Readyboost on Y510 - which memory card?

[Hawk521]

I'm researching the potential for Vista Readyboost on my Y510.  Yes, I've researched it a bit and realize that it doesn't provide the same level of performance boost on my 2Gb system as it would on a machine with less memory.  But then, it isn't a major expenditure and I'm curious enough to give it a try.

I hope to find a 2Gb (or larger) "very fast" memory card to sit semi-permanently in the 5-in-1 reader slot, I can see no downside to the project.  At the very least I'll gain a bit of quick storage to use as I please - even if the Readyboost doesn't do enough to keep it invoked.  The trick to make this work well is VERY FAST memory and at least 2Gb.

My delima is settling on which type of memory card to choose.  I'd rather get 4Gb or more, but I'm finding that most of the latest higher performance cards (SDHC and Memory Stick Pro Duo for example) may not be compatible with the Y510.  Or if they will work, they may not support their high speed mode.  It is not clear to me of the newer "extended mode" cards will work properly in the Y510. 

Anybody have some insight into which type of card (2Gb or larger) would provide the highest read/write data rates in the Y510 slot?  I'm somewhat down to considering MMC, MS Pro, or SD Pro cards.

Helpful thoughts would be appreciated.

[calwest]

hello,

I have a 2gb Sandisc Extreme  in  my Ideapad, the one with the 1.83 processer, for Ready Boost and the Ideapad accepted the SD card. I don't realize any speed increase. My Experience Index is 3.5.

I too, was wondering if a High Speed SD card would work for Ready Boost.

[Hawk521]

>> I too, was wondering if a High Speed SD card would work for Ready Boost.

After a lot more research re: Readyboost I am slowly coming to the realization that it will not likely yield the performance boost I was hoping for.  It appears that nobody (sad but true) makes a truly fast random access SD memory card.  The higher rated cards give reasonably quick reads on large files, but perform poorly with consecutive, small random reads of files (which is the whole premise of Readyboost.)  Even the high priced Lexar SSD ExpressCard gets rather luke-warm reviews with regards to this type of performance.   Many people have gone down this road before and most have been disappointed in the result.

Apparently having a slow cache (aka. Readyboost with Superfetch on a slow SD card) isn't much better than having no cache at all.  It probably does more to minimize HDD I/O than anything else - which might save a few milliwatts of battery life.

At any rate, I'm still reading about it.  And I have in fact ordered a Transcend 4Gb MMC card to try.  If nothing else, I'll use it as a portable storage device to move files between home and work.

Message Edited by Hawk521 on 04-20-2008 04:01 PM

[vkyr]

Another option would be to try out a fast flash USB-stick as an alternative here, though it's basically the same here as with memory cards and one would need indeed an approved and very fast one, in order to get any benefit out of ReadyBoost+/-Superfetch at all. However, an USB-stick might be used at least too in a more flexible portable datasafe like manner in contrast to a hard coded TurboMemory modul.

Here is a german languange review article about some, from the vendors claimed to be faster and ReadyBoost capable USB-sticks.  Those who can't read german but who are interested in the results, might want to try out some free web based german-english translation service-site.


Message Edited by vkyr on 04-07-2008 07:30 PM

[Hawk521]

I have successfully used a 2G Samsung USB memory stick.  It readily passes the Vista Readyboost speed test.  On a notebook computer that gets toted around quite a bit this is less than an ideal solution.  Don't get me wrong - I love my USB ports and the USB memory stick, but it is not the solution I want.

I would rather utilize the (almost neglected) built-in 5-in-1 memory card reader slot for the Readyboost feature.  It just sits there idly waiting for some useful task to come along.  I could install an SD/MMC memory card semi-permanently and virtually forget it since I have very rare need to use that slot for any other purpose.  And one can easily remove the Readyboost memory card when those occassional needs arise.

What I find sad in this whole scenario is that apparently nobody has built an optimized (really fast in terms of Readyboost usage) memory card.  I cannot help but wonder if many of the poor results some have reported on Readyboost performance gains are due to the marginal memory card speed rather than the concept of Readyboost/Superfetch.

When my Transcend 4Gb MMC Plus card arrives in a few days I'll report results - good or bad.

[vkyr]

I have my doubts that the built-in memory card reader hardware itself will be somehow fast enough at all, since even such doit-yourself SSD solutions here (it's a SATA-casing for two CF cards) don't gain that much viewable  performance and these do usually have a much faster HDD like SATA connection interface than an internal card reader. - The fastes card readers I actually know of, are those high-end FireWire-800 connected compact-flash readers from Lexar and SanDisk, which do read 300x 4 GB cards with 41.9 MB/s and do write with 31.6 MB/s. But both the card readers and cards are expensive, each of them has a price of nearly €60.

However, it's also generally questionable if ReadyBoost/ReadyDrive etc., in their actual Vista state,  do offer some or any real gain in performance boosts at all.

[Hawk521]

Update.

I gave in to curiosity and purchased an A-DATA 16GB SDHC from NewEgg which arrived today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211245

Plugged it into the 5-in-1 reader of my Lenovo Y510 and sure enough it works!   Even though the Y510 didn't mention SDHC it does indeed support the SDHC 16GB card.  And as you can see below it yields respectable  performance numbers.

I enabled it for ReadyBoost and gave it the full 4Gb that was recommended.  It seems to be

working just fine.  I checked the event log and found this:

"The device (Unknown Unknown) is suitable for a ReadyBoost cache. The recommended cache size is 4192256 KB. The random read speed is 6456 KB/sec. The sequential write speed is 9045 KB/sec."

It turned out to be a bit faster than most of my research had led me to believe it would be.  Between this and the 4GB RAM I've about done everything possible to gain performance.  Will be watching over the Summer months to see if any of the optional processors come way down in price. 

Sort of feels like I'm solving a problem that doesn't really exist - as my Y510 is certainly adequate for my needs.  But then - a little extra performance from wherever I can find it is always welcome.

FWIW, my shutdown times are typically 15 seconds.  And bootup times are running right around 80 seconds.  Prior to upgrading the RAM and adding the Readyboost these times were almost twice that long.  But once running I don't really see a huge difference in performance.  The Readyboost feature documentation implies that it takes Readyboost days (if not weeks) to migrate the data it can best use into the Readyboost cache.  We'll see if that makes any difference as time goes on.

Anybody got a new Intel T9300 they'd like to make available for testing?