Please read this detailed information carefully and absorb it. This will be the best performance enhancing software you will ever install on your PC.
We here at PC Aviator call this product the Holy Grail of PC performance enhancing software. We have used and tested many such utilities over the years and no other software product gives your system the performance increase that you have literally hoped would be possible for your PC. The performance increase is SIGNIFICANT and it's not so much that it speeds up your PC per se but what it does is bring out the TRUE performance capability of your PC by virtually completely eliminating the biggest bottleneck in your PC's performance and that is your hard drive bottleneck. It also gets rid of any sluggishness you might experience with flying your sims or any other such products that can be hampered by the hard drive bottleneck. It is especially powerful when it comes to using photo scenery such as MegaSceneryEarth that often accesses image data from your hard drive when flying. This SIGNIFICANTLY reduces loading times and other hard drive activity while flying.
PrimoCache has our endorsement as the Holy Grail of software (along with a bit of hardware - some of which you most likely already have e.g. a flash drive), that will SIGNIFICANTLY improve the current performance you are experiencing with your PC.
In the flight simulator industry, it is exclusively available through PC Aviator.
See the bottom of this page for specifics about ordering options and the pulldown menu above has some SSDs we have chosen for you to order conveniently from the one place.
PrimoCache In Detail
PrimoCache is a software caching program that cooperates with physical memory, solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash drives to provide data caching for local physical mechanical rotating platter hard drives. It transparently stores disk data into fast cache devices such as physical memory, solid state drives and flash drives so that future read requests for that data will be served directly from the cache (memory or SSD) and be significantly faster - up to 50 times faster (depending upon specific file conditions). Thus, reducing access time and showing a marked improvement in overall system performance.
The concept of caching of recently accessed data is not by any means a new concept and is, and always has been, part of every operating system. As RAM costs have decreased over the years, PCs have come equipped with more RAM. Operating systems therefore have more RAM available to use as cache for data that has been recently accessed from the hard drive. The recently read data is stored in RAM so that if the data is required again, it is read from memory instead of the significantly slower physical hard drive. This is called L-1 cache (Level 1). Normal L-1 RAM caching is not persistent. Meaning when you restart your PC, the memory cache is reset.
The recent advent of Solid State Drives (SSD) and USB 3.0 flash drives allows for the possibility of another level of caching. We'll refer to it as L-2 (Level 2) caching. L-2 is somewhat slower than fast RAM memory caching but still significantly faster than needing to access a physical rotating hard drive. SSD technology as of 2015 is still significantly more expensive than traditional physical hard drives and our increasing data storage requirements means that physical hard drives are going to be around for a long time to come due to the low storage cost per MegaByte. Many systems are shipped with SSDs but the high cost of SSDs means that most users will primarily use these drives for programs and only a portion of their data, while using larger physical hard drives for the bulk of their data. Most systems offered today still come with a traditional hard drive however some do come with a smaller SSD (128 to 256 Gb) while also having a larger traditional hard drive (1 Tb to 4 Tb).
This is where PrimoCache gives you a rarely previously available capability and that is using Solid State Storage or Flash storage as another level of cache enabling your system to cache a much greater quantity of data than you can with a typical level of RAM - 8 Gb to 16 Gb. A typical SSD might be 128 to 256 Gb and PrimoCache will allow you to use all 128 to 256 Gb or more of your SSD as L-2 cache for your hard drive. It utilizes a driver that lies between the Windows kernel and the hard drive. When data is read from the physical hard drive, that data is then stored on the SSD. So when you need that data again, if it isn't cached in RAM (and much of the time it won't be), it then it will read it from the SSD instead of the slower physical hard drive. In approximate numbers, typical SSD will access data around 100 times faster than a typical desktop hard drive. If a lot more of your hard drive data can be cached to another solid state memory device (in this case the SSD drive), then the faster your PC is going to operate.
In a nutshell, the more data you can have read from a solid state storage device the better and the faster that your Desktop will perform. Significantly faster. PrimoCache enables you to do that - seamlessly and safely.
The other important aspect of L-2 caching to an SSD is that the caching is persistent. This means that the data is still cached on the SSD after a system restart as opposed to L-1 regular memory cache is erased after a computer restart. PrimoCache's L-2 caching also uses a sophisticated cache eviction algorithm that uses a combination of least frequently and least recently used data to ensure that optimally required data remains cached when the cache is full and data to be cached needs to be replaced.
Another very powerful feature of PrimoCache that further adds to the performance of your PC is a feature known as delayed write caching. What this means is that when your system is writing data to your hard drive, instead of writing that data immediately and possibly competing with other hard drive activity, it will delay writing the data for a specified amount of time or when it detects the hard drive is idle. Your hard drive does not have simultaneous read and write activity competing for disk time.
Delayed write caching is also a part of all operating systems but the user has no control over it and the operating system handles it in a method that results in far from optimal performance. PrimoCache enables you to specify the amount of time to delay writes and also offers a variety of ways in which it handles the writing of the data for minimal performance impact at the time of writing. Please do be aware at this point that delayed write caching can have an affect of data safety so unless you are fully aware of the implications of delayed write caching, take any advice that the PrimoCache help file offers with regard to delayed write caching. When used properly your data can be safe and your PCs performance can be further enhanced.
In addition, PrimoCache implements the Unified Invisible Memory Management Interface (UIMMI), which can use Invisible Memory as level-1 cache. Invisible Memory, also known as Unmanaged Memory, usually exists on 32-bit desktop Windows where 4GB or more physical memory is installed. This feature helps to overcome the Windows limits on amount of system memory and fully utilize all installed physical memory. By default, 32 bit versions of Windows can only recognized 3 Gb RAM. PrimoCache enables you to install and use memory beyond the default 3 Gb.
PrimoCache is also very flexible in its configuration options. You can setup different profiles for different drives and you can set up both read/write strategies or only read or write strategies. Whatever you want to do you can. Even if you do not want to use it with a SSD drive, you can have it is a volatile memory cache only and can benefit from its more effective caching of read and write cache compared to default Windows caching. It is also effectively seamless in its interaction with the operating system as it is implemented at the Windows kernel level. This makes it almost an integral part of the operating system.
What you will need to use PrimoCache....
You probably already have the hardware needed to use PrimoCache. If you have a spare USB 3.0 Flash drive, then you will be able to use that right away as your L-2 Cache. The more capacity the better but you will see improvements even with as little as 16 Gb. We recommend at least 64 Gb and as much as 128 is affordable.
If you already have an SSD on your system as well as a traditional hard drive, you'll be able to partition a portion of your SSD to use as L-2 Cache.
If you have a traditional hard drive only, you can also easily install an SSD (or an additional SSD if you already have one) and use it exclusively as L-2 cache. Having your L-2 cache on a separate physical drive, along with some tips we will give you in our exclusive tips guide that you will receive when you purchase through us, will give you further performance benefits.
You can purchase PrimoCache along with options for appropriate Flash Drives or SSD drives through us by selecting appropriate pull down options at the top of the page.
Main Features
-
Supports physical memory, solid-state drives and flash drives as cache storage.
-
Implements a two-level caching architecture.
-
Supports persistent level-2 caching.
-
Supports Write-Through and Write-Deferred caching modes.
-
Supports TRIM command.
-
Supports OS Invisible Memory.
-
Implements an intelligent and self-tuning cache replacement algorithm.
-
Supports caching strategies: Read/Write Caching, Read-Only Caching and Write-Only Caching.
-
Supports performance statistics and monitor.
-
Supports caching for multiple volumes
-
Supports caching for volumes with proprietary file system.
-
Supports caching for volumes on basic and dynamic disks.
-
Supports plug and play.
-
Supports command-line interface.
Why PrimoCache?
Why do we need PrimoCache since Windows has already implemented a file-system level cache?
-
PrimoCache is a block-level cache program which caches data on a logical block basis (offsets within a disk), while windows cache is a file-system level program which caches on a virtual block basis (offsets within a file). Each has strengths and weaknesses, and PrimoCache can be a good supplement to Windows cache.
-
Some applications can bypass Windows cache but cannot bypass PrimoCache because PrimoCache runs at a lower level in Windows.
-
Windows caches all data, while PrimoCache can cache on behalf of a specified volume in which users are interested. Given same size of system memory, the latter has a higher hit-rate.
-
PrimoCache supports persistent SSD caching for mechanical hard disks, improving system boot-up time and applications loading time. Windows cache cannot.
-
PrimoCache can customize write-deferred mode, while Windows cache cannot.
-
PrimoCache can make use of Invisible Memory on 32-bit Windows as cache, overcoming the Windows limits on amount of system memory.
PC Aviator's Added Value Options and other ordering information.
Amongst flight sim resellers, PrimoCache is exclusively available through PC Aviator. When you purchase PrimoCache through us, we will also send you along with your download a 7 page PDF guide on how to optimize your PrimoCache setup. It is simple to follow and just goes through a few settings and explains in detail how PrimoCache works.
Please also look at the SSD options below to add an SSD to your order with the convenience of getting it all at the one place.
You can download your software immediately and begin to use it while your Flash drive or SSD is being shipped to you for delivery within 2 to 3 days.
If you wish to order multiple copies/licenses you will need to place muliple orders due to a limitation in our shopping system that will only dispense 1 license per order. Also, you can begin using PrimoCache fully featured as soon as you download. Your license key will be sent to you by e-mail within an hour. Simply enter your license key to register the product when you receive that direct from the publisher.
You will be amazed by the new level of performance you will experience with your Flight Sims - especially start up screens and time to get flying and especially with loading of photoscenery. Everything becomes so much more responsive thanks to PrimoCache and your current system will feel like a brand new state of the art PC.... without the multi-thousand dollar outlay.
|
