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    RAMDisk....a bit extreme idea here

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011.

  1. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    Alright is this even possible? I know that it would be greatly capped going through eSATA but can you make a device that would hold lets say 16-50gig of ram and make that into a hardrive? lets say if i need to access something and i want it to bee uber fast. I would through it in that eSATA ramdisk.
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011
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  2. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    Putting SSD's in RAID 0 would be just as fast, non-volatile, and way cheaper. RAM disks are only really viable in two ways. First as part of your system memory (typically on the desktop since you can hold a lot more RAM), but it must be saved to the hard drive and reloaded every restart. There is also by having a pci-e card that can be powered all the time, but this is obviously on a desktop only and it does get really expensive.
     
    Trottel, Jan 8, 2011
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  3. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    im afraid im failing to see the point, RAM operated at MANY times e-sata speed. we even have new SSD's anounced tht wil saturate sata 6Gbps.

    If you want to run a RAMDISK which many of us do, load up your motherboard and do it. I have seen 8 GB RAMDisks in use for scratch files in premier and photohop many times.
     
    crazycanuk, Jan 8, 2011
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  4. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    Yes but ramdisk can have random access at SATAII speed not very many if any SSDs can do that. plus you can get some cheap ram on sale. You can get 1gig per 10 bucks right now on newegg. Plus i have seen sales for less than that. Would that ram ever wear out? doubt it ^^
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011
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  5. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

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    what are you talking about ? RAMDISK usually refers to RAM device which is way faster than SATA.

    You need to be using desktop and have lots of RAM(if your need for RAM disk is not too big) or you need those PCIe card. Search for Fusion-io, they used to use RAM but now switch mostly to NAND. They are extremely expensive though.
     
    chimpanzee, Jan 8, 2011
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  6. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    If you really think lowering .1ms access times is going to do anything....

    The RAM-usb 3.0-RAM conversion could easily make your SATA Ramdisk idea equal or even exceed that anyway.

    Still several times more expensive than SSD's just for the storage space. Plus you are ignoring the likely very expensive stand-alone Ramdisk hardware you would need.

    Just give up.
     
    Trottel, Jan 8, 2011
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  7. crazycanuk

    crazycanuk Notebook Virtuoso

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    a good high end SSD will random at SATA2 levels, from what im reading some of the new ones coming should meet sata3

    Current DDR-3 Ramdisks have a random access abilility ranging from 3-8 times faster than SATA2. that is why they are very popular on some desktops and have been for close to 15 years. In days gone by there were ISA and EISA cards that were RAMDISKS we used for CAD and installed banks of 30 pin SIMM.

    heres a newer variant
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815168001
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Gigabyte-i-RAM-DDR-GC-RAMDISK-PCI-Card-/270551866623

    it shouldnt actually be too hard to get one of these off of ebay and use an expresscard to PCI/PCIE adaptor tu use it as you had wanted to try
     
    crazycanuk, Jan 8, 2011
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  8. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    don't have usb 3.0 only eSATA...using a laptop here....duh

    EDIT: none so far have been helpful on answering how you would build such a device outside of a motherboard....
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011
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  9. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

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    The best you can get then is a fast SSD like C300
     
    chimpanzee, Jan 8, 2011
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  10. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    You're very rude.

    It is hard to answer a question that wasn't asked. :rolleyes:
     
    Trottel, Jan 8, 2011
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  11. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    You mean like this PCI RAMdisk (desktop)
     
    HTWingNut, Jan 8, 2011
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  12. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    he just means he wants to be smarter than the rest in here, finding a new way to have much more performance and such, while he fails to mostly not need it.

    there's a law of diminishing returns. just get an ssd and enjoy.. :)
     
    davepermen, Jan 8, 2011
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  13. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    type-o ment it would go through...my bad for the last part of my poor typing.
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011
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  14. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

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    There are lots of information being told, whether it is helpful depends on who read it.
     
    chimpanzee, Jan 8, 2011
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  15. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    buy more ram, create ramdisk in ram. there you get gbytes of troughput before your esata actually starts reacting.
     
    davepermen, Jan 8, 2011
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  16. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    whatever jerk. A ramdisk of 8-16 gig would not be very expensive(if bought on sale)...it would take not very long to load a game into it or program i want to use for a period of time. In an external setup it would be able to be on 24/7. Also it doesn't need fast or high end ram. Also i got tons of ram sitting back at home.
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 8, 2011
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  17. 2.0

    2.0 Former NBR Macro-Mod®

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    Thread closed.

    Research more about how interfaces work and then you will know what is possible. And more importantly, what is worthwhile.
     
    2.0, Jan 8, 2011
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