New Turbo Memory Driver-1.7

There's a recently released Intel Turbo Memory driver, version 1.7: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/fil...dows+Vista*+32&lang=eng&strOSs=164&submit=Go!

According to the release notes, it now has a feature called User Pinning. There's also a support for RAID mode for 2GB modules on the 4 series chipsets, and also supports 4GB modules.

I know there are a few that use it out there. Try the 1.7 and report please?

It all seems to be up to drivers for Intel, whether NAND caching tech or their IGP.

 

Yup just saw earlier today that these were out. The 1.6 drivers released a month ago were botched - everyone was having problems with them causing BSODs and endless loops - I experienced those problems myself after giving Turbo memory another shot. After that experience though I'm afraid to say I've just about given up on this Turbo memory junk. I'm tempted to try this new driver but am scared to do so. I still have the module installed in my laptop, but have disabled it via the BIOS.

 

OOOH, I'll try them!!!
I've got nothing to lose since my data is already backed up for my new hard drive. We'll get to see the speed difference when the HDD is terrible (4200 RPM) and when the HDD is decent/good (WD3200BEVT later this week hopefully). I'll update this thread with my results.

 

Well I just installed them (mostly because the Matrix Storage manager was a new version), and so far so good...smooth as butter. It seems to me performance may be slightly snappier when loading programs, opening things etc. I need to test startup times with a stopwatch though as I only did this after the first reboot after driver installation which took a few seconds longer than usual as expected. I have a T9500 2.6ghz Penryn, 320gb 7200.3 Seagate Momentus with 32mb cache and 4gb of Kingston Hyper-X low latency CL4 DDR2-667 RAM. I will post back in a day or two with more results/experiences and findings. With my setup as powerful as it is, turbo memory was actually previously just slowing it down a bit. We will see if in this scenario with much improved drivers whether it can do any good.

NotYou - please also post back with your findings with this new driver. Intel had brushed turbo memory aside with only one driver for almost an entire year until the release of ITM 2.0, so now it seems that the ITM 2.0 release is doing good for turbo memory drivers in general. Post back!! We're waiting for ya

 

I've been using these new drivers for 2 days so far and everything is working well and stable. I also had frequent problems with older versions of the drivers including PV 1.5 and 1.6 drivers (1.6 drivers never worked for me and most other people from what I read, hence probably why they were replaced so quickly by Intel). I cannot tell whether performance is better or not although (psychologically I'm sure) it does feel that way. I will also bust out a stopwatch and see what kind of boot times I have now. I know without ITM my boot time was almost exactly 1 minute.

Also, the user pinning feature mentioned previously looks to be only for ITM 2.0 hardware as I don't get that feature anywhere in the drivers with my 1gb ITM 1.0 module.

Cheers!

 

That's what I came back to say. I can't believe that it's that retarded that they screw us and don't allow us to do any pinning. If you look in the read me file near the bottom it says it only works with 4GB or bigger modules.

 

Thanks for that, I didn't see the note at the bottom of the readme although I did browse the file. Wow, only 4gb modules 'or bigger' huh, maybe they have larger modules in the works. I thought 4gb would be the largest module. I guess our 1gb (512mb + 512mb) modules don't have enough room to allow any customizable pinning :/

Oh well, all I wanted is a stable driver for the most part - and I FINALLY seemed to have gotten that. Tangible performance gains however, that I'm not sure about.

 

I just ordered a lenovo T400 with ITM 2GB....so I'm guessing this is still 1.0 hardware with 1.7 drivers? would love to see if they do make a difference...otherwise it's a waste of $50

 

No, Lenovo T400 is the new Centrino 2 based notebook, so any Turbo Memory on it will be the Turbo Memory 2.0 version. But you'll need 4GB module to take advantage of the User Pinning, so you might want to think of that again. I don't know the advantage of the ITM 2.0 from 1.0, maybe the chip is faster??

 

hmmm...well the only option was 2GB so that's what I took...hopefully the 2.0 chip is faster or something. I'm hoping that it's better than the nearly useless 1.0

 

Yeah your module is a ITM 2.0 module. 1.0 modules were only available in 512mb or 1gb. The ITM 2.0 module SHOULD be faster, I read on google that it is faster but don't have the link. It wasn't a spec sheet or anything official though, I tried looking around for a spec sheet on ITM 2.0 on intel.com but couldn't find anything. All the data sheets I found did not differentiate between ITM 1.0 and 2.0. It only mentioned that there are 2gb and 4gb cards but did not state that they were 2.0.

 

The BIG differences between the original Intel®
Turbo Memory w/1GB and the New Turbo Memory 2.0 w/2GB or 4GB

Intel® Turbo Memory (code named Robson) uses NAND Flash Memory to work with the Microsoft Windows Vista ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive technologies. It is a new low-latency, non-volatile memory cache between your system memory and your hard drive. It was designed to enable fast access to critical data and applications.

Well, that was the idea anyway.

Turbo Memory w/1GB (Ver. 1.0) on the original Centrino® systems was divided into 2 512MB slices with 512MB dedicated to Vista ReadyDrive, and 512MB dedicated to Vista ReadyBoost. It had its minor performance boosts under Vista if it was used to specifications, but for anyone with 2GB system memory or more its benefit was negligible…and disappointing.

With the launch of Intel® Centrino® 2, Turbo Memory got upgraded from Ver. 1.0 to Ver. 2.0 in 2GB or 4GB modules.

With the new driver version 1.7 you will see a great improvement in user control and performance. This new version now has the Intel Turbo Memory Dashboard. While 512MB will still be dedicated to Vista ReadyDrive the new Dashboard will give the user the option to select how the remaining 1.5 to 3.5GB of space should be allocated between Vista ReadyBoost and Intel® Pinning.

Intel® Pinning will allow you to drag and drop your most used applications or files into the Turbo Memory (e.g. the whole Office 2007 suite will only take up about 600MB) which will allow your pinned files or applications snap open much faster. It will remain in the module until removed from the Dashboard by the user.

This will make the remaining 1.5 to 3.5GB of space an internal Mini SSD for Vista ReadyDrive and the applications that you have chosen to “Pin” to Turbo Memory. Internal testing has shown this will provide a great performance boost in the application load time for the applications that have been pinned.

It’s quite a great alternate internal Mini SSD drive for a very affordable price of around $45 for 2GB or $90 for 4GB, without the hassle of using an external USB flash memory drive.

I love it when a plan comes together!

 

well put paladin and very interesting info....thx.

 

Is the Turbo-memory supplied with T-61 of 1 GB, user upgradable to version 2 with 2 or 4GB?

 

^--^
Yes, but with limitations.

If you have a Centrino laptop (not Centrino 2) with the 1GB module you can replace it with one of the new 2GB or 4GB modules and load the new 1.7 driver. You will then have the Dashboard to create your pinning profile.

However the pinning Dashboard disappears after re-booting. So if you want to change your pinning profile, you have to reload the 1.7 driver to get the Dashboard back for that session only, then delete the previous profile, then re-do your profile. Once you reboot again the Dashboard will be gone until you reload the driver again.

This may not be that big of a disadvantage unless you want to change what you pin often.

As for the as yet unasked question, the 1.7 driver which provides the Dashboard for pinning does not work with the 1GB modules.