Readyboost NOT

[William]

I figured the "Windows Experience Index" base score of 3.6 (graphics) was
somewhat on the low side, as all the other scores were closer to five. Then
I read a blurb about "Readybost" and my heart rate went up with the
excitement. I quickly slipped in a 2.0 GB Sandisk memory card, followed the
prompts then refreshed the WEI index to a surprise... WEI dropped from 3.6
to 2.0 and in the bargain, I lost the transparent windows switching Aero
feature completely (which I love).

I spent the better part of day trying to figure out how to get my
performance back to 3.6 and restore the use of Aero, but to no avail.
Restore, that's the key word here at this point. I wasted my time all day
and finally ran Windows Restore to put my computer back to it's original
state.

If anyone has had a similar experience or has used Readyboost successfully,
I'd appreciate hearing what you went through.

-WILLIAM

PS. My new Dell Inspiron E1705 notebook was configured with 2.0 GB RAM from
the factory. I should add that I am no stranger to the computer. I have been
in the industry for twenty years.

 

[Paul Smith]

It's not surprising for a Notebook to have a low-end graphics card compared
to the rest of the hardware.

ReadyBoost won't have any effect on graphics performance, its moving parts
of the page file to a USB drive rather than having the whole thing on the
hard drive.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Byron Hinson]

As Paul said - ReadyBoost won't improve or change any aspect of graphical
performance. Notebooks are well known for low scoring graphics - what card
does it have in it?

 

[William]

So if Readyboost doesn't have any effect on graphics as you say, how do you
explain the drop from 3.6 to 2.0 in the graphics WEI index?
-William

 

[AJR]

William - Again your point is that the index for graphics was 3.6 prior to
"activating" ReadyBoost. Now it is it now 2.0 - same graphics card.

However the index seems to, at times, have a mind of it's own - goes up and
down seemingly at will!

 

[William]

256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory

As Paul said - ReadyBoost won't improve or change any aspect of graphical
performance. Notebooks are well known for low scoring graphics - what card
does it have in it?

 

[Paul Smith]

So if Readyboost doesn't have any effect on graphics as you say, how do
you explain the drop from 3.6 to 2.0 in the graphics WEI index?

I'd explain it as the system being under load when you ran the performance
test. From say caching data to the USB drive.

But without more information its hard to know exactly why.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Markus Herrmann]

Did you chance your Powerplay Settings?
Because if I set the ATI Powerplay Settings to Optimal Battery Life my WEI
dropped also from 3.8 to 2.0.
I have a IBM T60 with a ATI X1400

Herrmann

 

[Byron Hinson]

Well its not going to get any higher than 3.6 I wouldn't say. I'd say adjust
your settings with the ReadyBoost stick in as it really can't lower the
graphical performance, other tests would be - make sure you have the laptop
connected to the AC adapter when you run the tests as the card may have run
in a lower powered mode.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

I figured the "Windows Experience Index" base score of 3.6 (graphics) was
somewhat on the low side, as all the other scores were closer to five.

Nice system, by the sound of it, as at Feb 2007...

I read a blurb about "Readybost" and my heart rate went up with the
excitement. I quickly slipped in a 2.0 GB Sandisk memory card, followed the
prompts then refreshed the WEI index to a surprise... WEI dropped from 3.6
to 2.0 and in the bargain, I lost the transparent windows switching Aero
feature completely (which I love).

That is extremely bizzarre.

Was there anything on the USB stick that may have autorun?

I spent the better part of day trying to figure out how to get my
performance back to 3.6 and restore the use of Aero, but to no avail.
Restore, that's the key word here at this point. I wasted my time all day
and finally ran Windows Restore to put my computer back to it's original
state.

This is IMO a significant issue, and we'd all benefit if we get to the
bottom of it. I could understand how memory performance metrics may
have been clobbered if the USB was seen as memory, or if some race
condition arose between ititing the ReadyBoost and testing the memory
subsystem performance.

It's less easy to see how graphics would break... though I can see one
possibility; confusion as to how much RAM was available to the
shared-memory on-board graphics, e.g...

"How much memory is there?"
' 2G RAM + 3G pagefile = 5G '
(ReadyBoost inits at this point)
"How much memory is in use?"
' 1.75G RAM + 1.5G Readiboost + 3G pagefile = 6.25G '
"OK; that means SVGA has -1.25G, we need +32M; No Aero!!"

....or something like that, tho AFAIK ReadiBoost simply backs existing
pagefile etc. as a fast-seek cache, rather than extends it in capacity

If anyone has had a similar experience or has used Readyboost successfully,
I'd appreciate hearing what you went through.

PS. My new Dell Inspiron E1705 notebook was configured with 2.0 GB RAM from
the factory. I should add that I am no stranger to the computer. I have been
in the industry for twenty years.

No worries... what mobo/SVGA chipset is it?

--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

Saws are too hard to use.
Be easier to use!

 

[Diamontina Cocktail]

I'd explain it as the system being under load when you ran the performance
test. From say caching data to the USB drive.

But without more information its hard to know exactly why.

I'd say it is more because the USB drive he had was low end but ready boost
capable and thus dragged performance down in total according to the ratings.

 

[Squibbly]

I figured the "Windows Experience Index" base score of 3.6 (graphics) was
somewhat on the low side, as all the other scores were closer to five. Then
I read a blurb about "Readybost" and my heart rate went up with the
excitement. I quickly slipped in a 2.0 GB Sandisk memory card, followed the
prompts then refreshed the WEI index to a surprise... WEI dropped from 3.6
to 2.0 and in the bargain, I lost the transparent windows switching Aero
feature completely (which I love).

I spent the better part of day trying to figure out how to get my
performance back to 3.6 and restore the use of Aero, but to no avail.
Restore, that's the key word here at this point. I wasted my time all day
and finally ran Windows Restore to put my computer back to it's original
state.

If anyone has had a similar experience or has used Readyboost
successfully, I'd appreciate hearing what you went through.

-WILLIAM

PS. My new Dell Inspiron E1705 notebook was configured with 2.0 GB RAM
from the factory. I should add that I am no stranger to the computer. I
have been in the industry for twenty years.

the only problem i am having is vista recognising that i got readyboost
flash drive though it does start flashing up on start up, but there is no
readyboost tab on the properties sheet, though since i have been through the
setup stage, am i correct in assuming that it is working and therefore
doesnt need a tab?

 

[William]

the only problem i am having is vista recognising that i got readyboost
flash drive though it does start flashing up on start up, but there is no
readyboost tab on the properties sheet, though since i have been through
the setup stage, am i correct in assuming that it is working and therefore
doesnt need a tab?

Squibbly: God only knows if it's working as there does not seem to be an
easy way to confirm it. In my case the Readyboost tab disappeared as well.
Run WEI to see if performance has improved as a result of Readyboost; this
might give you an indication. In my case, performance figures dropped, so I
uninstalled Readyboost. -William

 

[Squibbly]

Squibbly: God only knows if it's working as there does not seem to be an
easy way to confirm it. In my case the Readyboost tab disappeared as well.
Run WEI to see if performance has improved as a result of Readyboost; this
might give you an indication. In my case, performance figures dropped, so
I uninstalled Readyboost. -William

my figures have stayed the same with 4.0 being the overall index, is that
fast or slow? or even inbetween,

 

[William]

my figures have stayed the same with 4.0 being the overall index, is that
fast or slow? or even inbetween,

Squibbly: If 4.0 is your WEI, then 4.0 is the lowest figure and an excellent
performance figure from what I understand. My system works very well and my
WEI is just 3.6
-William

 

[Rock]

the only problem i am having is vista recognising that i got readyboost

flash drive though it does start flashing up on start up, but there is no
readyboost tab on the properties sheet, though since i have been through
the setup stage, am i correct in assuming that it is working and therefore
doesnt need a tab?

The ReadyBoost tab on the properties sheet for the flash drive doesn't
disappear once ReadyBoost is running. I don't know why it did for you. To
see if ReadyBoost is running open the Reliability and Performance Monitor,
expand the Disk Section and sort by Writes. You should see writes by the
System PID 4 to <drive letter>:\Readyboost.sfcache where drive letter is the
letter for the drive where Readyboost is enabled.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> "Paul

I'd explain it as the system being under load when you ran the performance
test. From say caching data to the USB drive.

But without more information its hard to know exactly why.

I'd hazard a guess that the laptop has USB and graphics on the same chip
(likely a fat northbridge), and when ReadyBoost is running it drags down
the performance of the graphics (and likely other) components too as
ReadyBoost puts a fair amount of load on the USB chipset.