With 4GB of RAM is Turbo Necessary?

With 4GB of RAM is Turbo Necessary? with a 2.4 ghz processor on a t61?

Thanks

 

No not at all...in some cases it has been shown to slow down the performance.

 

With that configuration, I don't think a hard drive is necessary

 

oh i almost forgot...check out this link and try searching the forums on the topic.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=2985&p=4

 

thanks that was a good link. So just to be sure regardless of 2 gigs of ram or 4 gigs of ram. Turbo memory is not worth it as it slows the system down in most cases?

 

Toms Hardware had different results with Readyboost.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/31/windows-vista-superfetch-and-readyboostanalyzed/

 

Thank you for pointing this out, most people here, more people here seem to rather diss turbomemory as per Anandtech....

 

When Turbo Memory was first released it caused some very minor slow downs according to some benchmarks. However, nothing really noticeable for real life performance. It was also falsely blamed for everyones problems. Bloated Vista factory installs had more to do with instability issues than anything else. There are numerous threads that badmouth Turbo Memory. Most of the time someone would chime in and say "but I have the same problem and I don't have Turbo Memory." Since Turbo memory is new technology and it didn't quite live up to it's hype it became the scapegoat for everyone woes.

Intel released a new driver in August that took care of any problems that were Turbo Memory related. The latest Turbo Memory benchmarks show a small improvement in most areas. Most people that have a clean install with the latest drivers from Intel are not having any problems at all. I agree that the performance imporvements of Turbo Memory are disappointing, but it is a cheap upgrade. If you got it use it.

I look for next gen Turbo Memory to be much improved, but until then...

In response to the OP's question. Turbo Memory is not "necessary" on ANY system. It is optional.

 

Just to be clear: Turbo memory doesn't replace the RAM. Two different things. Don't confuse them.

 

Yes, that's right. Think of it like extra RAM, but it's not.

Intel Turbo Memory utilizes two functions of Vista: ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/performance.mspx

So in theory Turbo Memory is more like an extra large hard drive cache. The results are a faster system which is a similar performance boost as adding more RAM, but the mechanism behind which it works is more like an extension of a hard drive cache.

Microsoft markets the ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive technologies as "extra RAM" because they know most lay people know "Oh, extra RAM means a faster system." It's just marketing. If Microsoft would markte it as extra HDD drive cache, then general public would say "Huh". It's easier to market it this way than actually educate the public.

 

I don't like people confusing it. It's supposed to help the HDD and like you said, some sort of extra RAM. It's not supposed to replace the RAM. The more the better and that includes Turbo Memory too.