Readyboost Compatible 4GB Drives

stoofa

stoofa

stoofa

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Couldn't decide if this should go in the Windows forum or a hardware one - I'm sure mods will move it if neccessary.

Microsoft's recommendations on devices for Readyboost say that for best performance you have a device equal in size to the amount of physical RAM you have.
For best performance it also needs to be able to do 2.5MB/Sec

I know USB flash devices have dropped in cash, however I'd rather not spend £40 - £50 on a 4GB one only to find it isn't supported or because it isn't a good one doesn't offer the maximum boost in performance.

Has anyone got any advice on which brand to go for?
I'm not asking for links to competitors (if it's a brand that OcUK don't sell).
If you've tried a particular brand and know for certain it works that would be excellent.
If not - then I'll take general recommendations if anyone would also be willing to provide a link to somebody who has seen said make/model working :)
 
johnnyfive said:
look for dual channel flash drives like the crucial 2gb overdrive.

Works a treat.
Click to expand...

So what kind of boost are you getting, and in what kind of apps/tasks?
 
any application really just browsing around the system. I even have 2gb ddr2 and a E6400 @ 3.2ghz and before its plugged in there is loads of drive activity all the time. It goes silent pretty much when the pendrive is in.
 
Sounds good. I'm still working exclusively in XP but this could be an extra incentive to give Vista a serious try.
 
I tried 2 OCUK Value Branded pen drives that i have (1x256MB, 1x1GB), and both of them failed to allow readyboost. However my 256MB CF flash card (Cheap Brand), which i purchased about 2 years ago, works fine.

For best performance it also needs to be able to do 2.5MB/Sec
Click to expand...

It actually needs to be 2.5MB/Sec whilst doing multiple IO. A single read does not count (otherwise it might as well fall back to the HD). This is also why most benchmarks show that it might work, although in reality it doesnt.
 
Toytown said:
I tried 2 OCUK Value Branded pen drives that i have (1x256MB, 1x1GB), and both of them failed to allow readyboost. However my 256MB CF flash card (Cheap Brand), which i purchased about 2 years ago, works fine.



It actually needs to be 2.5MB/Sec whilst doing multiple IO. A single read does not count (otherwise it might as well fall back to the HD). This is also why most benchmarks show that it might work, although in reality it doesnt.
Click to expand...

I had one of them and it was horrible, I then read some benchmarks on pendrives and was shocked at the big difference between them all.
 
It's worth reading through the article here:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2017844,00.asp

A small snippet:

Some people note that reading from flash memory is actually slower than reading from a fast hard drive. As it turns out, this is true mostly for large, sequential file reads. The drive is assisted by 2MB-16MB of onboard data buffer, which is in itself much faster than flash memory. However, ReadyBoost is smart enough to just let the system read large, sequential blocks of data directly from the hard drive.

Where ReadyBoost comes in is with small blocks of random I/O, like paging files, or pulling other random, small amounts of data. Need a DLL or OCX file for a particular app? ReadyBoost can serve it up faster than the disk can locate it. Basically, if the drive head has to move a substantial amount to find small chunks of data, ReadyBoost can improve performance. If a drive is streaming a video or loading a large game level, then ReadyBoost gets out of the way.

Basically speaking using ReadyBoost never has a bad effect on your system performance, but can under certain circumstances give you a boost here and there.
 
Is there a chart somewhere showing actual speeds? Rather then just getting a compatible stick, I would like to get one of the faster then average compatible types ( if that makes sense :p)
 
Just bringing this thread up to date.
There seems to be little information out there on which devices are compatible, which aren't etc.
I was about to buy one of the Corsair Voyager 4GB units from OcUK - however reading around would indicate these aren't Readyboost compatible (well with the exception of the 8GB model according to one site and that performed poorly).

I've managed to find somewhere that can supply a PNY Attache 4GB drive for £49.99inc Vat & Delivery which is a bargain compared to other sites.
It is also a make/model that comes up as being compatible most places it was tested.

I'm using 4GB of RAM under Vista Ultimate 64bit - I've really got no idea how much of a difference this is going to make.
However £50 for a 4GB flash drive is a good price, so even if it makes no difference I've got a very handy sized memory stick to use for transferring data around on.
 
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