Sandisk ReadyCache

Hi everybody,

I was reading all discussions about SSD's and the Sandisk ReadyCache option, and I think you are quite wise and you can help me to improve my system's performance. My desktop is "a little bit" outdated:

Processor AMD Athlon X2 6000+

Motherboard M2V Chipset VIA K8T900

2Gb RAM Kingston DDR2-800 CL5

GPU Radeon X1550 with 256 dedicated RAM

I know that this system it is not too much powerful, but so far I´m happy with the performance in general. Logos 5.2 runs quite well for such a limited hardware but I would like to improve the performance somehow without spending too much money.

I ordered 2x2Gb RAM Kingston DDR2-800 CL6 which I suposse is compatible with the RAM installed and I will get a total of 6Gb of RAM. Going back to SSD's, I was thinking to buy a Samsung 840 EVO 120Gb, but then I realised that my motherboard only has 2 ports SATA I. There is as well another SATA II port (chipset Marwell 88SE6121) but it is not possible to install the operating system with the HDD connected to it. I have a PCI-e Axago PCES-30 providing 2xSATA II interfaces (where my main HDD is connected) but CPU-Z and CrystalMark say that the real speed is only 1,5 Gbps, taht's is, SATA I.

Because of this, I'm considering to buy a Sandisk ReadyCache solution. I know that the performance is not the same that with a real SSD (but a lot of opinions from buyers at amazon.com say that in a real life the performance is quite similar) but at least I can connect it to the SATA II interface in my motherboard because it is not the system disk and, of couse, I will not connect the Samsung 840 EVO in a SATA I port. Do you think that I could get some improvements in performance with Logos 5 (not indexing of course, but at least during normal work) by installing the Sandisk ReadyCache? I there somebodys using it with Logos 5?

I cannot afford to buy a new system and/or change more things on it because I think is not worthy of. At this moment I have some pre-orders for Spanish collections and I prefer to spend my limited money in them than in a more powerful system (I will enjoy the new resources even if everything is slower).

Thanks for your help.

Blessings,

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Comments

Greg Stevens

Hi,

Yes, the ReadyCache product should work nicely on your system.

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/543815#Comment_543815

Why not go over to their forum and find out for yourself? It seems there may be certain issues.

Jesús Polaino

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/543815#Comment_543815

Thanks for your answer Greg. Do you have it in your computer? I realised now that my motherboard doesn´t accept the AHCI protocol... Do you think that even with this limitation can work properly on my system? Thanks again.

Lee, thanks for taking time to answer. I checked their forum (thanks anyway) but they cannot tell me if their product will improve Logos 5. This is why I´m asking here, to know expreiences from Logos users.

Blessings

Lee

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/543940#Comment_543940

Before asking about Logos, you need to find out how well this SSD would work on your system.

There may be hardware incompatibilities. Also, there may be problems in the bundled software called ExpressCache that quite a lot of people are complaining about.

You could post there to find out.

Jim Snowden

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/543958#Comment_543958

I've had the Sandisk ReadyCache in my PC for about a year. It is also an AMD x2.

I got a small SATA 3 card to plug in to the motherboard (PCIEXpress I think or something like that) and conect the Sandisk ti that.

I think your RAM increase is probably more helpful - providing you are running a 64-bit version of Windows and so can see all of it. I think in theory Windows 32-bit can see almost 4Gbytes, but my AMD CPU/motherboard limits that to only 3Gbytes.

On the Sandisk side, I did some very rough checks when I first got it on how quickly Logos started up. There wasn't really any noticeable difference with the Sandisk. I think it feels a bit quicker, but not really mind blowing.

Some other apps I have do seem more noticeably faster loading up (eg Bibleworks, sorry!), but again in actual use not much difference. But Windows starts up noticeably quicker.

I haven't had a problem with the ExpressCache software. I think that is really just a GUI onto the underlying Sandisk Windows driver. It has been very reliable. Occasionally (4 or 5 times since I got it, usually after some Windows updates) it says it needs to rebuild the cache, but that doesn't really cause any problems. No problems at all with lost/corrupted data etc.

I've used it with Windows 7 and now Windows 8. My PC cries when I tried updating to Windows 8.1 - I think a video driver incompatibility.

I think on balance the performance improvement I've got is probably worth the price of the sandisk. But if I had the money, I'd first replace my main disk with SSD (using the add on SATA 3 card to get max speed from it- I think the card lets you boot from the attached disk). Then replace motherboard/CPU with something more powerful (although I've tried Logos on my work laptop which has a new i5 2.6Ghz cpu, and Logos isn't really amazingly faster on that than my ancient AMD machine. It is faster on an old Motion Computing laptop I use when on the move (duo core 1.4Ghz, but with main disk being an SSD).

Jim

Jesús Polaino

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/543975#Comment_543975

Lee, thanks again for your answer. I have read all the ReadyCache forum and nearly all problems with the software is because a wrong update from the previous version, which is not my case. And in amazon.com buyers are quite happy in general.

Jim, thanks very much for sharing your experience with Sandisk ReadyCache. I knew from other users that the ReadyCache speeds up the system, especially the boot time. Although this is good, what I want is to improve the performance of my Logos 5 installation and accordig to your experience the impact is near to zero. Because of this, I think I wll not buy it. More opinions from Logos users will be quite helpful to make the final decision. I didn't get the 4GB RAM I ordered, so first I want to see the real impact of this in my system.

Thanks as well for sahring your experience with Logos 5 in different systems. Apart of Logos 5 speed, which is not so bad for my system, I'm happy for the general performance, so I never considered the possibility to change more components (maybe the graphic card) because it will be cheaper to buy a new system. But as I said before, I prefer to spend my money in new resources in prepub.

Thanks again.

Blessings,