Windows 7 ReadyBoost

frank_grimes · 4 Apr 2012 at 14:05

So... windows ready boost - as i understand it, it is basically a USB cache....

What i want to understand is what does it actually cache? While i want the performance of an SSD i dont really want to pay for it! (lol, least not yet!) So would a 32GB USB3 stick be a viabale shrot term alternitave until the price per MB on the Vertex's has started to drop?

Would i notice much (if any) extra performance?

Blackbadger · 4 Apr 2012 at 14:12

Readyboost is a alternative to ram cache, a usb3 fast pendrive may assist if you have win 7 on a 1gb ram system, other than that ignore it, it is not a substitute in any manner for faster HHD's or SSD's.

Ram is so cheap now if you have 2gb you can double it for less than £20

Mr-White · 4 Apr 2012 at 14:14

I noticed a slight increase when I ran 4gb ready boost with 4gb ram. However when I got an ssd it stopped working saying my hard disk was quick enough. Obviously the speeds weren't any where near ssd speeds and the more ram you have the smaller the performance gain of readyboost is.

MW

frank_grimes · 4 Apr 2012 at 14:18

Blackbadger said:
Readyboost is a alternative to ram cache, a usb3 fast pendrive may assist if you have win 7 on a 1gb ram system, other than that ignore it, it is not a substitute in any manner for faster HHD's or SSD's.

Ram is so cheap now if you have 2gb you can double it for less than £20

lol - oh right... Currently running off 12gb 1600! Looks like im gonna have to finally bite the bullet and get myseld an SSD!

(I know its an odd number - origanally had 4 than bought another 8 as it is so cheap. At the the time i bought the 8 a few months ago it was cheaper than when i bought the 4!!)

Mr-White · 12 Apr 2012 at 10:41

frank_grimes said:
lol - oh right... Currently running off 12gb 1600! Looks like im gonna have to finally bite the bullet and get myseld an SSD!

Don't fight it, it'll probably be the best upgrade you've ever done !!!

MW

frank_grimes · 12 Apr 2012 at 12:18

Mr-White said:
Don't fight it, it'll probably be the best upgrade you've ever done !!!

MW

Ha - Vertex 4 arrived this morning!

Dave0w · 12 Apr 2012 at 12:21

i have just gone from 2 x WD 500gb carvers to a little vertex 2 and the just in boot and ap speed is very good, defo worth the £60 i may get one more and raid them

frank_grimes · 12 Apr 2012 at 12:45

Dave0w said:
i have just gone from 2 x WD 500gb carvers to a little vertex 2 and the just in boot and ap speed is very good, defo worth the £60 i may get one more and raid them

I read somewhere trim' doesnt work in RAID0 though...?

frank_grimes · 13 Apr 2012 at 09:19

So..... an SSD is the best 150 quid ive ever spent on my PC!!

Just wondering tho - is 7.7 a good WEI score for disk performance?

Tavalin · 13 Apr 2012 at 10:14

My Vertex 2 gets 7.4 with roughly 20GB free, the score will change depending on how much free space it has as my score was down to about 6.4 when I had less than 10GB free.

shadow_boxer · 13 Apr 2012 at 10:24

frank_grimes said:
So..... an SSD is the best 150 quid ive ever spent on my PC!!

Just wondering tho - is 7.7 a good WEI score for disk performance?

Seems fine. Don't worry or look into the wei too much.

WEI is pretty meaningless generally. If you want to check performance of the drive download a benchmarking tool such as ATTO or CrystslDiskMark.

Which SSD did you go for?

Narj · 13 Apr 2012 at 10:28

frank_grimes said:
So..... an SSD is the best 150 quid ive ever spent on my PC!!

Just wondering tho - is 7.7 a good WEI score for disk performance?

Should be 7.9 - is it running in AHCI mode (DON'T just go and change this if it's not!)

Mr-White · 13 Apr 2012 at 10:32

frank_grimes said:
I read somewhere trim' doesnt work in RAID0 though...?

TRIM doesn't work with RAID'd SSDs, however his drives aren't SSDs

MW

frank_grimes · 13 Apr 2012 at 11:12

shadow_boxer said:
Seems fine. Don't worry or look into the wei too much.

WEI is pretty meaningless generally. If you want to check performance of the drive download a benchmarking tool such as ATTO or CrystslDiskMark.

Which SSD did you go for?

Cool, will D/L CDM tonight! :cool:

PianoBasher said:
Should be 7.9 - is it running in AHCI mode (DON'T just go and change this if it's not!)

I did check this but couldnt find it in the MOBO settings - i have the Asus sabertooth.

Why dont just change it? I assume i would have to reinstall the OS if it was in IDE mode (if i ever actually find the setting, lol)

Mr-White said:
TRIM doesn't work with RAID'd SSDs, however his drives aren't SSDs

MW

Doh... yeah just re-read the post! Clearly my brain had stroked out for a second! :rolleyes:

Narj · 13 Apr 2012 at 11:45

frank_grimes said:
Why dont just change it? I assume i would have to reinstall the OS if it was in IDE mode (if i ever actually find the setting, lol)

I don't know that BIOS but you may currently have the operating mode set to IDE/EIDE. If you change this once the OS is installed, it'll cause a corruption and it won't load. I learned this the hard way but fortunately Windows only took a matter of minutes to reinstall!

There is a registry hack you can use to get around this, apparently, but I've not done it myself so backup everything important before you google it and try it!

Mikey · 18 Nov 2012 at 10:49

Started to look at ReadyBoost for the first time this week, was round at my parents last night and my mother's PC is pretty slow with Windows 7 x64. It's got 2GB and that's the max it can take. So in the scenario I imagine a 4GB / 8GB USB stick dedicated to ReadyBoost would help.

Also we have lots of 1GB USB keys, if two were plugged in and setup for readyboost?

Stalker_26 · 18 Nov 2012 at 10:56

I have used a 2gb usb stick for ready boost, and even that made a difference.

OliverDavis · 19 Nov 2012 at 10:38

Mikey said:
Started to look at ReadyBoost for the first time this week, was round at my parents last night and my mother's PC is pretty slow with Windows 7 x64. It's got 2GB and that's the max it can take. So in the scenario I imagine a 4GB / 8GB USB stick dedicated to ReadyBoost would help.

Also we have lots of 1GB USB keys, if two were plugged in and setup for readyboost?

On a 1.6Ghz Single Core 1Gb Ram notebook it done wonders. That and typing into startbar MSCONFIG and disabling everything that is not needed in startup.

Also use a single USB Stick as it requires more resources to run more, you would end up with less performance increase.

snips86x · 19 Nov 2012 at 10:44

Tavalin said:
My Vertex 2 gets 7.4 with roughly 20GB free, the score will change depending on how much free space it has as my score was down to about 6.4 when I had less than 10GB free.

That would explain why mine is so low!!!

Good job I got a replacement in the post