Readyboost: does it actually help?

I've been using ReadyBoost with my 2GB flash drive for a while. Sometimes it works like a charm, helping my games' load times improve. However, sometimes it appears to slow things down massively.
Why is this so? What does it do to make things so slow sometimes?

Thanks

 

I notice a smoother gameplay, but that doesn't necessary mean more fps. And at times it gave me a BSOD with sleep/hibernate when using readyboost. That was before the vista SP1 and I haven't used it since I installed it.

Not a huge improvement for me (if any), since I already have 2GB ram. But for others with lesser ram they should see a noticeable improvement. Not sure why readyboost has a adverse effect for you though, certainly hasn't happened to me.

 

Out of curiosity, when using an SD card of the same memory as a USB memory stick for ReadyBoost, does it go faster than the memory stick would?

 

I have the same question.....because you can get 12gb sticks now but that would be a little bit of overkill if you ask me lol.

 

Readyboot only speeds things up if you have to page memory pages to disk. Rather than paging from your HD when you get a memory fault, you page from your USB drive which is notably faster in read operations than your HD. IF you never run out of RAM while playing your games, your OS will never page out memory space and thus never take advantage of Readyboost.

Short answer: Unless you have less than 2gb, you'll rarely see the benefits of readyboost.

 

Use any USB stick to ReadyBoost your computer

 

I'm currently using ready boost through my 1 gig (950mb) sd card from my digi-cam. It seems to speed up general tasks and multimedia quite a bit. I have 1 gig ram btw.

 

Eh, I have a 4GB SDHC *btw that's the max for ReadyBoost* card in and what I like about it is how it saves alot of the cache for the programs I use. Lets put for example Microsoft Word 2007 takes me less than 1-2 seconds after clicking to load up *same with Outlook.* For me I think it is worth it since when I am on the battery it won't be accessing the Hard Drive constantly. Oh ya and I have 4GB of RAM with a 1GB Intel Turbo Memory that is on the way.

 

Great idea. Take a feature that's supposed to speed things up, then defeat all of the checks it uses to prevent you from using devices that are too slow to actually help you. /Great/ idea.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.
Does anyone happen to know the performance of an SD card vs a usb memory stick for readyboost? Is one better than the other? Do they perform the same?

Thanks

 

Is there any particularly good brand/model for using readyboost that's cheap (under $40)? I tried my 256mb Sandisk Cruzer and it actually slowed down my system. >_>;

 

BestBuy had a 4GB USB of something for 35 bucks.

If you have SD capabilities they are selling a 4GB also for 35.

 

What I mean is are there any that are designed to work with readyboost/good to use. Not all flashdrives are quicker than harddrives. The Contour is one examble but way too expensive.

 

Buy.com has a Kingston 4gb usb for 19.99 + free shipping currently (just ordered to use for Vista Clean install help and ReadyBoost when I'm up and running)

 

I think they would differ on their respective transfer rates. USB is very fast [esp. in usb2.0] while on SD cards, it might depend on the card itself and the card reader. The speed of data caching by the RAM matters. I'll go with usb flash drives..the'yre typically faster. I'm using 2gb usb flash for readyboost and sometimes good or mostly does nothin at all...

 

I just grabbed a 1GB Toshiba SD card just for Readyboost. It fits nicely in the card reader slot (instead of sticking out like a sore thumb i.e. USB stick) so I don't have to take it out every time I pack it in my bag. Just pop it in and forget it.

I haven't noticed any performance increase in multitasking, but I can tell it is paging the card since my notebook has a neat little LED indicator that lights up every time the card gets paged (think HD light) and this is with 2GB of ram. HD access seems to be noticeably less too.

Conclusion? Well worth the 10 bucks I spent.

 

So you "haven't noticed any performance increase", but it's "well worth it"? Readyboost will not make any noticeable difference unless you have 1GB or RAM or less.

 

I don't think ready boost is good for much more than to identify a flash drive as Vista logo tested.

 

I ran WEI today and got a .2 increase in memory from 4.4 to 4.6 using readyboost, and like I said before hard drive access has lessened (the main reason why I bought the SD card).

The performance increase in 2GB notebooks isn't noticeable, but it is there.