How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

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NemeWheel
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How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by NemeWheel »

Hello all !

I'm a new user on this forum, I use Primocache in Trial version for about ten days and I come to you for help to optimize my settings on Primocache to have the best performance possible. My use of this software is 100% focused on gaming and so, the improvement of loading times.

Below, here are several screenshots of my settings :

Image

Image

Image

Image

So, what settings to make to have the best performance ?

For info, I have an AMD Ryzen R7 1700 for the CPU and I have 16 GB RAM DDR4 2666 Mhz

Thank you :D
ferrari
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by ferrari »

Settings look pretty good, only change I would make is to enable defer write with 10sec latency average mode and limit writes to 10% of your L1 cache instead of shared read/write.
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Support
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by Support »

Yes, the settings are good for accelerating game loading.
NemeWheel
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by NemeWheel »

support wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 2:40 pm Yes, the settings are good for accelerating game loading.
ferrari wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 11:45 am Settings look pretty good, only change I would make is to enable defer write with 10sec latency average mode and limit writes to 10% of your L1 cache instead of shared read/write.
Hello guys !

First of all, thanks for your answers ;) ! But I still have some questions to ask you ^^

What will concretely bring me to activate defer write in my performances?

Furthermore, is it not possible to improve my performance by increasing, for example, the amount of RAM I allocated for the L1 cache? Currently, I allocated 2 GB of RAM, if I allocate 3 or even 4 GB of RAM, would I see a difference?

Same type of question about Block Size value: should I increase or decrease this value to improve my performance? (my value is 64KB currently)

Finally, last question: I use a 120 GB SSD for the L2 Cache and I have only 9,75 GB of Free Cache (L2) currently. What will happen if this value reaches 0 GB or I exceed this value?

Thank you in advance for your answers !
ferrari
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by ferrari »

defered writtes will increase the write iops 10x+ and also keep your disk mostly idle for writes so it can concentrate 100% on reads.
If you're L2 cache gets full newly read data will just replace the least used data already in your L2 cache, nothing to worry about.
As for the block size for best performance it's best to match it to the cluster size if you(4k in your case) but that can take too much ram if you're using 4k for your cluster size so it's best to leave it at 64k in your situation.
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Jaga
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by Jaga »

I would recommend not enabling deferred writes unless you have a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) on the machine. There's the potential for some real havok on the drive data if the power cuts out or the machine bluescreens/crashes while there's unwritten data in the cache.

If you do have a UPS on it, deferrer writes are a great feature which can seriously boost performance.
NemeWheel
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by NemeWheel »

Jaga wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:05 am I would recommend not enabling deferred writes unless you have a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) on the machine. There's the potential for some real havok on the drive data if the power cuts out or the machine bluescreens/crashes while there's unwritten data in the cache.

If you do have a UPS on it, deferrer writes are a great feature which can seriously boost performance.
ferrari wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 1:13 pm defered writtes will increase the write iops 10x+ and also keep your disk mostly idle for writes so it can concentrate 100% on reads.
If you're L2 cache gets full newly read data will just replace the least used data already in your L2 cache, nothing to worry about.
As for the block size for best performance it's best to match it to the cluster size if you(4k in your case) but that can take too much ram if you're using 4k for your cluster size so it's best to leave it at 64k in your situation.
Hello guys !

First of all, thanks ferrari for your answer. Indeed, I understood that, the more we decreased the value of the Block Size, the better the performance could be but by doing a test, it consumed me too much RAM ... So yes, I'll leave this value at 64KB

The defer write looks very interesting but to answer you Jaga, unfortunately I do not have a UPS on my PC ... However, I very rarely have a power outage during a year or even never ... Do I still have to take the risk or forget this feature?
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Jaga
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by Jaga »

NemeWheel wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:10 amThe defer write looks very interesting but to answer you Jaga, unfortunately I do not have a UPS on my PC ... However, I very rarely have a power outage during a year or even never ... Do I still have to take the risk or forget this feature?
You can roll the dice and just hope it never happens, but over the long run statistics wins every time. What you can do to help mitigate the possibility of a "severe" data loss is lowering the defer write delay, so that you get use out of the feature while lowering the chance that it will be catastrophic. Try a value of 5 or 10 seconds - you'll get write coalescing and improved response but with very little exposure. I wouldn't go higher than 30 seconds without a UPS, unless you make daily backups and are sure they are restorable.
NemeWheel
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by NemeWheel »

Jaga wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:35 pm
NemeWheel wrote: Thu Jul 11, 2019 9:10 amThe defer write looks very interesting but to answer you Jaga, unfortunately I do not have a UPS on my PC ... However, I very rarely have a power outage during a year or even never ... Do I still have to take the risk or forget this feature?
You can roll the dice and just hope it never happens, but over the long run statistics wins every time. What you can do to help mitigate the possibility of a "severe" data loss is lowering the defer write delay, so that you get use out of the feature while lowering the chance that it will be catastrophic. Try a value of 5 or 10 seconds - you'll get write coalescing and improved response but with very little exposure. I wouldn't go higher than 30 seconds without a UPS, unless you make daily backups and are sure they are restorable.
ferrari had advised me, above, to use a defer write of 10 seconds just like you ... I think so try this. However, there are different modes in the defer write (if I remember correctly : Native, Intelligent etc ...), so, which mode to use ?
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Jaga
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Re: How to optimize my settings for best performances ?

Post by Jaga »

Which mode to use is a bit trickier, it really depends on your goals, the delay time, etc. I have mine optimized for gaming with a defer time of 300s using the Intelligent write mode, but I have the longer delay coupled with a large L1 cache and a UPS on the machine. You'll probably want to use either Idle, or Idle-Flush since your delay time will be much shorter.
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