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I added more secondary cache to the system but I didn't see any improvement in performance

Explanation:You were told that adding more secondary (level 2) cache to the system would improve performance, but don't see it. The system seems the same as it did before.

Diagnosis: The truth is that especially if you already have 256 KB of cache, adding another 256 KB does not significantly impact on performance. The reason is that the original cache is already probably catching over 90% of memory requests, so there just isn't that much room for improvement. A 5% improvement in overall performance is typical for a desktop user, and increases in speed of less than 10% are hard for most people to notice. Of course, this all assumes that your upgrade was performed correctly, and actually "took".

Recommendation:

• Make sure that the extra cache was recognized and is being used. When the system boots up, check to see how much cache it is reporting, and make sure it is the right amount.
• Double-check in your system manual to see if adding more cache requires any jumpers to be changed on the motherboard. Some do require this. Check in the BIOS setup for a BIOS setting that you may need to change (though this would be unusual).
• Run some benchmark programs and compare their results to before the upgrade. Some sort of improvement, even if minor, should be apparent.

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