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About LinkBacksvirtualization, VMWare workstation, virtualbox, microsoft pc.Originally Posted by SiM
hell if you can buy 8gb then its worth it, as long as it isnt too pricey.
virtualization, VMWare workstation, virtualbox, microsoft pc.
hell if you can buy 8gb then its worth it, as long as it isnt too pricey.
I'm not convinced that a RAM disk for your swap files AND temp files is going to work as intended - can you actually set up your swap file on a RAM disk, and what happens if your temp files run out of space? And how do you go about loading those games into RAM? XP's RAM disk driver has bugs; that I know.
you can buy adapters to turn ddr2 sticks of ram into a single hdd it acts as a ssd (solid state disk)
but an 8GB hdd isn't really much use for a normal person, they wouldn't do enough work on the machine for the speed increase to be worth the money.
I would use it for windows so its a one second boot time
Enlighten me if you know this as a fact. I only know of the i-RAM, but that only takes DDR RAM (up to 4GB I think). And it's performance is not as great, given that it is limited by the SATA 1 interface.
The i-RAM's successor was announced a while ago, but I am not aware of it being released. I think it's meant to take up to 8GB of DDR2, not that the type of RAM matters (except for the cost, which DDR2 shines at the moment) since it is once again restricted by the SATA-2 interface (but up to 300MB this time). Again, it's not out yet, but if you know of alternatives, then do tell.
Last edited by TooNice; 20-05-2007 at 01:39 AM.
Its not limited by the sata1 interface that afterall would lead to 1.5gb/sec transfer speed which is obviously a stupid amount of speed in theory ssd would be able to reach this speed but it will be good few years before we do...... there is the I-ram on scan which is ddr and I saw on some american forum a similar product by a different company which used ddr2 these adapters are rare though......... I was going to use a ssd for my htpc but apparently they slow down with age and degrade after awhile is this true???
Say you have 8GB and turn 4GB into a ram disk. Having 4GB ram left means you can dispense with the swap file entirely, or you can set up one that's fixed size and small (say 1GB) if you feel less adventurous. Change the logical assignments for your normal temp directory/directories and browser cache and you should still have space left over. The only thing you need to keep on HD is your work folders for music/video decoding/encoding, as they'll likely need more space.
You're right concerning the XP driver being bugged, but there's at least one available that's fixed and improved. However, you'll be much better off buying one of the many commercial versions, as they'll give you a host of additional features. For instance, you'll be able to set it up so that your chosen folders are loaded into ram at boot instead of having to execute batch files or doing it manually.
As far as games go, you can simply load the whole game folder into ram and run it from there Granted, for some games this may not work, or they may require a host of re-assignments to be made, but most are pretty "independent" in my experience and will run without complaint. Just check if you can move the game folder from one drive to another and still run it; if so you'll have no problems.
By all means, it won't be useful for everybody - anybody using their PC in short stints and then shutting it down again will find the whole thing way too bothersome. Personally I never shut down the machine though, so whatever I have to do manually will only have to be done once a week or so, which is approx. how often I reboot.
Or you could just install Linux and not need to swap at all *shrug*, then mount /tmp & /var/tmp with tmpfs, sorted..
Ah, but then you're forgetting the weeks or months it'd take me to fully master a new OS ("mount /tmp & /var/tmp with tmpfs" is roughly equal to "Лондон опроверг сообщения о том" in my book). I've tried Linux 5 or 6 times over the years, but I've never become remotely sold on it. May take Ubuntu for a spin sometime soon, but all in all I really see no earthly reason why I should make the change. A few years back I saw the point in moving over, but these days Windows works and is even stable and reliable, so why swap?
Granted I've been running Linux for years and I know how to get it to do what I want in no time at all, but I only got to that point by learning, computers aren't remote controls you can't just tap a few buttons and expect it to do what you're thinking... without thinking.
Oh I know that much. Having been computer literate since I bought an Oric-1 some time ago, I'm reasonably sure I could get around Linux if I wanted. The point is that...there is no point in doing so that I can see. Back in the time of Win98 and to a lesser extent Win2000 there was a point, as Linux could provide far, far better stability and security - if you cared nothing for user-friendliness. Today Linux is, at long last, catching up in terms of useability, but in terms of stability it's no longer needed in the least. Security-wise its still no doubt way ahead, but then Windows is plenty secure if you only use a smidgeon of common sense.
Windows does everything I want, runs all the games and programs I might want, is stable, fast and secure (as long as I know what I'm doing) - so why would I want to swap?
Well you can't see a point in anything if you don't try to learn the ins and outs. There's a whole lot more to Linux than stability and security, and it isn't as user-unfriendly as you'd imagine, dispite microsoft's 'get the fud' campeign.
Point is you're talking about getting 8Gb to put a ramdisk on windows (which is broken) for the pagefile (which linux wouldn't touch), and moving your temp directories onto the ramdisk (which works on linux brilliantly with the stable tmpfs (temporary filesystem)).
I've used Linux for a long time now, and one of the first mistakes I made was attempting to emulate my Windows usage, and you will too I'm sure. It's not just 'another windows' it's an entirely different approch to using your system. It's just something you may think about looking into on the side, whether it's dual-booting or virtualisation.
I'm absolutely sure you're right and that Linux is a superior OS in many, many, many ways. I'm no Windows fanboy (way too old for starters), I'm just lazy as hell and no longer all that interested in tinkering with all and sundry. Like I said, I'll likely give Ubuntu a try after a new machine is up and running in a few weeks, but as long as I have to dual-boot in order to run games and whatnot there's really no great point to it other than curiosity. I'm simply not willing to endure dual-booting when one OS can do it all (even if it doesn't do it as well).
Yeah, dual-booting is a pain in the hole, VMware Server is an invaluable tool for testing things though.
OK so we now have the situation where to get the benefits of the 8Gb of RAM you have to learn a new OS or buy a third party product. Even then its use is limited to temp files (4Gb max) or a game that you can load into the 4Gb that will work.
And 4x2Gb will run slower than either 2x2Gb or 4x1Gb. Is this only for those who have money to burn?
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