Will I benefit from a Ram Disk if I have an SSD?

[Berryracer]

is it worth it or not really since I already have an SSD?

If you think it is worth it, is there any good free ram disk app that is easy to configure?

 

[Cerb]

RAM disks haven't been worth it with HDDs, unless you've had a specific use for that RAM. Also, you'd better have tons of RAM, because if not, the RAM disk will slow you down, by using RAM that Windows can put to better use.

 

[Berryracer]

I see. I've disabled Superfetch and set the Hibernation file to 1024 MB Min 1024 MB Max.

I've had hibernation disabled for 3 years with no problems but this time when I formatted I set it to 1 GB just to prevent any issues that might or not arise.

 

[BrightCandle]

Windows already uses ram dynamically to cache the file system.

A ram disk is still considerably quicker for read and especially writes compared to an sad, its basically 2 orders of magnitude faster. But in many real world cases the CPU can't read and write the data that fast. So whether you benefit depends hugely on what you are caching.

The big advantage of an sad over a HDD is not the increased sustained transfers but the dramatically better random seeks, and ram provides an enormous difference here.

 

[MontyAC]

I find it helps. My ram disk's CrystalDiskMark result:

 

[Berryracer]

I know it helps in benchmarks but what about real life? would it make my browsing faster than it already is on the SSD?

And noone recommended and easy to use / configure free Ram Disk app yet

 

[R0H1T]

I know it helps in benchmarks but what about real life? would it make my browsing faster than it already is on the SSD?

And noone recommended and easy to use / configure free Ram Disk app yet

For browsing specifically it'll definitely be better, though you will have to run portable versions of browser, but most other apps will see less of a boost.
These are some of the free ramsdisk software you can get but I've not used them so can't say much as to how good they are !

 

[lxskllr]

I know it helps in benchmarks but what about real life? would it make my browsing faster than it already is on the SSD?

And noone recommended and easy to use / configure free Ram Disk app yet

You could put the cache on a ram disk, but noticeable performance gains would be minimal. I do it on Debian because it's trivial to do, but if I had to download a program to do it, I wouldn't bother.

Btw, why do you disable SuperFetch?

 

[MontyAC]

I know it helps in benchmarks but what about real life? would it make my browsing faster than it already is on the SSD?

And noone recommended and easy to use / configure free Ram Disk app yet

I point the temp and browser cache files to the ram drive. I use the free XFast Ram utility that's on the ASRock website. See my ram drive setup:

 

[Cerb]

I see. I've disabled Superfetch and set the Hibernation file to 1024 MB Min 1024 MB Max.

Why not just turn it off? If the max is too small, what exactly is its recourse?

I've had hibernation disabled for 3 years with no problems but this time when I formatted I set it to 1 GB just to prevent any issues that might or not arise.

It's a waste of space if you don't use it. I don't get why it's not something that can be disabled in the GUI, myself.

For browsing specifically it'll definitely be better, though you will have to run portable versions of browser, but most other apps will see less of a boost.

You could just disable the disk cache, too, so it only gets used for cookies and session info (don't worry: all the major browsers have in-memory caches, and Chrome even makes it easy to see what's in there).

Btw, why do you disable SuperFetch?

SuperFetch and prefetch are storage management technologies in Windows that provide a fast-track access to data on traditional, slower hard drives. On SSD drives these really clever services only provide for unnecessary write operations. Typically, Windows 7 automatically disables these services for your SSD disk. Otherwise disable it manually.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2727880
Windows probably thought his SSD was a tad slow. Windows 8 may change some things, but so far, nothing remotely definitive about it from MS, except that it will also prefetch into the hiberfile, not just RAM.

 

[R0H1T]

You could just disable the disk cache, too, so it only gets used for cookies and session info (don't worry: all the major browsers have in-memory caches, and Chrome even makes it easy to see what's in there).

Actually most user profiles & extension(s) related data is stored on the disk itself & cannot be disabled with this tweak, hence the need for portable versions of those browsers. The session cache you're referring to, as you said, is stored in memory but no major browser allows the profile to be shifted to a RAMdisk without some tweaks.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I tried using the Xfast Ram utility and it jacked things up and wouldn't keep the settings. Also, it doesn't seem to work with 7zip among other things so I tossed it.

 

[Cerb]

Actually most user profiles & extension(s) related data is stored on the disk itself & cannot be disabled with this tweak, hence the need for portable versions of those browsers. The session cache you're referring to, as you said, is stored in memory but no major browser allows the profile to be shifted to a RAMdisk without some tweaks.

Of course not. The profile should be in your main file system, backed by your disk. The files themselves get put in RAM when they are loaded for the first time.

 

[MontyAC]

I tried using the Xfast Ram utility and it jacked things up and wouldn't keep the settings. Also, it doesn't seem to work with 7zip among other things so I tossed it.

Try using this version, I think it's the latest, 2.0.28.

 

[mikeymikec]

I used to use a recoverable RAMdisk with XP. I then installed Firefox and a couple of other apps onto the RAM drive. Cold start times for Firefox dropped from 7 seconds to about half a second. These days >Vista does a better job with SuperFetch.

 

[Berryracer]

You could put the cache on a ram disk, but noticeable performance gains would be minimal. I do it on Debian because it's trivial to do, but if I had to download a program to do it, I wouldn't bother.

Btw, why do you disable SuperFetch?

1) because I have an SSD and want to prevent unnecessary drive access
2) because on an SSD, you don't notice a diff. runnin a program fresh as opposed to one that's cached in the RAM. With HDDs it is definitely a must but not with an SSD
3) because every SSD tweaking guide out there recommends you disable superfetch and search indexing

 

[Berryracer]

I point the temp and browser cache files to the ram drive. I use the free XFast Ram utility that's on the ASRock website. See my ram drive setup:

that's exactly the program I was looking for but had forgotton its name. I used it once before it was very easy to setup.

thanks a lot man

EDIT: Oh crap, I just noticed there's a list of supported motherboards. I have a notebook, I don't know if I can run it. what do you think?

 

[MontyAC]

I think it runs only with ASRock motherboards.

 

[Berryracer]

I think it runs only with ASRock motherboards.

ah nevermind then, guess I'll just drop the whole idea since the benefits don't seem to be worth the hassle

 

[pcunite]

If you're running virtual machines in a RAM drive you might see some benefit. Otherwise, my Crucial M4 is so crazy fast (450mb+ read) I don't think it would matter.

 

[Matt1970]

I know it helps in benchmarks but what about real life? would it make my browsing faster than it already is on the SSD?

And noone recommended and easy to use / configure free Ram Disk app yet

It will make your browser load faster but most of your actual browsing won't be effected much. Once your browser is up and running it doesn't go back to the hard drive for much.