Hi,
I just have a few questions regarding the two technologies mentioned and the minimum SSD size required to run each one on a system. A bit of background, I bought a Dell XPS 15 (9530) recently and it is advertised to run both Intel technologies together. It comes with a 1TB HDD and 32GB SSD to act as cache.
I have read all of Intel's literature on the two techs and it states that Intel Smart Response requires a minimum of 18.6GB to run and also that Intel Rapid Start requires a minimum amount of SSD space equal to the amount of RAM. The Dell system comes with 16GB of RAM. So in total to run both technologies together on this system I would need an SSD with a minimum of 34.6GB. Dell partition the SSD with 8GB for for the Rapid Start partition and 22GB for the Smart Response partition.
I have contacted Dell to clarify this as the system does not start very quick when resuming making me think the Rapid start feature is not working due to the partition only being half the size of the amount of RAM. The response I got was:
"HDD + 32GB mSATA config can support both Intel Rapid Start and Intel Smart Response. After the iRST driver ver 12.7, it needs min 12GB cache area. Smart Response does not require dedicated cache just for itself. Also Intel Rapid Start requires only 8GB. It does not have to be the same amount of main memory. Thus 32GB is enough to support both function."
I looked up the release notes for the iRST release which contains the 12.7 orom (Intel� Matrix Storage Technology) and it states at point 4 that "
4. Support for 16GB minimum cache requirement for SRT “Dual Drive SSD cache” will not be enabled in the RST 12.8 release and is targeted for RST 13.0 release", which is not even out yet.
So is Dell telling me the truth? Do these two techs run on the minimum specs Dell have provided or do they need the minimum specs that Intel specifies to work properly. i.e. According to Dell it is 20GB minimum for both and Intel states 34.6GB. I'm chasing this up as the performance falls a bit short for a laptop that cost AU$2500 and I want to be sure it is not a OEM set up flaw.
Thank you everyone for your help.