Intel Turbo Memory is a technology introduced by
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...
that uses NAND
flash memory
Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...
modules to reduce the time it takes for a computer to power up, access programs, and write data to the
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
. During development, the technology was codenamed Robson.
It is supported by most of the
Core 2 Mobile chipset series, but not by the newer
Core i Series mobile chipsets.
Overview
The technology was publicly introduced on October 24, 2005, at the
Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
when a
laptop
A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...
that booted up almost immediately was demonstrated.
The technology attempts to decrease hard drive usage by moving frequently accessed data over to the flash memory. Flash memory can be accessed faster than hard drives and requires less power to operate, thereby allowing laptops to operate faster while also being more power efficient.
The Turbo memory cache connects to a
motherboard
A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...
via a mini-
PCIe
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed standard used to connect hardware components inside computers. It is designed to replace older expansion bus standards such as Peripher ...
interface.
It is designed to leverage features introduced in
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...
, namely
ReadyBoost
ReadyBoost (codenamed EMD) is a disk caching software component developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista and included in later versions of Windows. ReadyBoost enables NAND memory mass storage CompactFlash, SD card, and USB flash drive devices to ...
(a supplementation of RAM-based disk caching by dedicated files on
flash drives, except on the 512 MB version) and/or
ReadyDrive (a non-volatile caching solution, i.e. an implementation of a
hybrid drive
A hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD, and dual-storage drive) is a logical or physical computer storage device that combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard disk drive (HDD). Th ...
, as long as the main storage isn't already one);
as ReadyBoost is backed by temporary files on generic storage volumes, it is unofficially possible to destinate this space for general purpose storage.
Turbo Memory is not compatible with previous versions of Windows (with only a
no-op
In computer science, a NOP, no-op, or NOOP (pronounced "no op"; short for no operation) is a machine language instruction and its assembly language mnemonic, programming language statement, or computer protocol command that does nothing.
Mac ...
driver that merely acknowledges the device existing for Windows 2000 and XP);
Linux support is limited to a third-party experimental
MTD driver only supporting 2 GB modules.
Availability
Intel Turbo Memory was made available on May 9, 2007, on the Intel's ''
Santa Rosa'' platform and their ''Crestline'' (GM965)
chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components on one or more integrated circuits that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. The chipset is usually found on the motherboard of computers. Chips ...
s. Intel Turbo Memory 2.0 was introduced on July 15, 2008, on Intel's ''
Montevina'' platform and their ''Cantiga'' (GM47)
chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components on one or more integrated circuits that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. The chipset is usually found on the motherboard of computers. Chips ...
s. It is available in 1, 2, and 4GB modules. It is supported in the Intel
965 Express chipset, and the Intel
4 Series Express chipsets (2GB and 4GB modules only).
Several retailers, such as
Acer,
Asus
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (, , , ; stylized as ASUSTeK or ASUS) is a Taiwanese Multinational corporation, multinational computer, phone hardware and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. Its products include deskto ...
,
Dell
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
,
Lenovo
Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...
,
Sager,
Toshiba
is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...
,
etc., sold laptops enabled with the Intel Turbo Memory technology.
Reception
A review in
AnandTech
''AnandTech'' was an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in April 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who was CEO and editor-in-chief until August 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chief. ...
largely concurred with some OEM criticism finding that "it basically does nothing for the user experience".
HP refused to use the technology.
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
wrote in 2009 that Turbo Memory "never took off", and
CNET similarly pronounced that it was "never widely adopted", because "Turbo Memory (and Turbo Memory 2.0) wasn't cheap, and it definitely wasn't worth the cost."
In 2009 Intel had announced the successor to Turbo Memory for the 5-Series mobile chipsets, codename Braidwood. However, the series was launched without this technology. The
ThinkPad
ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop and Tablet computer, tablet computers produced since 1992. It was originally designed, created and manufactured by the American IBM, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. IBM Acquisit ...
lineup built on the
first generation Intel Core-i platform features
lands to connect a Braidwood module, however no production ThinkPad motherboard had the connector populated. In 2011,
The Register
''The Register'' (often also called El Reg) is a British Technology journalism, technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee (journalist), Mike Magee and John Lettice. The online newspaper's Nameplate_(publishing), masthead Logo, s ...
wrote "I think we can say Braidwood has sunk without trace."
Intel trying a flash cache again
The Register
''The Register'' (often also called El Reg) is a British Technology journalism, technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee (journalist), Mike Magee and John Lettice. The online newspaper's Nameplate_(publishing), masthead Logo, s ...
See also
* Disk buffer
In computer storage, a disk buffer (often ambiguously called a disk cache or a cache buffer) is the embedded memory in a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) acting as a buffer (computer science), buffer between the rest of the com ...
* ExpressCache
* Hybrid drive
A hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD, and dual-storage drive) is a logical or physical computer storage device that combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard disk drive (HDD). Th ...
* Smart Response Technology
* 3D XPoint
3D XPoint (pronounced ''three-D cross point'') was a discontinued non-volatile memory (NVM) technology developed jointly by Intel and Micron Technology. It was announced in July 2015 and was available on the open market under the brand name Opt ...
, marketed as Intel ''Optane'' memory
References
{{Reflist
External links
Intel® Turbo Memory
Turbo Memory
Computer memory
Non-volatile memory
Discontinued products
Solid-state caching