I've run 3 of my machines off of USB 2.0 sticks in 2.0 slots (dual Xeons rigs that don't support 3.0) and there is very little difference in performance to running off the internal HDD. You might get a small boost off of using 3.0 sticks but if 2.0 is close to HDD capability then it won't be much.

All the articles I found on running remote dual boot used methods I'm not willing to screw with remotely where I have no access to the machines for months. When I head south in another 5 weeks I will have the machines with programmable power strips and powered USB hubs. If I want to switch to Linux I will turn on the USB hub (with Linux stick) using the programmable power strip and then reboot the machine. If I want to run Windows I will turn off the hub and reboot and the machine will go into its default Windows OS.

If someone has a better way of doing it, I certainly be interested in hearing about it also