Windows Vista ReadyBoost Research - Page 4

yeah i bought that Transcend SD card cause a review on Newegg had tested it with vista with positive results, plus i found other places online with similar stories...plus the speed was fast. We'll soon see, I'll post my findings

Thanks for the info so far. I have a 2GB system with a 7200 RPM drive and want to speed up the map loading process on BF2 if at all possible. Please let us know what you find out about the loading times with RB enabled?

Also, I know it's slower according to your tests, but can you do it with your intenal reader and give us results? I am not going to purchase a card AND an external reader in the hopes of lowering my map loading times in BF2, but if it can be shown to be improve internally (to a decent margin - even 5 to 10 seconds) then I think I will take the plunge.

TIA,
Pixel

Wow, that is quite an impressive job you've done there - I greatly appreciate it.

You're right, the internal reader is not really helping you - and therefore I don't think I will invest.

I appreciate your insight and testing. It shows real world performance, and ended up saving me time and heartache.

PixelFeak

Have you tried it with the PCMCIA or express card reader? Maybe that is the solution instead of a velcro card reader.

I have been playing with the idea of buying a 2gb expresscard memory stick (it is 2gb of memory that fits into the express card slot) that runs about 8000yen at a local store but I am not sure if Vista would see it as readyboost compatable device and am not sure if buying a 4gb SD card or the 2gb expresscard memory would be better.
Anyone else seen these around and tried them in the E1705?

D.

I read yesterday that the new Samsung hardrives have flashmemory on them for ready boost. 256, 512, and 1gb flash sizes. the drives will start at 160gb.

darmos, thanks for the reply.

I am still waiting for dell to ship me my vista dvd (as I moved to Japan from the US and Dell is having issues getting me my Vista DVD due to this) but once it arrives I think I may give the 2gb expresscard memory stick a try.

The worse thing that would happen is I would have an extra 2gb of storage for use only on my e1705.

I really wish I could just get my vista dvd sent here in Japan instead of all these issues explaining my situation to dell over and over.

D.

darmos, will do.
I just have to try and contact dell again.
I have my COA for Vista but no disk to install from.

D.

Nah, I havn't gotten around to buy the express card memory yet.
I have been using my 4gb SD card with the internal dell reader and it seems to do a pretty good job.
I still want to get one but I am holding off until they have a sale.

D.

I bought a 4gig express card from Hagiwara and that way I can still use my SD slot for my camera. It works great and I rarely use the express slot for anything else.

Sean

I find this topic interesting, so I'll add my 2 cents - even though I don't use Windows Vista yet. First, Lexar has recently introduced ExpressCard SSD devices in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities - this is of interest to me since I have an XPS M1710 with ExpressCard interface.

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Lexar introduces ExpressCard 16GB SSD : http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3674
(scroll down to the above article title)

First Review: Lexar ExpressCard SSD : http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/lexar-exp...-ssd?view=full

Transcend has also announced a 16GB ExpressCard SSD. Although ExpressCards, all these devices so far are USB 2.0 based which unnecessarily limits performance throughput.

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Second, I've read the discussions regarding the crossover performance point for Flash drives versus Hard Disk drives. But, I think there is an additional factor that comes into play besides just the comparable read/write performance of the devices. That is the fact that the Flash drive is being used in addition to the Hard Disk drive - allowing both devices to operate simultaneously as opposed to the single Hard Drive configuration of most notebook computers. So even if the Flash drive isn't faster than the Hard Drive it can still provide a performance boost - since while data is being retrieved from Flash additional data can also be retrieved from the Hard Drive. This becomes even more advantageous when smart data caching algorithms improve the hit ratio and other performance benefits of cached data.

AgentEE7

I'm not quite sure how people are getting the full benefit of ReadyBoost using the Memory Card Reader in the Dell laptops. The Ricoh part that is used is a regular speed part that taps into a PCI bus channel. Ricoh has a High Speed MMC/SD compatible reader of the same form factor available but it is not the part used by Dell.

Also... Lexar has ExpressCard SSD drives that are being marketed as ReadyBoost drives for laptops. These as fast as a USB 2.0 thumb drive would be and tucks completely inside the laptop whereas the SD/MMC card would still stick out a lil bit.

Just what I found on my research. So yes ReadyBoost will work in our Readers, but we are not getting the most benefit out of the high speed SD/MMC cards that we could be getting. And the controller chip is soldered to the Motherboard, so we can't just upgrade the slot itself.

Another thing I would like to address to Darmos.

Have you enabled Hi-Speed mode for the internal USB controller in BIOS?

The E1705 and XPS m1710 both have a new feature in BIOS that runs the USB 2.0 hub controller at USB 1.1 spec and speed by default because of the battery drain issues that were discovered between Intel and Microsoft. It appears that USB 2.0 requires much more power on the write side of the data exchange compared to USB 1.0/1.1 and this extra power in conjuction with the fact that Microsoft's internal USB drivers do not have a power save mode means that batteries were draining faster on laptops.

So many OEM's took their own steps by making a BIOS switch that will lower the power/performance levels to USB 1.1 in our devices. The Ricoh reader is the slower and cheaper cousin (it's Dell, what do you expect?) but this PCI bus connection also routes to the USB hud controller to communicate. Since PCI bus is capable of 50mb/s sustained transfer in even cheap hard drive controller cards, it would appear that there could be a bottleneck in the USB port speed internally between the reader and the operating system.

Can you please check to see if you have the USB ports changed from "Compatible" to "Hi-Speed" and then retest your results to see if there is any effect? This would be about the only chance to see if the full potential of the SD cards can be achieved in the internal reader - which would obviously be the most preferred solution.

Thanks again for everyones efforts. And btw, the reviews from the Lexar SSD's are not looking promising. Most benchmarks are showing pathetic write speeds similar to what Darmos has posted so far for his internal card reader with his SanDisk X3 SD card.

I'm almost afraid to think that Hybrid drives and full SSD's will not provide their true numbers in the laptop platforms because of power and bandwidth limitations. This would lead these products down a road that will land them in laptops only for longer battery life or rugged areas and in server platforms where the bandwidth isn't being restricted.

I am running 2GB ram in my system and a one GB Sandisk flash card with readyboost.

Most of my applications load times are easly halved. Like MS word, IE, Even WOW loads faster than before. Boot time is a little faster but it was fast before. I think it is an under utilized technology. They are saying that most laptops may soon have just flash hard drives, and that manufacturers are thinking of putting the flash memory on the board for advance caching features like this.

I have to agree over all I like it, my wifes lappy has been very snappy running since I added the flash card.

Word and all the office apps basically open up instantly and thats a plus.