What I did is to add following code:
#ifndef CONFIG_SYS_DCACHE_OFF
void enable_caches(void)
{
/* Enable D-cache. I-cache is already enabled in start.S */
dcache_enable();
}
#endif /* CONFIG_SYS_DCACHE_OFF */
enable_caches() will be called at beginning of board_init_r in u-boot-2013.10, which speed splash indeed.