Readyboost with two 4 GB Flash drives

I have a 4 GB and 8 GB flash drive. Both support the readyboost feature. I was using Vista but I went back to XP because 1 GB RAM for gaming in vista is a joke.

Now, is it worth to upgrade back to Vista and will it help using these 2 flash drives??

I dont wanna upgrade back to vista only to find out that readyboost isnt helping.

Also should I revert to 32 bit or 64 bit vista?

 

Readyboost using flash drives is only effective for small files where the gain is on near-instant access but there is only a small file to load. As such, 4GB is unlikely to make a big difference over 1GB unless you have thousands of small files (I worked out that, typically, 100kB is the break-even file size where it is quicker to load it from flash than from the hard disk.

More RAM is the better investment. 64 bit Windows gets past the 3.24GB addressing limit of 32 bit Windows.

John

 

I agree more RAM is always a better investment, but you MIGHT see some improvement from ReadyBoost since you have only 1GB of RAM...

Also, John, ReadyBoost is used to cache the HD data that would usually be pulled from the HD... Since stuff is stored on the HD in small sectors the difference will be felt on anything but huge write operations... Much to the same extent how a 16MB Cache HD is TONS snappier (in terms of responsiveness) with all other things equal. Both might transfer data to the computer as fast when accessed directly on the drive, but the computer will respond faster with the increased HD cache because the HD uses algorithms to read ahead and get as much data in the Cache as it can before you need it...

That is why most people would buy a HD with a bigger cache (cost permitting) over one with less.... And the largest HD cache on a traditional HD I've seen to date is 32MB...

 

readyboost doesn't work with 2 flash drives, so it won't make a difference if you plug in both, and the max it can use is 4gb

 

Revert to 32bit windows vista.

Readyboost will not help very much and will have a very minimal effect in gaming scenarios. Getting a 1GB RAM will have more positive performace impact.

 

You might be able to put your system32 folder on the flash drive, if you do it right. Windows can mount a drive at a folder like Linux does, so that might speed up library accesses in general. But I agree with everything else said in this thread, except reverting to 32bit Vista. Stick with 64 bit and get more memory.

 

Yeah right, go with 64 bit and contend with games that aren't supported under 64 bit Vista? I am not sure how good an idea that is. Does anyone here have any FIRSTHAND experience in dealing with gaming on Vista 64?

Gary

 

how much did you pay for your 8gb flash drive??

 

Indeed. And I've found that x64 Vista has had no problems with games I've tried to run, including games such as Company of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Silent Hunter 4, but also older games like Fallout 1 and 2. As far as I can tell, Vista x64 has almost no software compatibility problems.

Really, its only the hardware compatibility that you need to be concerned about, and that is constantly improving. Overall, I have had no compatibility issues with x64 Vista, either hardware or software.

Furthermore, I've found that Vista x64 really is faster than Vista 32-bit. Plus, it can handle more RAM, which is nice. If your hardware supports Vista x64 and you've got all of the drivers available then there's really no downside to it.

 

I'm usein The 2GB Lexar Firefly Jump Drive. I got it for $29 at walmart works great with readyboost!

http://store.lexar.com/index.cfm?productid=JDFF2GB-431&bhcp=1

 

That is GREAT news. I assume it also has the same sort of "compatability mode" for dealing with errant apps that insist on running in lesser versions. Have you had to resort to using that at all yet?

Thanks for the info. Now I am starting to salivate at the prospect of 64 bits. There are a couple of hardware related software issues with my Sony FZ190 but once those are worked out (or IF they are worked out) I am all over this.

Gary

 

Thats a great question, but sadly, I don't have an answer for you at the moment because I'm not at my computer right now, so I can't check, and I've never had a program refuse to run on Vista, so I've never really looked for a compatibility mode. When I get back to my computer though, assuming no one else posts first, I'll get back to you on that.

I believe it does have the same sort of feature XP has with its compatibility mode though, I've just never had occasion to use it.

 

All true.

The only hassle with Vista 64 is that you have to do a clean install. Not that big of a hassle for many people.

 

Not really. Due to the way that the 64bit CPU's work, they'll run 32bit code at native(full) speed inside of the 64 bit system. What is mainly affected is memory, because the system has to load up a 32bit version of any libraries that a program runs, quite often alongside the 64bit version, basically more than doubling the amount of memory required for the libraries when running 32bit applications. There isn't really a compatibility mode that affects the entire system, though.

 

OK my question wasnt about switching from Vista 32 to Vista 64.
It was whether to go from XP-32 to Vista IF its worth using Readyboost.
And if go to Vista, then 32 or 64 bit?

 

Nope, its most likely not if you thought performance wasn't already satisfactory. Your best bet is to get an extra gig of RAM (as everyone has been shouting at you to do! ) as this WILL improve the general performance of Vista as well as the ability to play games on the system. To be on honest, with the spec of your system, I'm rather surprised that the notebook didn't come with 2GB as a default!

 

Yeah too bad that it didnt come with 2GB RAM
When I had Vista, Company of Heroes took ages to load
Halflife 2 Episode one ran extremely slow
With XP everything is just perfect

 

that sucks that vista 32 only has a 3gb limit for ram, my laptop takes upto 4gb of ram, and i fully intend on hunting down the 2gb chips to make it happen., but if windows doesn't use all 4gb then why spend the extra cash?

 

sell the 8gb flash drive and get another gig of ram. It will help your system more than anyhting else

 

Vista 32 will work with 4GB of RAM. It just won't see all of it because of system limitations. You will most likely get use of 3.5GB or so, depending on how much video memory you have. What happens is that DMA accessed devices like video cards and such take the upper range of addresses for themselves, the addresses near 4GB. So you could "see" anywhere from 3-3.75GB, in all likelihood. But you won't see all 4GB.

 

Cool. Thanks.

 

I agree on all counts. If your hardware is fairly popular (or recent), compatibility won't be an issue. On software, i've yet to find one that I wasn't able to use on x64.

The gain on the other hand, is noticeable. The choppiness from all of Vista's eye candy goes away; the lag from moving windows around while Dreamscapes in rendering some funky graphic in the background is non-existent; and the machine is just plain snappy.

Overall, x64 comes highly recommended. My computing experience is finally where I like it.

Regards,
Paolo

Oh, and don't forget - one difference I did notice between the OEM and retail Vista discs is that I had to load the SATA drivers. Search this site on how to extract the drivers from the .exe file from the Intel download, specifically running the .exe install file with a '-a' switch via the command prompt. This is the easiest solution i've found.

 

I just realized that my 2gb SD card is readyboost capable, so we'll see how much of a difference it makes.

 

CHEERS I UPDATED MY RAM TO 2GB......
ive installed Vista 64 now and it runs perfect
although its still too early to judge

 

Congrats.. I upgraded to Vista x64 this week and I love it so far. The system is a bit more responsive, and the hard drive chugging is a lot less.

Picked up a 4gb usb drive from Dell today - $34!