Grant Gibson from UK has done a big and very good job to list (nearly) all USB-Sticks with classification compatible or incompatible with Windows Vista.

find the listing here

ReadyBoost ready, but doesn't boost

ReadyBoost ready, but doesn't boost

In practical use I find it works great when editing hi-res photos, and other large files. Of course adding motherboard ram is going to work even better but it also costs four times as much.

The testers were PC World who also strongly recommend Norton Antivirus.

Yes, every review of ready boost seems to point out getting system RAM is the key to make your system fly. With a gig of system RAM going for $30 these days, it is within everyones budget and the dramatic performance improvement versus flash RAM makes it a no brainer. Ready boost is a gimmick like the USB vacuum cleaner.

For my opinion the Readyboost USB Sticks working (if they work!) for that MB's which have limited Memory Slots available.

I wouldn't use a USB Stick in an system where I've 4 Memory Slots and can place easy 4 GB of memory! But for a cheap MB with just 2 Slots the a USB Stack maybe works for memory improvment!

The list I posted n the OP I done just because of this option.

Yes, every review of ready boost seems to point out getting system RAM is the key to make your system fly. With a gig of system RAM going for $30 these days, it is within everyones budget and the dramatic performance improvement versus flash RAM makes it a no brainer. Ready boost is a gimmick like the USB vacuum cleaner.

Where do you get good DDR2 for $30 a gig?

Where do you get good DDR2 for $30 a gig?

RAM prices are dropping almost daily. Newegg for instance has 1GB sticks of DDR2-667 for $28, and that is CORSAIR 5-star reviews. Dunno how far Thai prices are lagging behind.

I would be surprised to see machines made in the last 5 years that can't handle 2GB RAM, including laptops. And todays systems you can put 2GB per stick. Don't really see legacy or new systems running out of headroom or price being a barrier. 20 years ago if you bought 1GB of IBM PS/2 RAM it would set you back $1 million (1000 boards of 1MB @ $1000 ea).

I hadn't seen those on Newegg, guess I had to look harder. Cheers

I remember paying a thousand Aussie dollars for a pair

of 5 1/4 inch floppy drives in the mid eighties.

Seems weird now !

Naka.

Talking about RAM is all very good but readyboost has nothing to do with motherboard RAM, it really takes the place of (some of) the hard drive space allocated for swap files, to swap them in and out of memory quicker.

Best value for money memory wise would be 2GB Ram and a 2Gb USB stick.

cleared some of our old papers a few weeks ago from 1989.

the price for Ram at 1989: 1 MB 1,700 Baht, 1 20 MB HDD 12,000 Baht, biggest HDD at that time 40 MB (Conner, one of the first IDE's), 1 Computer Set AT 33 MHz, 640 kByte Memory, 1 HDD 20 GB MFM format, 1 EGA Card 64 kByte 16 color, 1 FDD 5 1'4 1.2 MByte and Monitor EGA B/W total 58,000 Baht!!

What a time!

By the way, may someone interested in: 1 Macintosh SE with Monitor 10" compact? I have one and still working.

Talking about RAM is all very good but readyboost has nothing to do with motherboard RAM, it really takes the place of (some of) the hard drive space allocated for swap files, to swap them in and out of memory quicker.

Motherboard RAM has everything to do with the swap file. If you have enough RAM, you don't need a swap file. A swap file simply provides virtual memory in the case you run out of system RAM. It allows applications with a working set larger than system RAM to run without an "out of memory" message. The way it does this is to as efficiently as possible keep the active parts in memory and swap out the rest that does not fit (LRU paging).

Best value for money memory wise would be 2GB Ram and a 2Gb USB stick.

There is a news story today that Sony and HP both cancelled the idea of Readyboost/Readydrive in their laptops because they found it is not a cost-effective means of improving performance.

USB-Stick memory are more cheap than DDR2 Memory but with less performance. The use of standard memory is much more recommenmded than USB-Memory!

Talking about RAM is all very good but readyboost has nothing to do with motherboard RAM, it really takes the place of (some of) the hard drive space allocated for swap files, to swap them in and out of memory quicker.

Motherboard RAM has everything to do with the swap file. If you have enough RAM, you don't need a swap file. A swap file simply provides virtual memory in the case you run out of system RAM. It allows applications with a working set larger than system RAM to run without an "out of memory" message. The way it does this is to as efficiently as possible keep the active parts in memory and swap out the rest that does not fit (LRU paging).

Best value for money memory wise would be 2GB Ram and a 2Gb USB stick.

There is a news story today that Sony and HP both cancelled the idea of Readyboost/Readydrive in their laptops because they found it is not a cost-effective means of improving performance.

Well I have two Vista machines running now, 1 with 1GB RAM and 1 with 2GB Ram - Adding a cheap 1,000 baht 2GB USB stick to each has improved performance on them both.

Boot up is quicker, and general performance is increased marginally. Well worth the money IMO.