Bink just posted a link to a very interesting and informative article on Tom’s Hardware Guide. The article explains:
- How SuperFetch pre-caches commonly used applications in RAM so they load quicker after you start them.
- How ReadyBoost can be used to store SuperFetch data on a USB flash drive if you don’t have enough RAM.
- Compares the performance of the various scenarios to give a clear analysis.
- Makes a recommendation on RAM for Vista.
The results: if you have a PC with 512MB then you should upgrade to 1GB for some serious performance gains. That 512MB makes a big difference. Running 512MB with ReadyBoost will offer a small gain in performance but nothing compared to more RAM. And in the end, having more RAM means you can do more anyway.
My suggestion if you are running business desktops and want to deploy Vista is to try to budget for 2GB RAM. I think that you will eventually use it … you’ll likely have started out with 128 or 256MB RAM XP PC’s and upgraded them all to 512MB. If you can’t afford to go 2GB then 1GB is the way to go … don’t skimp and go with 512MB RAM. 512MB will work fine for a typical business dekstop with XP Pro but Vista is a much hungrier beast.
Credit: Bink.