16gb RAM vs 32gb Readyboost

[Ajwork]

Dear Community,

I recognize and admit that any benefit that could possibly result from either (if not both) hardware implementations would be minuscule at best, but, in theory, which would likely boost performance more in your opinion on a computer with 2x4gb RAM in 1600mhz dual channel mode (buying a new system is not an acceptable response. Seriously.):

2x8gb RAM 1600mhz in Dual Channel
This SD Card configured for readyboost (with proper cooling, of course)

This is just a theoretical question, of course; I know the gains, if any, would be minimal. But, in your opinion, which would offer a bigger boost? Do you have any hard evidence to support your claim?

Regards,
Ajwork

 

[Ironsounds]

hello... what model of SD card are you look to use... this is needed to determine any hard evidence and the connection type for that device... will determine the speed of your readyboost.

 

[HVDynamo]

Unless you are running memory intensive things, the original 8GB should be more than enough to have a fast system. That said, I would always recommend more RAM over readyboost. Readyboost is designed to be used in systems where there isn't enough RAM, having 8GB or more is enough RAM and readyboost isn't going to give you any notable increase in performance. In addition to that SD cards are much slower than RAM. Honestly for most situations you don't need to do anything, but if you are looking for an upgrade, then go with the RAM and don't bother with readyboost.

 

[ddpruitt]

These are designed to do different things. More RAM is only useful for programs that use a lot at once, most don't (8GB is the most I've ever seen anything use). The vast majority of the time data is paged out of RAM and into the swapfile, this is where ReadyBoost comes in handy. ReadyBoost holds cached pages so when a pagefault occurs it takes less time to page it back into RAM.

I know it's a bit confusing, but essentially it boils down to this RAM if you have something that will use it, ReadyBoost otherwise (or SSD if you can afford it). If you really want a detailed described lookup a few memory architecture articles, they have some interesting info.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I agree with HVDynamo. 8GB is fine for almost any useage except a primary photo/video editing machine or if you are running some CAD or VM applications. And readyboost is slower.

 

[Ajwork]

hello... what model of SD card are you look to use... this is needed to determine any hard evidence and the connection type for that device... will determine the speed of your readyboost.

There's a link in the opening post (click on the phrase "This SD Card")

 

[Ironsounds]

hello... 95mb/s speed is very slow... vs Ram speed of... 1600 Mt/s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR3_SDRAM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_memory_cards

 

[J_E_D_70]

If you're looking to try something, go with 2x8GB and run a freeware RAMdisk of 4GB. You can point your swapfile to that so even if Windows thinks it's paging something out, it's effectively not...