For those of you unaware of Windows Vista Ready Boost, it basically creates a fast cache for system memory to speed things up. Don't like my definition? Well, listen to what Jim Allchin says, "Windows ReadyBoost will use the flash drive to create a copy of virtual memory that is not quite as fast as RAM, but a whole lot faster than going to the hard disk." There are plenty more tech facts from the interview at this blog.

The next issue is how much faster is it. First lets hear from the pro Matt Ayers: "On average, a RANDOM 4K read from flash is about 10x faster than from HDD. Now, how does that translate to end-user perf? Under memory pressure and heavy disk activity, the system is much more responsive; on a 4GB machine with few applications running, the ReadyBoost effect is much less noticeable."

Now some useful information on what I did to get it to work. The thumb drive I am using is a 4 Gig USModular QuikDrive (ordered at buy.com). I plugged it in, went to removable drive properties and enabled readyboost with the default settings. What happens next is a whole lot of waiting for Windows to fill up that 4gig to boost system speed. Id say it took roughly 10 to 15 minutes until device activity stopped. Here is what it will look like while its getting set up:



That is basically all there is to it. I was skeptic myself as to how effective this ready boost would be in my machine. My specs are a respectable, 2.6gz athlon 64 with 2gig of ddr 2 and a WD1600JS hard drive. Is spending 50 bucks on a 4 gig flash drive worth it?

The answer is absolutely yes! The speed difference is very noticeable. If i knew system performance would improve this much, I would have bought one a month ago. Alt tabbing from your desktop with 6 applications open back to Warcraft goes so much smoother. Just about anything you will be noticeably speedier. However, there is a specific application that will truly test readyboost's effectiveness. That app is quickpar of course! When it comes to testing memory speed and I/O responsiveness, this is the best I could find. Previously I noticed that when I doubled the memory in my computer from 1 gig to 2, quickparing was done about twice as fast. Now with a 4gig thumb drive with readyboost plugged in, quickparing was finished in about 6 minutes for a 30 gig archive with 100 meg rars! No speed fluctuations whatsoever! A clear indication that readyboost is making the difference. To me, that is simply phenomenal if you know how long it takes to quickpar a regular archive of say, 25 to 50 meg rars. So go out and get yourself vista with a memory stick.