>>When I installed VISTA Business on my notebook ("express upgrade") I had read about ReadyBoost and so bought a 4GB USB2 Kingston DataTraveler DTI/4GB and attached it as soon as VISTA was installed and set it to have the whole thing used for ReadyBoost.
>>
>>The system felt quick enough and I assumed that ReadyBoost was helping out.
>>
>>This was confirmed when, after installing SP1 the system slowed down somewhat as warned by MS because the ReadyBoost content would all be invalidated and rebuilt for the new code base.
>>The system did get back to its previously experienced speed.
>>
>>This week I read about a OCZ USB2 Rally2 that was claimed to be very fast, with a 4GB stick being cheap enough. Then I saw a Rally2 Turbo and a performance review showed it to be the fastest stick currently on the market by a long shot. Unfortunately it cost 3 times the non-turbo item.
>>
>>In any case I decided to remove the Kingston stick and run without ReadyBoost pending buying an OCZ stick. This would let me do a subjective comparison of the three different 'states'.
>>
>>To my great surprise my system is much snappier WITHOUT ReadyBoost active!!! While Vista offered ReadyBoost as an option for the Kingston stick, I **guess** its performance criteria are pretty low.
>>
>>Does anyone run their Vista system using a OCZ Rally2 or Rally2 Turbo for ReadyBoost? If so, did you feel any significant speed increase after doing so?
>>
>>Thanks
>
>Hi Jim
>
>I'm not using Vista or ReadyBoost, but a flash drive is faster for read operations, so things that tend to be very static would be good candidates. I'd expect everything non-static to cause worse performance. Besides flash ram is going to wear out eventually. YMMV

Hi Mike,

Smart move not using Vista! I use it simply because it arrived ('free' with new PC buy) while I ws convalescing and bored out of my mind. Gave me something to do.

ReadyBoost is supposed to be used strictly for static RAM content, as determined internally by Vista. Of course the content has to be written there first.
Vista is not supposed to offer the ReadyBoost option when you plug in a stick that does not have some minimum performance capabilities.

The sticks are cheap enough that I don't really care if it 'wears out', but I do want it to do the job MS says it will do.

I really hope that someone who has used a OCZ stick will comment on their performance obervations.

cheers