future...well it's debatable.
My system has 2GB physical RAM; I got a ReadyBoost certified flash drive (Kingston Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost). I didn't see any improvement.

Unusable how?

 

[StopSign]

Why don't people do some research before asking ReadyBoost related questions?

An SD card is not going to give you any improvements what so ever.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: StopSign
Why don't people do some research before asking ReadyBoost related questions?
An SD card is not going to give you any improvements what so ever.

Why don't some people do some research before ANSWERING ReadyBoost related questions. Care to explain how it's not 'going to give you any improvements what so ever'. Apparently you don't understand ReadyBoost or just don't know what it is.

Bill

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: nZone
I think ReadyBoost will become an unusable feature in the future...well it's debatable.

My system has 2GB physical RAM; I got a ReadyBoost certified flash drive (Kingston Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost). I didn't see any improvement.

It will become more integral, if anything. The idea of high speed random access flash as cache is here to stay, and it's a very good thing. The only difference is that we won't be using USB sticks, we'll be using high speed, high capacity internal drives.

 

[Griffinhart]

Vista will test the flash drive/SD card's speed and report if it will work with Readyboost. I am using a SD card for readyboost in my laptop since it doesn't require anything sticking out of the laptop and it's working great.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart
Vista will test the flash drive/SD card's speed and report if it will work with Readyboost. I am using a SD card for readyboost in my laptop since it doesn't require anything sticking out of the laptop and it's working great.

Yea, like I posted earlier "(Vista will automatically test it and offer ReadyBoost if it can use it)"

 

[nZone]

..but the thing is will you see performance improvement? At least my situation, I don't notice the performance differences.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: nZone
..but the thing is will you see performance improvement? At least my situation, I don't notice the performance differences.

You should less see a performance 'improvement' vs less notice a degredation (if that makes sense). Working with SuperFetch the system should overall be more responsive especially as you change applications and at boot time.

It's NOT going to make the system feel twice as fast, it IS going to smooth out 'rough' edges as you change your in memory usage profile.

At a certain point, the effect is diminished (I have a 2 gig ReadyBoost USB stick on my internal USB slot) but the machine has 32gig of memory, so my main benefit is when starting new apps (I don't page much )

Bill

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: nZone
..but the thing is will you see performance improvement? At least my situation, I don't notice the performance differences.

You should less see a performance 'improvement' vs less notice a degredation (if that makes sense). Working with SuperFetch the system should overall be more responsive especially as you change applications and at boot time.

It's NOT going to make the system feel twice as fast, it IS going to smooth out 'rough' edges as you change your in memory usage profile.

At a certain point, the effect is diminished (I have a 2 gig ReadyBoost USB stick on my internal USB slot) but the machine has 32gig of memory, so my main benefit is when starting new apps (I don't page much )

Bill

32gb of memory?!? Dayum!

 

[bsobel]

32gb of memory?!? Dayum!

It only works out to be 4gig per core, so it's not that overkill

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: bsobel

32gb of memory?!? Dayum!

It only works out to be 4gig per core, so it's not that overkill

What could you possibly need 32gb for?

 

[bsobel]

What could you possibly need 32gb for?

It's a dual quad-core Xeon, so I run *alot* of VM's on the box for work related activities. I tend to give a 2gig per VM for performance reasons.

Bill

 

[nerp]

Readyboost is here to stay. True, the benefit for high end systems with plenty of main memory might not benefit all that much.

PREDICTION: Enthusiast motherboards will soon start shipping with integrated readyboost drives. They'll be marketed as built-in performance and critical storage.

Write that down.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: nerp
Readyboost is here to stay. True, the benefit for high end systems with plenty of main memory might not benefit all that much.

PREDICTION: Enthusiast motherboards will soon start shipping with integrated readyboost drives. They'll be marketed as built-in performance and critical storage.

Write that down.

How is that a prediction, Intel has had public plans to put flash on the MB for some time. You'll start seeing those soon.

 

[Nothinman]

PREDICTION: Enthusiast motherboards will soon start shipping with integrated readyboost drives. They'll be marketed as built-in performance and critical storage.

Considering that it's already happened that's not much of a prediction.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

PREDICTION: Enthusiast motherboards will soon start shipping with integrated readyboost drives. They'll be marketed as built-in performance and critical storage.

Considering that it's already happened that's not much of a prediction.

Thye only ones I've seen are rigged up through internal USB. I'm waiting for the good stuff - sata, IDE or PCI.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: BD2003
It will become more integral, if anything.

I can't wait for the "fake" cache modules to start showing up on motherboards. Remember many years ago (probably around 1995) when motherboards had cache memory slots and some board resellers were putting dummy modules in the slots?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: BD2003
It will become more integral, if anything.

I can't wait for the "fake" cache modules to start showing up on motherboards. Remember many years ago (probably around 1995) when motherboards had cache memory slots and some board resellers were putting dummy modules in the slots?

LOL, I do remember - I was one of the people that bought a computer with "fake cache".

This is exposed to the OS though, it's not just low level hardware, so it can't be faked.

 

[harpy82]

Originally posted by: nerp
Readyboost is here to stay. True, the benefit for high end systems with plenty of main memory might not benefit all that much.

PREDICTION: Enthusiast motherboards will soon start shipping with integrated readyboost drives. They'll be marketed as built-in performance and critical storage.

Write that down.

It's going to be a bit stupid to do that. How hard is plugging in a flashdrive to a usb port to justify this action.

I rather the motherboard comes with another 2 RAM slots that are bridged to SATA ports. This way we can use RAM for page file, which is tons more effective than readyboast. The similar solution out there now are pretty costly.