Primo Cache n00bie questions

I have two 1 TB Samsung 840 EVOs.

1st Drive: C: parition / Size 858 GB (due to over provisioning) where I installed the OS + Games

2nd Drive: D: partition / Size 858 GB (due to over provisioning) where I have my documents + music + videos + etc

I have previously enabled RAPID mode in Samsung Magician but I never noticed any improvement in my system only in benchmarks which is a marketing gimmick from Samsung.

Now as a new user, please answer my questions:

1) How to setup PrimoCache and how much RAM should I allocate? by default, it chose to use 15 GB out of my 32 GB RAM (specs below)

any step by step instructions to how to go on about setting up as I saw some options that I didn't know what they do so I just let everything at default

2) Does PrimoCache improve overtime by learning how I use my system and choosing what it would cache?

3) is it true that one should install PrimoCache last as it can cripple software installations?

4) Should I enable RAPID WITH PrimoCache or leave that useless thing aside?

5) When I benchmarked my SSD, the scores sky rocketed, how was PrimoCache improving a synthetic benchmark when it was the first time I run that benchmark? it didn't even have time to cache anything?

6) My Samsung Magician OS Optimzation tweaks disable Superfetch, is this OK? will it interfere with how PrimoCache works?

thank you

 

Primocache should be disabled when installing software or doing windows updates. Personally i use default settings which allocates about 8 GB of RAM. Primocache essentially does the same thing as RAPID but unlike RAPID it works with RAID setups and any brand of HDD. The advantage of Primocache is that your not restricted to only 1GB of RAM so you can make the cache any size you like depending on how much RAM your system has. Using RAPID and Primocache at the same time would be pointless as essentially they do the same thing. Disk benchmarks skyrocket with a RAM cache because its giving you RAM speed not actual disk speed....this is why RAID 0 will always give you better real world disk speed in day to day tasks and results in snappier performance. Apart from some benchmarks that have a diskspeed component eg: pc mark 7 general web browsing and repeated tasks just run much faster with primocache....a great and usefull piece of software if nothing else it will help reduce the number reads and write of your tlc nand flash which what your evo 840 drives use and help prolong the drives life span:thumbsup:

 

I think the amount of RAM you need to use is dependant on the file sizes you expect to use. For example if you use AS SSD bench mark then set the cache to lower than 1gb, u will notice the benchmarks are terrible as AS SSD uses 1gb file size for its benchmark and therefore cant fit into the cache. I personally haven't noticed and benefit from using large cache sizes over the 1gb so I now set it at 2gb in my 16gb laptop.
I also set the defer write time limit to the lowest of 10s. I have had some problems setting at the highest time before with disk errors/corruption, although Primo may not have been the cause.
The superfetch being disabled is to save writing to the SSD so prolonging its lifespan. SSD's are generally thought to not need these tweaks anymore, but I don't think it really matters either way, try both and see what works for you.

 

I have used both FancyCache (starting 2 years ago), and Primocache, and have had terrific results (I purchased the 2-license pack for $49.00 - a bargain).

I have 16 GB of DDR3-12800 RAM on my i7-4700MQ quad core laptop, and 8 GB of DDR3-12800 RAM on my i5-2410M laptop, and I've found that 1536 MB (1.5 GB) is the real "sweet spot" Primocache cache size for my needs (100+ tab browsing, graphic / video editing, some serious gaming), for both laptops. Also, I set it to both read/write, and a block size of 16KB works best, I've found. 10 second latency (pending write release).

Best of all, PrimoCache also cuts way down on writes to my 256GB Samsung Pro 840 and my 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs, keeping the wear levels way down & extending the lifetimes of the cells.

By the way, I used the Samsung Magician software only for setting up the 1-time over-provisioning partition, and for getting S.M.A.R.T. info on the 840 Pro. I found the "RAPID" mode to give very mixed - or even worse - results, which makes it worthless, in my book. Don't bother with "RAPID", and stick with Primocache.

One annoying aspect of the Magician software: there's no way to prevent it from starting up with Windows 7 except by removing the entire package).