ReadyBoost?

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How many of you that have Vista are using ReadyBoost? I was at Office Depot looking for a printer and I got the Geeky Guy who is very knowledgeable. I was talking about the computer I bought that week and he was recommending attaching a high speed 4 GB flash drive to use ReadyBoost. Well, I ordered a Lexar Lightening drive from Buy.com. Hopefully it is fast enough. I read a few articles on ReadyBoost but am in the learning phase. The computer is an Acer Aspire M1100 with Vista Home Premium. I like the computer, but was surprised that there is not much of a support website compared to Dell or HP. Guess I will have to pick the brains of the experts here.
 
I didnt really notice anything different using it.

Then again, when ive tried it, I was running Vista, non-SP1.

SP1 is a performance boost in and of itself. Ill have to revisit.

Thanks for the reminder!!!

JMH
 
ReadyBoost works well for systems with 1GB of RAM, works OK with those that have 2GB of RAM and is completely worthless with 3GB (or more) of RAM.

It's best to update your system to 3 or 4GB of RAM.
 
On the subject of RAM and Vista, has Vista SP1 resolved that issue with only 3.5 GB RAM being recognized? Or is this an issue with a 32-bit system that no service pack will ever resolve?
 
It's a 32-bit architecture issue. BIOS and video RAM are "shadowed" meaning those take up space between the 3-4GB boundary. You'll always see less than 4GB on a 32bit system.

SP1 changes the way RAM is reported. Rather than showing only what's available to Windows, it shows what is installed in the machine. However, Windows can only use what it can use...32 bit architecture limitation.
 
Then it looks like I will have a nice new fast flash drive for other uses if it makes no difference. I was updating the RAM to 4 gb anyway. Thanks for the info!
 
Coming from someone who were concern about ready boost a few months to 1 year ago. We are not even worried about it now because there is NO PERFORMANCE improvement for someone that has 2+ GB of RAM. Ram is so cheap that everyone should have 2-3GB so why bother with ready boost? It cost more to get a fast 2GB USB or ATA drive that would not give you better performance than a 2GB RAM upgrade.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
ReadyBoost works well for systems with 1GB of RAM, works OK with those that have 2GB of RAM and is completely worthless with 3GB (or more) of RAM.

It's best to update your system to 3 or 4GB of RAM.


Yup, especially given the price of RAM right now.
 
I put too much faith in the guy from Office Depot. He made ReadyBoost sound like the cats meow. He even had his $100 flash drive mounted inside his computer since it was never going to be disconnected. Maybe the clue would have been when he talked about listening to SETI transmissions a few hours each night. Well, just left the flash drive connected in with ReadyBoost activated. Also, upgraded the RAM to 4 gb. All I know is the computer is working well with no hesitation. You live and you learn. I will come here first before leap in the future.
 
So easy for you to say ... I have Rambus PC800 which would cost me hundreds to a thousand for new Crucial or Samsung 2G. Then again my pc is fine for now and I do not want to buy a new one yet. So far I am happy with XP and my upgraded video card.

I know ebay has tons of Rambus, but prices are still up there, and if a used module is bad I am screwed.

BTW http://www.geeks.com has really neat stuff! They have a lot of hardware finds at great prices. When they had cheap rambus i waited to long and they sold out.
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Originally Posted By: outrun
So easy for you to say ... I have Rambus PC800 which would cost me hundreds to a thousand for new Crucial or Samsung 2G. Then again my pc is fine for now and I do not want to buy a new one yet. So far I am happy with XP and my upgraded video card.

I know ebay has tons of Rambus, but prices are still up there, and if a used module is bad I am screwed.

BTW http://www.geeks.com has really neat stuff! They have a lot of hardware finds at great prices. When they had cheap rambus i waited to long and they sold out.
frown.gif



If you are running a PC using RDRAM at all, it is time to upgrade the CPU and MB. This would be cheaper than just buying the RAM. Heck, even a Celeron 420 with a simple board would only run you about $100, and gives you another 3 years of useful life.


or if you want to save, go to craigslist or ebay and buy some used stuff, for about $50 get yourself a nice Athlon XP with MB and DDR ram, or Athlon64.
 
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