Windows 7: readyboost and gaming

bobsmith123 · 21 Dec 2010

i have an 8gb usb stick, i have formatted it in exfat, id like to use it for readyboost does readyboost have any positive influence on gaming? and which is the best unit allocation size? i was thinking making it the largest unit size? as it would unload into the ram in massive blocks then? the stick is purely for readyboost all 8gb of it. i currently have a samsung f3 1tb hdd, 4gb ddr2 ram at 711, q6600 @ 3.2 and a gtx 460.

Hikertrash · 21 Dec 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by bobsmith123

i have an 8gb usb stick, i have formatted it in exfat, id like to use it for readyboost does readyboost have any positive influence on gaming? and which is the best unit allocation size? i was thinking making it the largest unit size? as it would unload into the ram in massive blocks then? the stick is purely for readyboost all 8gb of it. i currently have a samsung f3 1tb hdd, 4gb ddr2 ram at 711, q6600 @ 3.2 and a gtx 460.

Quote:

In order to be able to be used as the virtual memory caching storage medium by ReadyBoost, the removable media will need to meet the following hardware and speed requirements:

The capacity of the removable media is at least 256 MB (or 250 MB after formatting).
The flash memory devices must be capable of 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads spread uniformly across the entire device.
The flash memory devices must also be capable of 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes spread uniformly across the device.
The removable media device should have an access time of 1ms or less.
The flash media must have at least 235 MB of free storage psace.
Formatted as NTFS or FAT32 filesystem, both can make use a maximum of 4 GB of flash memory, which is the ReadyBoost limit, and in FAT32 case, the ReadyBoost.sfcache file size is also limited by FAT32 filesystem to 4GB.
ReadyBoost supports one flash device at any one time as of currently.

How to Enable and Use ReadyBoost in Windows 7 and Vista » My Digital Life

Fumz · 21 Dec 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by bobsmith123

i have an 8gb usb stick, i have formatted it in exfat, id like to use it for readyboost does readyboost have any positive influence on gaming? and which is the best unit allocation size? i was thinking making it the largest unit size? as it would unload into the ram in massive blocks then? the stick is purely for readyboost all 8gb of it. i currently have a samsung f3 1tb hdd, 4gb ddr2 ram at 711, q6600 @ 3.2 and a gtx 460.

You have 4GB's of RAM so ReadyBoost isn't going to do a thing for you. It's meant to speed up (marginally) systems with low amounts of RAM... like 1 or 2GB's.

Understand ReadyBoost and whether it will Speed Up your System

whs · 21 Dec 2010

In your case it will slow the system down - only a little, but guaranteed. This is because of the overhead to have to write the pages to both the disk and the stick.

holo88 · 21 Dec 2010

works for me. wuit well actually. see really low system specs below. ( i have a 4.3 wei though....)

whs · 21 Dec 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by holo88

works for me. wuit well actually. see really low system specs below. ( i have a 4.3 wei though....)

I bet it does, with only 1GB of RAM.

bobsmith123 · 22 Dec 2010

so unit allocation size doesn't make a difference either?

Fumz · 22 Dec 2010

Games don't use the hard drive. Except for loading the map/level, it sit there idle, so any hard drive tweak is pointless.

bobsmith123 · 22 Dec 2010

i understand that, actually one of my issues is when playing big open world games like new vegas i get a slight pause when teh game needs to load new textures etc, i understand getting an ssd would eliminate these, is there anything that can be done on a regular hdd? i was meaning allocation unit size on the memory stick, to enhance readyboost, i didnt know if it had any bearing on its performance.

bobsmith123 · 22 Dec 2010

bump

Windows 7: readyboost and gaming

readyboost and gaming problems?