When is it not recommended to use ReadyBoost in Windows Vista?

When is it not recommended to use ReadyBoost in Windows Vista? I've read lots of questions here in SU about ReadyBoost and that it does help low-end machines. However, there is nothing definitive about the upper limit -- when is using ReadyBoost negligible (or even detrimental)?
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 370

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"From this article : Microsoft Windows Vista & ReadyBoost: Does it Make a Difference?
This article contains performance tests that try to answer this question.

It says:

What many people failed to realized is
that newer PCs, with quick hard drives
like the Western Digital Raptor (for
example) don't necessarily see the
same impact from ReadyBoost as first
thought. It's really only older
computers, which have been upgraded to
Microsoft Windows Vista but barely
meet the minimum operating system
requirements, that potentially benefit
from ReadyBoost.

ReadyBoost makes a bit of a difference
when the system has 512MB of memory,
but it's nothing to write home about.
If you're at the minimum end of PC
infrastructure, ReadyBoost may make
things a bit more bearable but you'd
be better off upgrading system memory
to at least 1GB RAM."

Guest [Entry]

"The thing about RAM is that it is extremely fast! Way faster than a harddrive is when feeding the CPU data. This is why RAM was invented. (ram 6gb/s vs disk 60/90MB/s) (aprox.)

However, when there is RAM available, Readyboost will not do you much good. When there is no RAM available, readyboost might improve the responsiveness of your machine, but I doubt it will be any faster.

If you have three GB of RAM. I do not think readyboost will change your performance, not even a bit. SD and USB drives still are much slower than RAM.

So to answer your question. It is never recommended to use Readyboost unless you are totally out of RAM."