Gigabyte's i-RAM storage device - The Tech Report - Page 1

Gigabyte's i-RAM storage device - The Tech Report - Page 1

"...

Those dissatisfied with the performance of mechanical storage solutions can tap solid-state storage devices that substitute silicon for spinning platters. Such devices shed the mechanical shackles that limit hard drive performance, but they've hardly been affordable options for most users. Then Gigabyte unveiled the i-RAM, a $150 solid state-storage device that plugs directly into a motherboard's Serial ATA port, accommodates up to four run-of-the-mill DDR SDRAM modules, and behaves like a normal hard drive without the need for additional drivers or software.

Gigabyte first demoed the i-RAM at Computex last summer, and cards have finally made their way to the North American market. One has also made its way to our labs, where it's been packed with high-density DIMMs and run through our usual suite of storage tests. Read on for more on how the i-RAM works, what its limitations are, and how its performance compares with a collection of single hard drives and multi-disk arrays.

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I blogged about this last year, RAM disk with up to 4 GByte capacity and a battery... $80 bucks, and while I still think it's pretty cool, I'm having second thoughts about if I'd get it for myself.

A) Since I original saw it, I've seen Vista and its SuperFetch. Now if Vista could be configured to use this solid state drive as it does USB drives for SuperFetch, then that would be something...

B) 10 hour power backup, means I'd never put my OS or important apps on it. So for me, it's primary purpose would be for my page file and temp folder (4GB is not big enough to act as my CD-ROM ISO cache folder).

C) With 64 bit here, we're going to start seeing RAM heavy machines. WinXP64 supports 128GB of RAM... So I'd bet we'll be seeing RAM Drives coming back into vogue and the death of page files (as we know them today...).

So I see it as a stop-gap product, with limited future re-use. I think I'll save my money for a new video card... ;)

(via Gameguru Mania - Gigabyte's i-RAM storage device )