Computers & Electronics

RAM vs. ReadyBoost

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  • Mar 10th, 2010 11:55 am
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Sr. Member
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Dec 27, 2009
530 posts
129 upvotes
Toronto

RAM vs. ReadyBoost

I have an Acer UL20A ultra portable notebook. It runs Win7 and has 2 Gigs of RAM. USB drives are far cheaper than RAM. Does using ReadyBoost perform the same function as additional RAM? If so, other than the inconvenience of a USB drive sticking out of the side of my notebook, is there any reason not to do this? Thanks
6 replies
Deal Fanatic
Jan 21, 2007
5330 posts
3052 upvotes
Scarborough
If I'm not mistaken, ReadyBoost performance improvements are quite negligible. It might help a bit but, it's definitely no replacement for actual RAM. If you have a ReadyBoost capable USB device then try it out but don't expect it to help much.
Deal Addict
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Jan 20, 2009
3698 posts
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I don't see any reason not to add readyboost, but the performance increase will be nowhere near the same as if you were to add more RAM to the system.

If you have the money and want optimal performance, upgrade to 4gb of ram and get a readyboost-ready 8gb stick.
Deal Fanatic
Feb 11, 2005
7430 posts
2503 upvotes
BC
Readyboost is not as fast as RAM so will not get you anything near the performance of extra RAM. Given that you've already got 2GB of RAM, I doubt Readyboost will provide any noticeable improvement.
Sr. Member
Jan 17, 2010
777 posts
283 upvotes
remember the ram limitations if you are on a 32bit system
Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2006
801 posts
198 upvotes
Montreal
When researching this at the time Vista was released I learned two things;

1) Have a ReadyBoost drive at least the same size as the amount of RAM that you have and create the page file on there of that size.

2) The performace increase is anywhere from 5%-15% and nowhere near that of doubling the RAM that you have.

I see it this way, if you've got an extra drive and USB port, go fot it! But I wouldn't spend the money to go there...
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Sr. Member
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Dec 27, 2009
530 posts
129 upvotes
Toronto
Thanks for the replies. I have a couple of drives so I'll use them anyway. I'm sure I'll end up buying the RAM too at some point now that you've all confirmed the difference.
FigNewton wrote: remember the ram limitations if you are on a 32bit system
I should have mentioned, it's 64 bit.

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