Cache Tuning

Cache tuning is available only in the registered version. Because of the dynamic nature of Windows NT's virtual memory, cache tuning is not available under Windows NT.

What is it?
Like "SmartDrv" in older versions of Windows, Windows9X contains integrated file caching to enhance performance.  Because machine configurations vary so greatly, the default caching scheme is a compromise that works reasonably well for most users.  By specifically tuning the cache to your typical scenarios, however, greatly improved performance is possible.  MemTurbo's cache adjustments can also prevent buffer underruns when burning CDs, excessive delays from paging when playing games, and so on.

	Minimum Cache Size Ensures that the minimum amount of memory that you specify is always reserved for the file cache.  This can significantly improve performance on systems where a memory-hungry application or game tries to reserve all available memory for itself.  Setting a minimum cache size (a good guideline is 1/16 of your system RAM) can improve file access and web server performance, and helps to prevent buffer underruns when burning CDs. Recommendation:  1/16 of your total memory
	Maximum Cache Size Sets an upper bound for the amount of memory that will be allocated to the file cache.   Selecting a low value can prevent the file cache from consuming too much valuable RAM.  Setting it too low, however, can degrade disk performance. Recommendation:  Leave at 0 unless you have more than 32M.  If you have more, experiment with values around 1/4 of your total RAM.
	Cache Block Size Sets the size, in bytes, of an atomic block of cache data.  With today's larger memory systems a number such as 8192 may provide significantly better performance than the system default. Recommendation:  Try the largest value that seems to yield better performance for your system.  Optimal value will vary with disk geometry, but larger values are typically the best.
	ASync IO Buffers Sets the size of the buffers that are used to store asynchronous read and write pages. This setting is used only if you are using 32-Bit Disk Access and a permanent swap file. You can specify a value up to 128K (the Windows default is only 16K). Increasing this value can improve Windows performance.  Recommendation:  As with Cache Block Size, try the largest value that seems to yield better performance for your system.  Start with 128K if you are not experiencing a shortage of RAM.

Previous versions of MemTurbo provided a few base settings for Power User, Game Player, and so forth.  In the interest of greater flexibility, those profiles have been removed and complete control over the settings has been granted instead.  The old profile numbers were as follows.

Note that these recommendations were created when 64M was a "lot" of memory.  For that reason we recommend the guidelines set out above rather than this table.

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