I really have to admit that using Vista with the new NVidia 158.24 drivers and ADDING a 2 GIG thumbdrive to one of my USB ports.....and activating "ReadyBoost", I have totally experienced the best flying with FSX since SP1.I use UT, FS Genesis, and Cloud 9 for the U.S. and Europe. I have Autogen at Normal and Scenery at Extremely Dense. I'm set to Unlimited Frames, and let FS control the AA and AF.Seattle is at least 5-8 frames higher (17-25) and my home airport, KABE is totally smooth and without the slightest stutter. My load times with UT even seem to be 20 secs or so faster. I flew during the daytime, dusk, and nighttime.ReadyBoost didn't seem to make much of a difference to me when I first upgraded to Vista (and I tried it), but I decided to try it again with all the addons. Perhaps I'm just dreaming, but I swear I see a significant difference. For me, then, the thumbdrive is now permanenently inserted into my USB Hub...out of the way, and discreet.

I have some questions....Did you install FSX directly onto the thumbdrive? Is there an option in Vista for activation "readyboost" ?Please adviseTony

Vista won't fit on a 2 GB thumbdrive. When you put a thumbdrive into the computer, Vista will ask if you want to use it for Readyboost or for normal usage. When you use it for Readyboost, you won't be able to use it for normal use anymore, let alone install a program on it.

Spilok, Would you be willing to run a benchmark on your performance? (Flight with ReadyBoost, reboot, flight without ReadyBoost?)I too have a full 4 GB physically installed in the PC, and I was under the impression that with such a large volume of memory (*knowing that 32-bit systems cannot use the whole thing, etc. etc.), the value of using ReadyBoost would be diminished. If you can benchmark out the improvements you experience, it may turn some heads!If you could, also provide the brand/type of flash memory you are using - perhaps that is contributing to your good experiences!-Greg

I'll try to do it this weekend. So far, I'm pleased. Stan

Sounds good, Stan - I was doing more reading on ReadyBoost, and I missed a crucial component of how it works back when I was originally looking at Vista. ReadyBoost works in strong conjunction with SuperFetch, the Windows disk-to-memory caching system. Over time, SuperFetch learns what you use the most, and then caches certain bits of that information into unused RAM. Along the same lines, the ReadyBoost system is dependant on the SuperFetch system to determine what goes into it's flash memory cache. The catch here is that SuperFetch takes time to show it's benefits. It needs a week, or two, or more to determine what you use your Vista computer for, how you open programs, and what you use frequently. As SuperFetch learns, it then starts doing it's job. This means that only after SuperFetch has learned your behaviours will *ReadyBoost* start to be employed!ReadyBoost isn't quite ready straight out-of-the-box as it's name may imply, but it needs some time to figure out how it will be used. It stands to reason that one will need to run Vista for a period of time before ReadyBoost will start to show worthwhile benefits!I'm looking forward to your benchmark attempt Stan. Nothing scientific needed, just a basic idea. Have a stopwatch handy too, as it may impact load times.Cheers,-Greg

I tried my unofficial experiment....and I'm somewhat disappointed, confused, and definitely surprised.With my USB inserted after a fresh morning boot of my computer, it took 25 seconds from click of icon to FSX intro music screen. Then 1:40 to see my Beech Baron on the runway of KABE (default). Frames averaged over 25fps with a low of 21 and a high of 34fps.When I removed the USB, the load to music took 20 seconds. It then took 1:20 to get to runway, and I averaged 28fps with a low of 25 and a high of 37.Then I took the USB out of the USB hub it was in and plugged it directly into my computer's USB slot. Load to music was 10 seconds, 1:20 to runway, and frames averaged 28fps with a low of 25 and a high of 37.Based on this very unofficial test, I would say that my initial impression of ReadyBoost was incorrect...unless I'm not activating it properly.There is no significant difference between having a USB thumbdrive (ReadyBoost) inserted in your computer or not having one when it comes to the overall performance of FSX.

My understanding was that ReadyBoost is really just an inexpensive way to add additional ram to an otherwise ram-limited machine. It is cheaper, but on the other hand, it's much slower than a machine's standard, on-board ram. Like standard ram, Readyboost has almost instantaneous access times but transfers rates are very slow at 5 - 15 MB/sec. Even a modern harddrive will have much faster transfer rates at 50-70 MB/sec.For a modern system with adequate ram resources, it's unlikely much gain will occur from that USB readyboost dongle. But for a Vista laptop with 256 megs on board, you will not be able to live without it. It's possible that allowing old, creaky, ram starved systems to be able to run Vista (with a dirt-cheap upgrade) was the whole purpose of Readyboost.Hummm, speaking of creaky old systems, wonder if that'd get my old P2-333Mhz/384meg-O-ram system to run Vista. That dumb thing cost $1500 plus another $200 for that last 128 meg-O-ram back then. Oh Please, make it go some more!

Hehe. I'm still running my parent's old Celery 400 with 384M RAM as my backup server. It sits in a cupboard, with no monitor, keyboard or mouse and connects into my network automatically on power up via a wireless link. It hangs occassionally, but I have found there is a very strong correlation between the hangs and the vacuum cleaner, which sits next to it, being banged around as it goes in and out the cupboard :-lol. One day I'll replace it with Athlon XP 3200+ I have gathering dust, or my son's A64 3000+ which will likely retire at the end of the year after three years solid service.Gary

From what I've read it is hard to benchmark Vista, because of the learning / adaptive algorithms for pre-fetch etc. Getting a repeatable score seems to be a problem.scott s..