The title of this article sounds like a cheesy ad placement, but it's not. Have users ever wondered what to do with a system with a ton of RAM, but not use nearly all of it (like me)? I found an interesting editorial in my MaximumPC magazine about that. The solution: Create a virtual RAMDisk. It's exactly what it sounds like; to use some of your system's RAM as storage. And after using CrystalDiskMark for benchmarking, I can tell you...that it's WAY faster than an SSD. It's about 6 times faster than the Vertex 3 i'm currently running. The downside, you'll have to sacrifice your own system's RAM. So that means, very few gigabytes of your system can actually benefit from 3000+MB/s Read & Write speeds. Here's my results:
Don't believe it? Try running "DataRam's RAMDisk" for yourself.
http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdiskCreate a new Virtual Disk (if you have enough RAM) and then run CrystalDiskMark or other disk benchmarking tool and see for yourself. My RAM is nothing special. It's just DDR3-PC10600. So it's not like it's high-end or anything.
This software is one valid reason why techies & end-users should upgrade their RAM. But remember, you'll only be able to store a few gigs on it, so don't plan on installing games or Photoshop on it.
Here is another tip I would recommend: For the most frequently used software (small programs such as web browsers), uninstall that program from your local disk (either HDD or SSD) and reinstall on the virtual RAM drive. The virtual drive loads automatically after logging in (with the software I used anyway). Browsing speeds will skyrocket, regardless of what browser you use (unfortunately, streaming video isn't much faster). Install other small, but frequently used programs as well to take advantage of ~3000MB/s disk read/write speeds!
And one more thing, it's not bootable. I've already tried it. Maybe other RAM Drive software could do this, but not RAMDisk.
Try this if your system has a ton of unused RAM, which just sits there and does nothing. You'll greatly benefit from it (after installing programs to the VD).