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. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...
that uses NAND
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic 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 the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both u ...
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 platters coated with magne ...
. 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
Intel Core is a line of streamlined midrange consumer, workstation and enthusiast computer central processing units (CPUs) marketed by Intel, Intel Corporation. These processors displaced the existing mid- to high-end Pentium processors at the ...
mobile chipsets.
Overview
The technology was publicly introduced on October 24, 2005, at the
Intel Developer Forum
The Intel Developer Forum (IDF) was a biannual gathering of technologists to discuss Intel products and products based on Intel products. The first IDF was held in 1997.
To emphasize the importance of China, the Spring 2007 IDF was held in Beij ...
(IDF) in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
when a
laptop 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 mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...
via a mini-
PCIe
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe or PCI-e, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP bus standards. It is the common m ...
interface. It supports features available in
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
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, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
, namely
ReadyBoost (a hard-drive caching solution via
flash memory
Flash memory is an electronic 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 the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both u ...
) and
ReadyDrive (a hard-drive caching solution via
hybrid drive
In computing, a hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD) is a logical or physical storage device that combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard disk drive (HDD). The intent is adding ...
s). These features allow both read caching and write caching of
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...
. Often this is implemented with a Disk Filtering
Option ROM (DFOROM).
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 in one or more integrated circuits known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found on t ...
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 in one or more integrated circuits known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found on t ...
s. It is available in 1, 2, and 4GB modules. It is supported in the Intel
965
Year 965 ( CMLXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II conquers the fortress cities of Tar ...
Express chipset, and the Intel
4 Series
The BMW 4 Series is a range of compact executive cars manufactured by BMW since 2013. The 4 Series was created when BMW spun off the 2-door models (coupé and convertible) of the 3 Series into a separate series. The 4 Series is currently in its ...
Express chipsets (2GB and 4GB modules only).
Several retailers, such as
Acer
Acer may refer to:
* ''Acer'' (plant), the genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples
* Acer Inc., a computer company in Taiwan
** Acer Laboratories Incorporated, a subsidiary company of Acer, Inc., that designs and manufactures integrate ...
,
,
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
,
Lenovo
Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related se ...
,
Sager,
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems ...
,
etc., sold laptops enabled with the Intel Turbo Memory technology.
Reception
A review in
AnandTech
''AnandTech'' is an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who served as CEO and editor-in-chief until August 30, 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chie ...
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, sc ...
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 computers and tablets designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo, and formerly by IBM until 2005, when IBM's PC business was acquired by Lenovo. ThinkPads have a distinct black, boxy design la ...
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'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tech ...
wrote "I think we can say Braidwood has sunk without trace."
Intel trying a flash cache again
The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tech ...
See also
* Disk buffer
In computer storage, disk buffer (often ambiguously called disk cache or cache buffer) is the embedded memory in a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) acting as a buffer between the rest of the computer and the physical hard ...
* ExpressCache
* Hybrid drive
In computing, a hybrid drive (solid state hybrid drive – SSHD) is a logical or physical storage device that combines a faster storage medium such as solid-state drive (SSD) with a higher-capacity hard disk drive (HDD). The intent is adding ...
* Smart Response Technology
* 3D XPoint
3D XPoint (pronounced ''three-D cross point'') is a discontinued non-volatile memory (NVM) technology developed jointly by Intel and Micron Technology. It was announced in July 2015 and is available on the open market under the brand name Optane ...
, marketed as Intel ''Optane'' memory
References
{{Reflist
External links
Intel® Turbo Memory
Turbo Memory
Computer memory
Non-volatile memory
Discontinued products
Solid-state caching