SSD drive with Intel Turbo Memory

I ordered an Alienware M15x and opted for a SSD hard drive. But originally decided against the Turbo Memory because "hey, It's all in the memory" right?

But in reading reviews about applications starting faster with Turbo Memory I went back and called Alienware and asked if having a SSD drive already in place would see any benefits from adding Turbo memory.

The reply I got was, "Of course, why wouldn't it?"

I guess I thought because a SSD doesn't have the seek time worries that a standard HDD has and that THAT was the issue that Turbo memory was addressing... That Turbo Memory wouldn't do much for a system with a SSD.

But for only $50 more it seemed worth the gamble.

So I guess I am looking for answers from anyone who would know or reassurances from anyone... At all.

 

Turbo memory is not a good idea at all. In the rare cases where it did increase performance, it was only by 1% or 2%, a negligible improvement. Otherwise it's been reported to cause BSODs and decrease performance. Also, having a SSD makes any theoretical gains (if turbo memory develops into something worthwhile) redundant.

 

You won't notice with a SSD drive. Load times will be phenominal regardless of the turbo memory.

 

Intel Robinson turbo memory cards are totally useless.
Plus they are only about $10 since everyone wants to sell the ones which came with their laptop.

The turbo memory card in my experience did nothing but slow the system down and create memory issues.
Turbo memory cards will only be advantageous if you have a slow 4200rpm drive in your system.
SInce you have a ssd, you will have no slowdowns from the harddrive.
Please call up and tell teh guy he is an idiot, and do not get the card.
Any tech is going to tell you to buy something extra, they just want to make more money.

1200th post ^_^

K-TRON

 

Thanks everyone for the invaluable information. There is little to no information on the net about this issue. Google searches brought me here where similar questions were asked but not identical. I am surprised that an Alienware Tech, not a sales rep, but a tech, when asked would try and up sell me to something that will do little more then add weight to the computer and possible cause BSOD's

I'll be running apps like PhotoShop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, and Flash all CS3 and the program launch times on those apps can draw out with numerous fonts and plug ins installed, hence the reason for the SSD. Also the reason for the interest in the Turbo Memory.

I'll have 4 gigs of RAM So RAM was not a factor in the choice for Turbo Memory. And yes I am aware that the OS will not officially be able to access all 4 gigs.

When the Alienware tech told me that the launch times would be even faster with Turbo memory because the commonly used programs would already be "loaded into memory based on my usage habits" I asked, "which would be faster, loading from a SSD drive or from Turbo Memory" The reply, "Oh, Turbo memory, definitely". At that point I was sold.

The customer service I received thus far has been top-notch and I'd be surprised if an Alienware tech would try to up sell me while making the system more unstable and possibly resulting in more calls from me to tech support when it's not working. All for a $50 part. Doesn't seem worth it on a (gulp!) $5,000 laptop. It really seems more like the tech is not fully aware of the interactions between a SSD and Turbo Memory.

I have read reviews that Alienware service is not the best but my experience so far shows that they are really working to improve that. But this one little Turbo Memory issue does stand out.

 

Just because it says turbo does not mean its fast. Its advertising. You will see that many failed products use similar catch phrases in names.
In tools, you get like durabilt, obviously crap
Intel extreme processors - exact replicas of the core 2 duo and core 2 quad line, but three-five times as expensive. Ohh, the difference is an unlocked multi. In tests they overclock the same. A user cant tell if it has an unlocked multi. You would have to have an electron microscope and a clean room to find that out.

Do not waste money on the turbo memory card.
When you get your system and your computer bsod's, the first thing I advise to take out is that "wonderful" tubo memory card.
I had one in my t61, and it did nothing but cause problems. It slowed the system down, since ready boot was addressed to run on the turbo memory card.

A turbo memory card has a 28mb/sec continuous write speed.
A standard 5400rpm drive can do 39-45mb/sec
any 7200drive can outpace the turbo memory card.
An ssd, will do like 65-105mb/sec continuous depending on the one in your system, and that is like 2-3x faster than the turbo memory card.

The card is just a waste trust me.

K-TRON

 

Thanks again for the great info guys. + Reputations to you!

 

Please get your money back.
If you really want one. I will sell you mine for $5, but I dont think its even worth it to buy misery.

K-TRON

 

Turbo memory is actually 40MB/s with low fluctuation.

But it doesn't matter, even if it were 50MB/s most SSDs would be faster than this so the benifit would be limited other than to use it as a seperate pagefile drive, and that utility would still be questionable.

Basically regardless of the speed difference, with SSDs getting well above it, there's no benefit at all (since SSDs have all the seek benefits of TurboMemory). Save the $50 and get more software, external flash memory or even beer, all of which would be a better buy than the current Robson/TurboMem.

Next gen R2 is supposed to me much faster, but once again on the latests SSDs it will likely always trail since the SSDs will be using the same or faster NAND as their base on the high end models. Robson2 will be a benefit to older drives, while Robson 1 is really only a benefit to older slower drives right now.

 

I had turbomemory and realized immediately that it did nothing, especially with a ssd. You may not notice it but, depending on the ssd you have it (turbomemory)may slow things in its use. This not only comes from the speed (ssd@ 90MB/s read while turbo is less) but also access time to the memory compared to the .1-2ms access time of the ssd..

Since you just got your ssd may I say congrats and feel free to go through my articles below to 'get to know' your drive if you like.

 

Thanks again for the help. On your suggestions I called Alienware back and asked to have the Turbo Memory removed. I also spoke with a customer service manager regarding the whole process I had been through. She was very apologetic and assured me that the change would not set my order back. I have been pleasantly surprised every step of the way through this order, save the small hiccup of the Turbo Sch-memory.

Thanks again for the advice and helping my save $50 and who knows how many BSOD.... Wait I thought Vista didn't have BSOD's?

And Les, it was your "Intro to SSD" that led me to NoteBookReview in a Google search for SSD's Thanks! + Reps!

 

Forget rep, send Beer!

 

GreatGrapeApe, (hic!) I's got yoursh beers fors you (hic) fur all yuur help.... bur couldsant find your snailssmail (hic) addresh.. So I drAnK it! HAh!!!