ReadyBoost 4GB or 8GB?

Hi all
I'm not sure what performance you'd get in using Readyboost even with an EXTREME type of usb device.

If you've got W7 X-64 with at least 4GB of memory in it I really can't think of ANY CURRENT typical home / consumer application where you'd actually run out of memory. (Future applications are always unknown but as of today I really can't see a need for a typical system to be > 4GB RAM

If you are running a server or a website with loads of concurrent users or a big MySQL database type of system, or a whoole slew of Virtual machines - or a combination of all of these then you probably would need more memory - but you certainly wouldn't use Readyboost.

Now it might be of value running W7 X-64 on say a 1 or 2 GB laptop - can't say here as haven't got one of those to test it on.

Cheers
jimbo

Readyboost ≠ RAM

While it is easiest to think of it as slow ram its not. Off Microsoft.com "The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive". IT's cache... makes the access times for harddrives less. That is why you dont use Readyboost with SSD.

4GB of ram + 4 GB of flash is not 8GB ram. the reason it helps low ram systems much more than 4gb+ systems is that if your running win7/vista on 1gb odds are you are using a lot of it on background programs and not cache. So when you add readyboost you have your 1gb of ram for programs (and some cache) but a lot of HDD cache on the flash drive.

Since my system has 4GB and i normally don't use more than 2GB (except games and virtual stuff) 2GB of that is HDD cache- which speeds up my drive access times.


Sorry for the rant but every comment about readyboost goes along with ram which is shouldn't. it should be paired with cache hit/miss ratio not ram amount.

Jester45 said:

Readyboost ≠ RAM

While it is easiest to think of it as slow ram its not. Off Microsoft.com "The flash memory device serves as an additional memory cache—that is, memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive". IT's cache... makes the access times for harddrives less. That is why you dont use Readyboost with SSD.

4GB of ram + 4 GB of flash is not 8GB ram. the reason it helps low ram systems much more than 4gb+ systems is that if your running win7/vista on 1gb odds are you are using a lot of it on background programs and not cache. So when you add readyboost you have your 1gb of ram for programs (and some cache) but a lot of HDD cache on the flash drive.

Since my system has 4GB and i normally don't use more than 2GB (except games and virtual stuff) 2GB of that is HDD cache- which speeds up my drive access times.


Sorry for the rant but every comment about readyboost goes along with ram which is shouldn't. it should be paired with cache hit/miss ratio not ram amount.

I'd give you rep again but it won't let me yet :)

H2SO4 said:

I'd give you rep again but it won't let me yet :)

I took your light work. +25 to the Jester with a Colt.

I have win 7 RC 2 gigs of ram on a amd dual core and i notice a significant gain in load times for my games and basically everything else an flash drives are 15 bucks for 8 gigs they are cheap check pricewatch and newegg.

I am getting a 10-20% gain in load times from readyboosts i will provide benchmarks at a later time

AFAIK 4GB was Max for Readyboost (Vista anyhow).

Q: What's the largest amount of flash that I can use for ReadyBoost?
A: You can use up to 4GB of flash for ReadyBoost (which turns out to be 8GB of cache w/ the compression)


Hmm this is for Win 7 : Windows 7 allows up to eight devices for a maximum of 256 GB of additional memory.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost


A Drive does not need be fast in MB/Sec for Readyboost, its about this :


Q: What perf do you need on your device?
A: 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writesQ: What perf do you need on your device?


Tom Archer's Blog : ReadyBoost Q&A

A: 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes

I'm not sure if the 4Gb limit applies across the board or was just an x86 threshold, however you really cannot compare Readyboost media with true RAM, it's rather like stacking up a bicycle against a Ferrari.

Unless you're doing anything exceptionally demanding you're unlikely to need more than the fairly modest circa 3Gb RAM limit on x86 systems, or - say - having 4Gb on x64 builds. The only time I see any difference with my own x64/8Gb system is when I'm very, very heavily into complex video editing.

The 4b limit has been removed from windows 7 as they have "finished" readyboost now. I'm not sure about for 32bit but at least 64bit's limit is now much much higher both in total devices and GBs.

What I mean by "finished" is they rushed to get vista out and half assed it just like many other parts. That is why readyboost wasn't much use for anyone with >2GB but now readyboost is much more effecient(2.0 anyone?). I wouldn't say it's worth putting 8gb of flash on your 16gb i7 machine but more people will see a boost then with vista.

It tells you the limit there in one of the links.

Vista 64bit can use a Max of 4GB Readyboost, 32bit its less as with anything 32bit.

I find my PC faster with it even with 8GB of Sytem Memory as it has nothing to do with system Memory being faster it has to do with the Mechanical HDD being slower.

Yes the gains are far smaller the more System memory you have but a USB Drive is cheap these days so who cares.

Readboost+Readyboot (not same thing) all help when you do not run a SSD.

When you have 2 VRaptors in Raid 0 even though they are quiet over older Raptors I have a windowed side panel so its not as good at sound isolation as a metal side panel

That's when 8GB of System Memory helps, the HDD's hardly access after Vista caches all files at startup and Readyboost on top of that helps even more.