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    Flash Cache Module - Dell Inspiron 1520

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by ady_9, Apr 26, 2008.

  1. ady_9

    ady_9 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello everybody. I bought an Inspiron 1520 about three months ago and recently I started wondering what the "Flash Cache" option in the notebook's BIOS is. I can only set it as enabled when the AHCI is selected (SATA operation) so I guess it has some kind of connection with the hard disk drive.
    I am guessing that it could be Intel Turbo Memory, but I am not certain if my inspiron does have something like that. How can I found out? And if it really dows have the Turbo Memory...do I have to separately install a driver for it?
    Regards, ady_9.
     
    ady_9, Apr 26, 2008
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  2. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    nizzy1115, Apr 26, 2008
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  3. jayno20

    jayno20 Notebook Consultant

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    this of course is extremely subjective... i've read reviews saying it doesnt do jack and other reviews praising it for making things faster... personally i've noticed about 10 seconds off of my boot time while using it and if i take the card out of the laptop those 10 seconds go right back onto my boot time..
     
    jayno20, Apr 26, 2008
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  4. Rodster

    Rodster Merica

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    Anandtech did an extensive review on Turbo Memory and said it really offers no significant performance and in fact will hurt performance depending on the application. The OP would be better served installing 4GB of ram which I just bought (Crucial Value Select PC5300) from Newegg.com for $73.98 with free shipping.
     
    Rodster, Apr 26, 2008
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  5. ady_9

    ady_9 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I haven't seen my RAM more than 70-80% occupied. Would the additional RAM help in this case? (I now have 2 GB RAM and use Windows Vista Business 64-bit) Would I be able to deactivate paging of the files? Couldn't I do that now?
     
    ady_9, Apr 26, 2008
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  6. Rodster

    Rodster Merica

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    I would not suggest disabling your page file in Windows Vista. One thing Vista has in it's favor over XP is memory management. While it looks like you still have a lot of resources you never know if Vista will need the extra resources of the page file.
     
    Rodster, Apr 26, 2008
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  7. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    I have 3gbs ram and have disabled virtual memory (slow access times from the hard drive) and my laptop is much snappier.
     
    nizzy1115, Apr 26, 2008
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  8. ady_9

    ady_9 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Nizzy1115, could you please give me instructions in disabling the virtual memory? I will try using the laptop like that for a few days and if problems do appear, I'll just reactivate Virtual Memory.

    LE: So I deactivated paging of file. No difference what so ever...
     
    ady_9, Apr 26, 2008
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  9. jalalabee

    jalalabee Notebook Geek

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    Right click "Computer"
    Select "Properties"
    Under "Tasks" on the left hand side, select, "Advanced system settings"
    Select the, "Advanced" tab
    Select "Settings..." under the "Performance" section
    Select the, "Advanced" tab
    Select, "Change..." under the "Virtual memory" section
    Deselect "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives"
    Select your drives, hit "No paging file"
    Hit "OK"
     
    jalalabee, Apr 26, 2008
    #9