Posted by Dogmann
Hi all,
I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite P100-160 that came with 1gb RAM installed and after downloading some Widgets discovered that it was using nearly 70% of memory whilst doing very little and was really not as fast as i was expecting.
Now the Tosh only comes with 2 memory slots so to upgrade to 2gb would of meant having to buy 2 x 1gb of memory and having 1gb in 2x 512mb of no use and it was going to be expensive. I remembered reading that Vista could use a USB memory key to memory boost so yesterday in PC world bought an extra 1gb for £9.99 unfortunately on plugging it in and trying it came back as not compatible so went back today and spoke to their Tech Guys and found a USB Memory key that said Boost Ready 2GB for £29.99 and all i can say is wow the system is a lot faster and all for £29.99 that has to be the cheapest way of adding Ram to a Computer running Vista and well worth the spend IMO. I just hope some here will find this of use as it really is just so much cheaper than buying normal Ram chips to fit in.
Marc
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[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-11 14:37 ]
Posted by Cycovision
Nice tip!
I haven't tried it myself yet since hardly any of my customers have upgraded to Vista yet, but I'll definitely bear it in mind. I had heard about it before, but was concerned about possible speed issues. I still wouldn't advise using USB memory with Vista for serious gaming or such like but for general use it sounds promising.
Thanks!
Posted by arien617
I gave it a go a couple of weeks ago with my 1GB USB memory key but it wasn't compatible. Might just buy something bigger...
If only it worked with my 80GB iPod... That would be great!
Posted by paul101
i'm going to do that with me pc now
a boost from 4 gigs of ram to 6 gigs of ram
edit: i still prefere me lappy
tho i have a dual boot on me lappy and pc so some of my programs that dont work on vista i'll not be able to use the extra ram
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[ This Message was edited by: paul101 on 2007-07-11 16:19 ]
Posted by QVGA
You have to remember that USB flash drives only offer about 1/4th of the performance of RAM chips. There just no way they can be a replacement for RAM.
Posted by clank
It doesnt use the usb memory as your ram....it merely uses it as the cache for superfetch as the usb drives are much faster than hdd.
Superfetch in simple terms is a vista technology where it over time analyzes your usage and moves your most used programs to locations on the hard disk from where they can load the fastest.
I found absolutely no change on using readyboost on a pc with 1gb ram however i've read it works very well on systemjs with 512mb.
Also from experience most run of the mill usb sticks arent fast enough to support this....better get some sandisk or comparable sticks.
Posted by Cycovision
So has anyone actually played games or done any video encoding using Vista with a USB memory stick? I don't care about the bits, bytes and Megahertz, I need to know if it is, in real life use, a viable alternative to RAM modules? Of course it's not going to be as good as RAM modules, but how badly (or goodly!) does it shape up in comparison?
@Clank
So am I right in saying that Vista doesn't use USB memory as RAM at all then? It's just a much glorified HDD cache?
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[ This Message was edited by: Cycovision on 2007-07-11 19:01 ]
Posted by Dogmann
Hi all
Remember you can't just use any USB key it's needs to be boost ready and of course i realise it is not the same as actually fitting additional RAM and but it is so much cheaper. So far i have noticed a really big improvement, especially speed wise Web pages are loading much faster now and before it was showing 75% memory in use now it is showing just over 50% in use. I would of bought a only 1gb but they didn't have any that were boost ready but i still think it was £30 well spent.
Marc
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[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-11 19:52 ]
Posted by clank
@cyco i've gamed/encoded videos on it and found no difference personally.
In fact with my single core amd 3200+ it practically made my system unusable for almost 10 min after boot up as the cpu shuttled between 0 and 100% usage as the cache was being rebuild.
When i moved to dual core there were no negatives but still no positives either.
Posted by QVGA
Dogman, any USB drive thats 256MB or above is boost ready. The fact that companies write boost ready on the cover is just a gimmick.
Posted by Dogmann
@QVGA
I can assure you that is not correct the first 1gb USB key i bought when i inserted it into the computer and selected memory boost it checked it and said this device is not compatible.
On returning it and trying to find another USB key i had to look for one that said Boost ready on the label and then it did work and both keys are made by the same manfactuer. Interesting findings re Core Duo as opposed to a Core Duo 2 set up as i have the latter. But yes it is not effective immediately and takes little while to kick in but it does appear to have reduced the amount of memory in use from 70%+ to just over 50% and it definitely has increased the speed of my system web browsing in particular is now much faster.
Marc
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[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-12 15:48 ]
Posted by shyam335
The reason for is that ,when we insert a usb memory device,it first checks read and write speeds. The problem with a lot of old pen drive/usb key is that they have poor write speeds,which if used will only degrade performance...
So it doesn't allow it to use it as a readyboost device..
Posted by shaliron
I've read some reviews saying that the performance increase is only modest; definitely not a replacement for real RAM - and RAM isn't really that expensive these days.
Posted by QVGA
On 2007-07-13 09:08:55, shaliron wrote:
I've read some reviews saying that the performance increase is only modest; definitely not a replacement for real RAM - and RAM isn't really that expensive these days.
Yes, that is what i was trying to say.
Posted by shaliron
@QVGA
Like here (via wikipedia):
In the cases where a system has 512 MB of RAM (the bare minimum for Windows Vista - not advisable), the largest gains are 47% [2] (the test benchmark included Adobe Photoshop CS3 along with 22 images, iTunes, Microsoft Word 2007, Adobe Reader 8 and an Explorer Window). However, on systems with 1 GB or more, ReadyBoost has a negligible effect (small enough to be experimental error).
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
On 2007-07-11 15:36:55, Dogmann wrote:
Hi all,
I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite P100-160 that came with 1gb RAM installed and after downloading some Widgets discovered that it was using nearly 70% of memory whilst doing very little and was really not as fast as i was expecting.
Now the Tosh only comes with 2 memory slots so to upgrade to 2gb would of meant having to buy 2 x 1gb of memory and having 1gb in 2x 512mb of no use and it was going to be expensive. I remembered reading that Vista could use a USB memory key to memory boost so yesterday in PC world bought an extra 1gb for £9.99 unfortunately on plugging it in and trying it came back as not compatible so went back today and spoke to their Tech Guys and found a USB Memory key that said Boost Ready 2GB for £29.99 and all i can say is wow the system is a lot faster and all for £29.99 that has to be the cheapest way of adding Ram to a Computer running Vista and well worth the spend IMO. I just hope some here will find this of use as it really is just so much cheaper than buying normal Ram chips to fit in.
Marc
_________________
Nokia N95, 2gb Sandisk, Fring Shure EC2g
Nokia E61 2gb Sandisk, Fring, Tom Tom 6
Dogmanns N95 Blog Experience @
http://dogmann.vox.com/
[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-11 14:37 ]
doesnt seem cheaper, my last spec macbook pro was upgraded from1gb (2x512) to 2gb (2x1gb) for £30 and thats the top spec ram you can get/buy for macs....
Posted by Dogmann
Hi Luke,
Well that is well cheap and a bargain but for the Tosh it was going to cost quite a bit more than £30. As i am not using Photo Shop or Video editing or using any really intensive memory using apps like games. I was just looking for a small boost and as i have said whilst i accept it is no where as good as real Ram it has dropped the memory in use from 75%+ to just over 50% and it really has made my Web Browsing faster so it has done what i wanted/needed and i am very happy with the result for what it cost.
Marc
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Nokia N95, 2gb Sandisk, Fring Shure EC2g
Nokia E61 2gb Sandisk, Fring, Tom Tom 6
Dogmanns N95 Blog Experience @
http://dogmann.vox.com/
[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-07-13 09:59 ]
Posted by Cycovision
Well, the reason I was so interested in it is that many of my customers don't like being told that they have to buy two sticks of RAM when they have one stick in there already, which is sometimes the case. They don't understand that you can't get 1.5Gb sticks of RAM!
If using a USB memory stick was viable, it would be a nice, easy little earner for me since I could buy them in bulk very cheaply. I can buy RAM in bulk cheaply too, but there's too many different kinds for me to do that, I'm not PC World unfortunately
Posted by leeboy13
did this work anyone?
Posted by paul101
err, i think we've all moved back to xp now (due to vista being a complete ram hog
)
Posted by larry 68
I have a 5 yr old lappy 256mb ram thats running sooooooo slow despite clearing everything out, is it worth upgrading the ram on a 5 yr old machine ? IT can only be increased to 512mb
It was a £1200 machine in its day , would one of those key things be of any use ? its running xp btw .
Posted by leeboy13
Anyone know if this works - a year and half on, come on peeps! anyone doiogn this -
if no replies in the nect hour i'll go buy a 8gig and find out if my machines a power hourse
8gig is £15 out here - and for sony - heehee
Posted by procterdc
Would this work on XP by any chance?
Posted by Daedalus85
It's a Vista only thing, ReadyBoost.
One of my mates has his sisters old PC in piece on his desk and the only way it'll boot is with a 2GB USB stick plugged in because without it it's too weak lol
Going to be doing this when I get my laptop in a few days, just a question tho, will it work with major brands of USB stick or just Vista ReadyBoost compatibile ones?
Posted by shyam335
yep,major brands will work.
Some relevant things here and compatibility list here.
Make sure you get a fast flash drive (from corsair or ocz etc..)
But it wont help if you have RAM >1.5GB.
Posted by dude_se
£29.99 is very expensive. ive seen 4gb sticks for £10
edit: oh its an old thread lol
[ This Message was edited by: dude_se on 2008-09-01 17:29 ]
Posted by leeboy13
ok, got me a 4gig ready boost for under about £15
we shall see tomorrow if it helps with 3D software
let you know guys
Posted by yea g
On 2008-09-01 13:41:37, procterdc wrote:
Would this work on XP by any chance?
yes it does! its actually been in the operating system sincew windows 2000 but they just made it more accesible ok anyway just go start>control panel>system>click on the advanced tab>click on the setting button under preformance>click on the advanced tab>under virtual memory click change>choose your drive and click the custom size button (if its not already clicked)>enter the value you want>click set>do the other drives you want>click ok>restart your computer and notice the not very much speed difference
Posted by leeboy13
Works a treat!
With Vista anyway
My sketch up work not handles like a dream....
had 2 gig on internal Ram... added my 4gig ready boost and there is a difference! made me happy anyway
Posted by QVGA
Didnt make any difference for me, and it shouldnt according to benchmarks.
Posted by leeboy13
whatever
workign for me -
happy days
Posted by masseur
does anyone have experience of ready boost using an express card on a laptop?
I'm looking at getting a 32gb sold state express card but the most common one, the transcend, seems to have quite a few bad reviews in terms of write performance
Posted by paul101
tbh i wouldn't bother, the best thing to increase speed is add actual ram, you can get 2gb sticks quite cheaply (my laptop took 8gb ram)
tho if you do go upward of 4gb, you will need the x64 version of xp/vista, speed increases are minimal with readyboost
... or you could get a real OS, like linux, and you'll fly along with 512mb ram
Posted by gaming_guy
you can get 4gb (desktop) ram for £35 @ ebuyer at the moment
Posted by masseur
in fact my new vaio already has the max 4gb ram already, but I'm looking to make some use of my express card slot instead of it sitting there useless.
my previous vaio had a HSDPA card in the slot but this vaio has a sim card slot built in
I gather boot time can be improved by the readyboost caching, and I'll have lots left over on a 32gb card for some other stuff too
it seems from research today that the cheap expresscards use their USB bus through the expresscard port and so speeds are not much better than USB 2, whereas the more expensive ones have 10 times the speed of the cheap ones
maybe I'll wait a bit longer until this all matures a bit more
Posted by paul101
why not fill it in with a tv tuner?
vista will allow you to record all your tv
edit: how long is your boot time?
[ This Message was edited by: paul101 on 2009-01-19 23:00 ]