Anyone Have Experience With Smart Response And A Large Cache?

[YawningAngel]

My father's computer has imploded and needs replacing. He wants to put an SSD in his new one but isn't keen on the idea of having to manage where files get put. In Anand's review he seems to imply that large SSD caches (64GB) might well allow an SRT combo to offer comparable user experience to an SSD. With this in mind, I ask: has anyone tried this? How did it go?

 

[GotNoRice]

I run 2 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black drives in Raid:0, using half of my 128GB Samsung 840 Pro as cache and half for a few dedicated apps.

SRT works very well. Though I would recommend enhanced mode instead of maximized for the best reliability.

The main disadvantage compared to an SSD is that it's a cache... that means things won't be fast the first time, but they will be fast the 2nd, 3rd, etc time. Pretty soon everything you use on a regular basis will be in cache and performance will be very close to an SSD.

I've noticed that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to how SRT caches data.

This is how SRT works once configured and enabled for the first time:

You access a block of data for the first time from your mechanical Hard Drive, at which point it is also copied into cache.
The next time you access that same block, it will be accessed from cache instead.
As you access additional blocks of data from your mechanical Hard Drive, they will also be cached, and accessed from the cache upon subsequent requests for that block.
This process repeats until your cache is full at which point the oldest blocks in cache are pushed out of cache.

Note that I reference "blocks" because SRT works on the block/hardware level, not the file level or the program level. If you have a 3GB file that you only regularly access a few hundred megabytes of, only the blocks that contain those few hundred megabytes of data are likely be cached (as opposed to the whole file)

Until the cache actually fills up, it will continue to cache every single block that you access regardless of how frequently you access it. Only when the cache becomes full does anything start to be pushed out of cache, and at that point it will start with the oldest data in cache, not based on frequency of usage. It doesn't use any sort of algorithms to try and predict what you might need cached or anything like that. It doesn't differentiate between a file you've accessed thousands of times and a file you've only accessed once. It is based ONLY on which blocks you've most recently accessed.

Of course, anything you use on a regular basis is unlikely to become the oldest data in cache as it becomes the newest data in cache again every time you access those blocks.

You can only use up to 64GB max as cache. This is not really a limitation because in practice the caching is actually pretty efficient. Take the game World of Warcraft for example. A modern install of WoW is about ~22 Gigabytes but a lot of that comes from old map files from past expansions and old content. A WoW player might only access ~5GB of data or less on a regular basis as they play the game, unless they just love exploring old content for no reason. There are countless other examples of this, such as games that have both a single-player and a multiplayer. If you just play multiplayer, it's likely not going to end up caching all the files for the single-player campaign, etc. In that respect 64GB ends up being a lot of data. Nothing is likely to end up pushed out of cache unless it has been a significant amount of time since it was last accessed.

 

[beginner99]

My father's computer has imploded and needs replacing. He wants to put an SSD in his new one but isn't keen on the idea of having to manage where files get put. In Anand's review he seems to imply that large SSD caches (64GB) might well allow an SRT combo to offer comparable user experience to an SSD. With this in mind, I ask: has anyone tried this? How did it go?

I have to manage it exactly once, when or after you installed windows. Move all default folders like documents and pictures from your user folder to the HDD. Then everything is saved on the hdd by default.

 

[GotNoRice]

I have to manage it exactly once, when or after you installed windows. Move all default folders like documents and pictures from your user folder to the HDD. Then everything is saved on the hdd by default.

So basically, take two of the folders he is most likely to use in a real-world scenario and make it so they no longer benefit from the SSD

And you are assuming those two folders represent the only folders on the system that will eventually contain significant amounts of data, which is a pretty big assumption.

 

[LoveMachine]

I'm confused by this discussion of moving folders. With SRT, the cache partition is invisible to the user, so you can't modify what gets accessed or not.

The simplest implementation is to get a small 64GB SSD, and use the whole thing as a cache. The SSD disappears, and the user doesn't know it's there at all aside from a faster experience once the common programs (OS and frequent apps) get used a few times. Win7 won't really use much more than a few GB for it's portion, so a few games/apps probably won't get close to using the whole cache drive, but a smaller 32GB drive really isn't much cheaper, and anything smaller tends to be quite a bit slower in terms of IOPS/small file transfers. But breaking up the drive into multiple partitions, one for cache one for programs or OS will likely get confusing for the 'rents. I wouldn't dare do that with my parents.

I currently use an old M4 64GB drive to cache my media drive, and it's pretty stoopid simple, and works well, and with no fuss. The SSD failed at some point, but I suffered no loss of data (using enhanced mode, not maximized or whatever it's called), and didn't even know it happened until I randomly checked SRT. I got the drive working again, and Acceleration started right up again. For the non-power user, it's a great, simple and reliable way to speed up the overall computing experience.

 

[LoveMachine]

Oh, and just in case it wasn't apparent, you should set BIOS to RAID mode before installing Windows. There are registry hacks, but I tried it on an old AHCI install and the results were not good.

 

[YawningAngel]

Sounds good to me, thanks very much. This was roughly what I was hoping to hear - good performance and invisible from an end-user standpoint. Thank you very for taking the time to share your experiences.

 

[GotNoRice]

I'm confused by this discussion of moving folders.

No one was talking about needing to move folders with SRT. OP started by stating that was something he didn't want his father to have to deal with. Others commented to say that the hassle of moving files around (with a traditional SSD+HDD setup, not SRT) is no big deal. I obviously disagree.

He wants to put an SSD in his new one but isn't keen on the idea of having to manage where files get put.

I have to manage it exactly once, when or after you installed windows. Move all default folders like documents and pictures from your user folder to the HDD. Then everything is saved on the hdd by default.

 

[Mir96TA]

I am using SRT from last 3 months off Z68.
Setup I have 128 GiG ssd partition out to 64 GB
1 TB WD Black with 64 meg cache
They both running at Sata 3
I created 40 Gig for Temp/Tmp Virtual Mem, and IE cache.
I feel its like running off SSD.
I don't have to worry about SSD getting filed.
I have NFS Most wanted Hot Purist 2012 Crisys 3 Battefield 3 Dirt show down Bios Shock infinite Desus EX Sonic
I have 3 accounts on this Machine....... office, I.E. Photshop CS6 etc
Gabs of Movies.....
Basically MY HDD is Half full; and SRT managing just fine.
I really wish I could use whole 128 GiG space...... but.......
for now I am fine with 64 GB.
This machine have a HOT Chair...... It only get free for 6 Hrs at night out 24 Hrs.....
Very heavily used....
I am using Maximized performance. I dunno how often Data get sysnc with HDD..... But I don't care. ..... there is NO Important Data manipulated or get updated......
I would highly recommended this feature to any body have less then 512 GB SSD.

 

[Mir96TA]

The way you do it.
Set the Raid option in Bios.
Set your HDD as primary Boot Device
Install Windows......
Disable Windows system protection (not require but it would speed up the process of updates)
Install Intel Chipset and intel Rapid Utility.
Set the Performance option there......
Install all other drivers and Windows updates........
Installl your Stuff......
then go enable system protection
Enjoy..........
If you want you can use rest of the portion for Virtual memory IE cache Temp TMP..... (Not required)