Improve Frame Rates by eleminating Hard Drive Access

I have read, that when doing benchmarking with Games, one should always "preload" a level, and then take data the second time through, because Hard Drive access times will slow down Frame Rates the first time through.

I have also read that windows Vista (I do not plan to upgrade to vista from XP) allows for flash drives to augment system RAM. According to PC Mag. this does provide increased performance if one's system is low on RAM because Flash access/read times are faster than PATA/SATA access times.

Is there a way to completely load Oblivion on to RAM before I start playing, to ensure that I will have ZERO Hard Drive access.
..............OR,,,,,,,,,,,,,
should I try running OBlivion from a Flash drive?
**Would it be prudent to purchase a flash drive for this purpose?
**If so, what kind (SD, CF,..)?
**How could I implement this? (USB 2.0, Firewire, etc..)

I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Thanks

-P!P