Ram Drive, Pc push to the limit...

[renegeek]

Please help, Need advice on this ram drive thing...

I have set up a ram drive on my winXP system... and i found that haveing a ram drive really helps out my performance. but i need some help to verify if this is really something to ohhh about.

System specks.

ASROCK dual VSTA, w/ 2.4ghz 939 socket
2 gigs ram
250 gig HD

When i installed windows. i ran some test. like boot up time, and UT2003 "game"
Standard install boot up time = 20 to 30 some sec.
UT2003, boot time, it seemed like 2 min. to load.

now, with a ram drive of 600mb, and setting the SWP to that drive letter...

boot up time is now 16sec.
UT2003 boot time is now 3 sec...

so, i'm wondering if i get 4 gigs of ram, and set my SWP file of 2gigs, and let the system have the rest of 2gigs, will, i have a screeming pc...

or am i just imaging these fast Numbers...

i need help from other people, to run some test for me... and let me know... what is happing here... and if this is real, and etc...

***Renegeek Computers***
www.renegeek.com
e-mail = info@renegeek.com

Thanks everyone.

 

[nukemaster]

Memory is extremely fast, but your ram drive actually takes away from system memory, so the chance of running out gets higher.

It may work better for some things, but when the memory runs out it will then use the ram drive(swap) and then when that runs out you will get errors(out of mem and such).

If you use 4gigs of memory, you may not see it all due to some 32 bit limitations. The average would be 3.0-3.6GB.

Since swap is used when ram runs out, it should not improve much(without that[ram drive] you have extra ram).

You can try to run windows without a page file, but same thing, once the memory runs out you will get errors.

Either way, more ram never hurts

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

what program are you using for ram drive? Like above poster said wouldn't hurt.

 

[renegeek]

well, i'v never had any problem, in 1 year of using it. i set the ram drive to 700, and set the SWP to min: 650, max: 690, so it can change the size, if needed.. but never had it crash or give me problems... also, i have a MEMORY refresher program, called... free ram xp pro 1.40, and that refreshes the ram for the OS, so it stays at the top of its game... (Because of programs, like have memory leaks.. and such...)

if you want to know where i got the ram drive... it costs 5.00 $us... and if you e-mail me at

info@renegeek.com

i will give you the info about the software... and youll have to contact that co. and pay it... i beleve its a person, and he pays via paypal... but its been like allmost 2 years...

shoot me an e-mail, ill get that info for ya..

thanks everyone...

 

[V3NOM]

RAM drive??

 

[renegeek]

whats your ? "v3nom"

 

[croc]

well, i'v never had any problem, in 1 year of using it. i set the ram drive to 700, and set the SWP to min: 650, max: 690, so it can change the size, if needed.. but never had it crash or give me problems... also, i have a MEMORY refresher program, called... free ram xp pro 1.40, and that refreshes the ram for the OS, so it stays at the top of its game... (Because of programs, like have memory leaks.. and such...)

if you want to know where i got the ram drive... it costs 5.00 $us... and if you e-mail me at

info@renegeek.com

i will give you the info about the software... and youll have to contact that co. and pay it... i beleve its a person, and he pays via paypal... but its been like allmost 2 years...

shoot me an e-mail, ill get that info for ya..

thanks everyone...

(sniff sniff) Does something smell?

 

[nukemaster]

RAM drive??

A ram drive is a software/driver that makes a section of your ram into a hard drive. So you can have a small super fast drive(think of 1000+ MB/sec vs 50-90).

There is also a free one out there that worked based on one of MS's own code. But its size limited and only good for your web browser cache.

My only problem with this, is the fact that it actually takes your memory. so you run out earlier. if it was not in a RAM disk, windows would have used it for the data that is going into the ramdisk. Maybe its just that i do not actually have to page file often(maybe never with 8 gigs now).

Some apps still use the page file so i will not disable it.

renegeek, If it feels faster, do it. More ram 1gig ram drive rest ram, or however you feel you want to partition it.

You can also increase paging performance by paging on multiple drives.

 

[atekido82]

if its software, bit torrent and google are your friend you will find it.

 

[MattC]

This software based ramdrive is news to me! Since it is using regular RAM, which is switched off when you turn the computer off, the ram drive must be reloaded with every boot, correct? If that's the case, the speed increase (at the cost of ram space) would only be available after you have booted up and waited a few minutes for your HDD to send the GB or so of data to that RAM.

Isn't this essentially the same, if less sophisticated, as the superfetch feature in Vista?

 

[royalcrown]

I'd like to know how you boot windows with the ram drive already running, I call bs ! Yes, I am aware of dos versions !

 

[renegeek]

*for mattc* Vista may be a different animal... i dont use vista yet. i'v worked with it here and there, for my clients. but i dont own it. so i have not tryed the ram drive on it, but have read some reviews, from other people, and haveing ram drive... works wonders.

 

[renegeek]

*for royalcrown* well, after its installed. i booted in safe mode, to see if the driver loads in the dos part of xp. and it does... so the driver load only a portion of the ram, like 700mb, and then the os continues to load in the other 1300mb of ram. so win xp only need about 512mb to run... "Right" thats what "Microsoft min specks requirments are" "right"... so the OS has about 1300 to use... and then the os rights the SWP file to that drive at the last sec. before it reviews the widows screen. "your desktop"

I dare you to try it... Royalcrown... thats if you have 2gig or more.

thanks all for your input.

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

In order for the games to actually load faster he would have to have installed them entirely in the ram drive which means he would need 16gb or more to actually do that. BS he's just trying to make a buck.

 

[nukemaster]

I'd like to know how you boot windows with the ram drive already running, I call bs ! Yes, I am aware of dos versions !

Actually superspeed(a creator of one ramdisk product) has been making claims of paging this way for some time. Other users here(and elsewhere) have mentioned doing the same thing(for various reason and have seen improvements). It can be done, how much improvement? no clue.

If it works for someone. give er.

 

[nukemaster]

This software based ramdrive is news to me! Since it is using regular RAM, which is switched off when you turn the computer off, the ram drive must be reloaded with every boot, correct? If that's the case, the speed increase (at the cost of ram space) would only be available after you have booted up and waited a few minutes for your HDD to send the GB or so of data to that RAM.

Isn't this essentially the same, if less sophisticated, as the superfetch feature in Vista?

Most times they have an option to reload. Users who use it for browser cache like it because it can be set to never load or save, then all data is gone on shut down. Paging may be the same.

Super fetch learns what applications you use allot and tried to preload(as oppsed to paging that sticks stuff there after you run out of memory) parts of the app for faster caching. It is IMO a far better use of extra ram. Many users interpret this as wasted memory, but if its needed this cache can be removed to make room for apps. it has NO effect on memory use of apps as its separate. Also loads are only done when the hard drive is not doing something(it gives super fetching a low hard drive priority), so there is no performance hit from loading it either.

 

[royalcrown]

Thx nukemaster and renegeek, the products I used load after the gui portion and I haven't seen any that don't. If that is true it'd sure be interesting

 

[nukemaster]

not saying i will ever do it. with 8 gigs page filing is rare.

 

[renegeek]

*PsyKhiqZer*

I'm not trying to make any money... i'm just trying to find out if 4gigs will make my pc even better... vs 2gigs, for the ram drive. "Please see 1st thread"

thanks