Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
I'm the happy owner of a recently acquired second hand X61s.
On Ebay there are 4 GB Turbo Memory modules (Intel's not Lenovo original) relatively cheap.
I've read around, mainly on this forum + Thinkwiki.org, plus looking on part numbers on Lenovo support.

Apparently, the X61s refuses non Lenovo branded turbo memory but someone has, apparently, tweaked the BIOS with a "whitelist" (?). According to Lenovo data, X61s supports only 1 GB modules.

I'm a bit lost amid all this data and hesitate about Turbo Memory.

Has anyone first hand experience in adding non Lenovo turbo memory modules in size superior to 1GB? Is it feasable?

Thank you

Out of curiosity... How much do this Turbo Memory cost? I'm wondering if it makes sense considering the new prices of new SSDs.

Regards

Tasurinchi wrote:Out of curiosity... How much do this Turbo Memory cost? I'm wondering if it makes sense considering the new prices of new SSDs.
Regards

2GB can be found at 25 USD, 4 GB at 58 USD ("or best offer" and I was counting on bestoffering ). Surely on price/gb ratio with "cheap" SSD MLC (2USD/gb?), it does not make sense, however I'm not sure whether the comparison would be appropriate, since my interest in the turbo memory is not for (general)storage but as cache to "hybridize" the HDD, any HDD.
I still have to dig the technical side on intel's turbo memory looking for data about SLC/MLC or latency/transfer rate on mini PCI. My reasoning (to be verified) was that from the outset, Turbo memory was conceived as SSD cache, so likely it has to offer performance way superior to general purpose SSD on SATA2.
It's a lenghty multi pronged reasoning (still fleshing out each prong in terms of information/feasability) based as well on cost, and Turbo memory is only one of options but let's say that for the moment I'm not willing to jump to a "full" SSD/Sata, settling for a cost effective compromise for my needs.

Just tapping the forum with "is it feasible?"

Lino wrote:Apparently, the X61s refuses non Lenovo branded turbo memory but someone has, apparently, tweaked the BIOS with a "whitelist" (?).

I'm pretty sure the BIOS whitelist only applies to the wireless LAN card slot (the "first" mini PCIe slot), as I did not have any problems putting a non-Lenovo card in the second PCIe slot. Don't know if there are any specific restrictions on Turbo Memory cards, though.

Personally I found Turbo Memory to be useless. The money is better spent on RAM and/or SSD. The slot is better used for a Broadcom Crystal HD decoder or (if you want to go crazy) an external graphics card.

(Another option for a "hybrid" HDD is the Seagate Momentus XT, with 4 GB of flash.)

claimui wrote: (Another option for a "hybrid" HDD is the Seagate Momentus XT, with 4 GB of flash.)

I was thinking exactly about the Momentus XT and its flash cache is transparent to OS, however where I live the hybrid cost twice the simple 7200rpm 2.5 drive. Roughly the price of the 4GB Turbo memory. And of course you have to buy a new drive with a fixed (embedded) cache, it means that should you want to upgrade to a larger drive later, you no longer have the advantage to flash on the new drive (unless of course you buy another hybrid one).

Just looking to minimize expenditure and have a good boost in terms of delta performance vs cost + flexibility of choosing how to upgrade, granularity/scalability of upgrade included.

Actually I'm sceptical about using flash as cache, they should wear very fast, considering the way cache works, but at least should turbo memory fail, you just replace it with relatively low cost. If the hybrid cache dies in the Momentus XT, you have a degraded (ordinary) drive but unless you replace the whole unit, no more performance boost. If the drive fails you lose the drive AND the cache.
The ideal approach for me would have been passing from 4gb (2x2gb) to 8 gb(2x4gb) and then use Readydrive or software equivalent allocating large amount of RAM as cache: unfortunately the delta cost is very steep, price per gb does scale atrociously to size and anyway 4gb sodimm are not that easily availalable.

I find very interesting your remark on the lack of advantage of having Turbo Memory: the problem of cache is that perfomance is very dependent on algorithms, the quality of implementation and the way you perform your I/O (how much and how local it is).
Obvioulsy if your bottleneck is CPU, cache will do nothing for you, you cannot expect to see a general boost just because you have cache. Very application dependent

Turbo memory was a concept to empty a buyers pocket in Turbo mode.
I was one of the victims (T 400).
It was claimed to work only with new os'es and with old Os's it probably consumes power
just sitting on the board.
I have a T400 , WXGA+,4GB,with useless 2 GB Turbo memory....,upgraded xp sp3

T400plus wrote:Turbo memory was a concept to empty a buyers pocket in Turbo mode.
I was one of the victims (T 400).
It was claimed to work only with new os'es and with old Os's it probably consumes power
just sitting on the board.
I have a T400 , WXGA+,4GB,with useless 2 GB Turbo memory....,upgraded xp sp3

Xp does not support Turbo Memory apparently... I admit that it bothered me a bit, but then I decided that the Thinkpad X61s would stay Win7.
There is an interesting software in beta (free at the moment) that I mentioned without naming it in this thread that should work with Xp, uses the part of the 4GB that is not adressable recuperating otherwise wasted memory and works obviously in RAM with related advantages/disadvantages vs flash.
Such software cache should, on paper, replicate functionally the Turbo Memory.

I have 2gb turbo memory in my w500. I have run some simple tests with and without the turbo memory, and I couldn't detect much of any improvement. Your mileage may vary

Turbo Memory would be useful *if* Intel released drivers/documentation for it. As it stands, it's useless unless you have Vista/7, which elevates it to the Adams-esque level of "mostly useless".

Save your money. Get a half-decent SSD and you'll benefit from a much, much bigger performance boost than Turbo Memory can provide.

The turbo memory in my x200 and t500 produces no improvements in overall system performance, save your money get a half decent ssd instead.

lead_org wrote:The turbo memory in my x200 and t500 produces no improvements in overall system performance, save your money get a half decent ssd instead.

What about battery life?

IvanAndreevich wrote:What about battery life?

i did not see any noticeable battery time improvements with either the 4 cells or 8 cells battery installed (under either performance or battery saver mode).