What is "Intel Flash Cache" and when should it be used?

If it make a difference I am running VISTA 32 bit.

I just found that I need to search for "Turbo Memory Module", on google to get prices etc.

Is it faster then a SD flash card? (Given it costs more I can't see any reason other then speed to use it)

Solution 1:

If your chipset supports it then Intel Turbo Memory can be used to speed up booting and speed up the load time of applications, it has been optimized for that purpose. Without it, loading youc Browser or Word on a morning can take a few seconds. With it, they will be more quick available than when they are on the disk and can take only a second or two.

A real life example follows...

My previous laptop had a Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 and 4 GB DD2-800 with the extra Intel Turbo Memory,
my new laptop has a Intel Core i7 720QM and 4 GB DDR3-1333 without an extra Intel Turbo Memory.

The hard drive is the same but on my new laptop applications tend to load a bit slower,
but well, one of these days I might consider to buy me a SSD which would speed up a lot of things.

Conclusion...

Unless you have a Turbo Memory module I think it is better to get yourself an SSD than Turbo Memory.

Solution 2:

Need a little more info I think but it is just a small memory chip internal to computers that Intel added recently to try and help speed things up by caching files. FCM is also known as Intel Turbo Memory and support for these chips was first included with Vista with ReadyBoost.

Here are a few links that talk about FCM but without more info I am not sure what you need to know about FCM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Turbo_Memory

http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/turbomemory/index.htm

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/wsm4300/en/sm_en/fcm.htm