Windows Ready Boost

kookooshortman55

kookooshortman55

New Member
Okay I finally realized I need to stop upgrading my computer. I was going to upgrade to 64-bit and then add 4GB of RAM, but I don't have the money for that right now. I've heard how Ready Boost can speed up your computer but how exactly does it work? Is it like system RAM? Because I'm on 32-bit Vista with 4GB of RAM already, would Windows even be able to use the Ready Boost drive? I've been able to run my computer with page file disabled since I added the 4th GB, but some games like Crysis drain all of my system memory and crash. Would adding a 2GB flash drive as a Ready Boost drive help at all? Then I could disable the page file again. Thanks in advance!
 
In your situation it probably would help, since I believe readyboost just takes the place of the page file. Only if lack of pagefile is the reason for crashes though.

Most of the time though, 4GB (or 3.3) of RAM is more than enough to disable the page file, and so ready boost has no effect.
 
The memory stick you put in the USb port has to be a certain speed. Plug a memory stick in and right click it and select properties. There will be a tab at the top that will say ready boost. Select it and you can set the amount of memory you want to use from the stick. With 4 GB already installed....I have no idea how much would be reconized or used, I would think not much if any.

Quote from Wikipedia

"Using ReadyBoost-capable flash memory (NAND memory devices) for caching allows Windows Vista to service random disk reads with performance that is typically 80-100 times faster than random reads from traditional hard drives. This caching is applied to all disk content, not just the page file or system DLLs. Flash devices are typically slower than the hard drive for sequential I/O, so to maximize performance, ReadyBoost includes logic to recognize large, sequential read requests and then allows these requests to be serviced by the hard drive."
 
Okay. Well my computer runs fine with the page file disabled as of now. But when I tried playing Crysis with the page file disabled the game crashed. The system was fine though, just didn't let me run Crysis. Too much of a memory hog. Well here's my dilemma, I have two definitions of the Ready Boost.

1. Replaces page file, will have an impact on performance even though I have 4GB RAM running on 32-bit.

2. Replaces system memory, will have absolutely no effect.

Lol can anyone please clarify?
 
It puts the page file onto a removable disk. Honestly though I would just enable the page file and not worry about it.
 
I'm almost positive it won't help performance. Readyboost was designed for the people who have less 256 or 512 MB or RAM and want to use Vista. With that little RAM it probably helps alot. But with 1GB or more, the effect is negligible.

As for Crysis, I would get a resource monitor, and see if it does even use all of your RAM. There are plenty of sidebar apps that can do this, probably independent programs also. I'm pretty sure that it is not using all your RAM though, because I've never seen my usage go above 2.3ish, and that was with the Witcher, which was notorious for its bad coding and page file issues. If Crysis crashes, I would assume its something else, because it is a very demanding game.
 
Oh very demanding game. Haha I'm hoping the new games aren't this bad because my final upgrade video card is just skimming by playable haha. I was hoping this card would last a year or two but not a year or two of Crysis.

Anyway, well this is the issue really. I meant cached RAM. Right now I'm running two windows of Firefox and Photoshop CS2 and I'm using 1.88GB. But I have 2480MB cached and only 40MB free of Physical Memory. My computer is fine as it is with page file, just curious if I can tweak it to make it just a bit faster.
 
well you're having some mem issues then! haha
i've got msn messenger, 7 convos, music playing, and 2 firefox browsers, each with 2 tabs, a loaded sidebar, F@H for gpu and cpu, and i'm at 1.1gb used of 2 gb.
i'd check to see what shit you have running in the background, just ctrlaltdel, and go to services see whats all there and end the unnecessary, then type msconfig into the 'run' command and go to 'startup' and uncheck all the unnecessaries
 
I did the msconfig one but I only deleted the ones that I know I didn't need. Most of those, I don't even know what they do so I kept them to be safe. I just did Ctrl Alt Del and checked the services. I have no idea what any of those do so I'm gonna leave those alone. Haha. Well I noticed Norton takes up a ton of memory and CPU. But it can't all be from Norton right? Anyone know of a service or startup item that I don't need that is common to all computers? I don't want to go through my whole list and ask what I do and don't need. Lol
 
Okay I have no idea what's going on. I went back into msconfig, deleted some more and then it went really slow on bootup. I re-enabled all of the startup programs and it's going much faster now. Running 2 Windows of FireFox and Photoshop with the same document and I'm using 1.12GB. Still pretty high but better. I now have 1100MB of free physical RAM but I'm sure this goes down as time goes along after a reboot.
 
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If your using Vista, be aware that it will use more RAM the more RAM you have. That doesn't mean it needs more, it will just speed things up by using more. And if you happen to get low, I'm pretty sure it will lower its usage.
 
So the ultimate solution is to get enough RAM to equal the size of my hard drive. Haha just kidding. Well I re-enabled everything on the msconfig. Boots up a little bit slower but once it's up and running it goes a lot faster than before. Not sure why this is. But disabling the Services in the Task Manager, does anyone know of some resource hogs that I don't need?
 
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