USB as Power Boost? Vista Tips Discuss USB as Power Boost? in the Windows Vista forums; Good info, thanks. The SimpleTech Bonzai USB SD sounds like a good buy, but I'd rather get an internal reader. I don't like to have things sticking out ...

[felix8406]

Good info, thanks. The SimpleTech Bonzai USB SD sounds like a good buy, but I'd rather get an internal reader. I don't like to have things sticking out from the PC.

[felix8406]

A while back Crabby requested a memory test of my Laptop using ReadyBoost. It took me a while, but I finally got around to it. My laptop has 512MB of RAM. I did three different memory tests using Passmark: one without a ReadyBoost drive installed; one with a 512MB USB drive installed as ReadyBoost; and one with a 1GB USB drive installed as ReadyBoost. As you can see, ReadyBoost does makes a difference and the larger USB drive made the biggest difference.

[felix8406]

I ram another test using the 1GB USB drive as ReadyBoost and disabling the swap file; letting Vista control memory usage automatically. The results shows that setting up a swap file it's the smart thing to do. See snip, the results on the right are with the swap file disabled, while the results to the left are with the swap file enable at three times the amount of RAM.

[Znod]

Good tests felix. Did you see my recent results that also show a modest composite performance boost from ReadyBoost even with 2 GB? As indicated, I used the composite test. Did you try the composite? I think I am more interested in how ReadyBoost affects performance across tasks, etc., as opposed to the memory test alone. But, still the memory test is a good one.

Also, am I correct that you ran each of your tests after using your machine for a while to perform a variety of tasks so that ReadyBoost-related tasks would be handled optimally by each configuration. In general, I have been handling this sort of issue (hopefully adequately) by running the tests over and over under each configuration until my results stabilized.

[crabby]

HOLY HELL!!!

I never expected ReadyBoost to give ANYTHING like a 15% improvement. The only test I would like to see now is a comparison to actual RAM Oh, and could you give the models of the sticks? :P

crabby

[felix8406]

I tried the memory test on my desktop. I ran each test six times to check for consistency. Every test results were very close, not much differences between each one. However, as opposed to my laptop, this time the 512MB outperform the 1GB USB drive. My computer has 1GB of RAM. You can read the results left to right with no ReadyBoost, 512MB USB Drive Ready Boost and 1GB ReadyBost USB Drive respectively. Also, there’s no swap file. I’m using a 512MB Memorex TravelDrive and a 1GB Geek Squad USB Drive.

[Znod]

Originally Posted by crabby

HOLY HELL!!!

I never expected ReadyBoost to give ANYTHING like a 15% improvement. The only test I would like to see now is a comparison to actual RAM Oh, and could you give the models of the sticks? :P

crabby

Using the composite-test approach I used, the difference was more like 2%--i.e., 1.02 X about 380 = about 387.

[felix8406]

Some issues when purchasing a USB drive to use as ReadyBoost are that you won’t know if it’ll work until you connect it to your PC; if it doesn’t work, you might not be able to return it to the store. But another important issue is that even if it’s recognized and appears to work, it might not be as fast or efficient to make a difference.

The specs for a USB drive to use with Vista are for random memory performance, as opposed to sequential performance listed (if at all) on most USB dives. So even if the access time listed for your USB drive is fast, it may not be fast enough to make a noticeable change on performance.

My thinking is that manufactures of USB drives, memory cards, etc. are in the planning process of producing and selling components designed specifically to take advantage of Vista’s ReadyBoost feature. Another think is that because the competition is so huge, the prices will be compare to current hardware.

[Znod]

ReadyBoost is looking pretty suspicious to me on higher end machines. I know you found some positive resutls, but did you see where I mentioned that ReadyBoost actually degraded the performance on my desktop--and sometimes by amounts that are scarey to me.

[felix8406]

But perhaps there's a possibility that your USB drive is not to par with ReadyBoost performance specs. Same reasons I just mentioned.