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    X200 SD reader speed

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by lakpapak, Oct 23, 2008.

  1. lakpapak

    lakpapak Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have an X200 and I want to buy an SDHC card to use for ReadyBoost as well as backups. I am considering one of the new 30MB/s SanDisk Ultra III but what I don't know is if the intergrated card reader can support those speeds or if it's connected to USB bus internally. Does anyone have any experience?

    On a side note, I did a clean install of Vista x64 but I couldn't find any drivers for the card reader, are they included in Vista?

    Thanks so much
     
    lakpapak, Oct 23, 2008
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  2. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    I only used it with a OCZ 8GB SDHC class 6. I got about 6 MB/s symmetric. That card is not even close to as fast as the Sandisk Ultra III, so I can't verify the theoretical speed. However, I believe that the reader should be able to support that card and read/write to it pretty quickly (much better than an external USB reader). Vista should support the card reader out of the box.
     
    jonlumpkin, Oct 24, 2008
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  3. lakpapak

    lakpapak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Do you think that the 30MB/s SanDisk Ultra III is an overkill for ReadBoost purposes?
     
    lakpapak, Oct 24, 2008
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  4. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Hi

    I think ReadBoost has a 4gb maximum.

    Regards

    John.
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Oct 24, 2008
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  5. lakpapak

    lakpapak Notebook Enthusiast

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    I agree about the maximum limit but what I am asking is about the transfer speed (30MB/s) of the SDHC card and whether or not it is limited by the speed of the card reader ...
     
    lakpapak, Oct 24, 2008
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  6. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Hi.

    Just a 8gb card was mentioned at the beginning of the thread.

    I supposed the maximum speed will depend on your card reader, I think it will use the 30mb read/write for readyboost.

    You can use the program below the benchmark your cards.

    http://kb.ciprico.com/lore/article.php?id=268

    Regards

    John.

     
    Tinderbox (UK), Oct 25, 2008
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  7. whtvr

    whtvr Notebook Consultant

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    dude, get yourself some more RAM and stop wasting your time with ReadyBoost... seriously; this whole thing was design to make people with old computers feel better, speed gains are rather minor especially when compared to extra RAM

    just my 2 cents
     
    whtvr, Oct 25, 2008
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  8. lakpapak

    lakpapak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well my system already has 2GB Turbo Memory and I love the very fast boot time. No amount of RAM can improve loading times (whether it is booting or launching programs) since data has to be fetched from the HD and that's bound by the speed of the HD.

    I don't agree with people who say that adding 2GB of RAM is better than adding flash memory (no offense whtvr). I am fully aware that this hybrid flash+hd technology will disappear when SSDs get cheap but for now, the combination of 4GB Flash + 320GB HD in my mind gives the best performance for the buck (under Vista at least) ...

    So in summary, if you want fast boot/launch times then add ReadyBoost. If on the other hand your programs don't fit in RAM and HD is thrashing (page file) then add RAM.

    just my 3 cents
     
    lakpapak, Oct 25, 2008
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