Using more than 128mb of ram w/ 512kb cache

[araaraara]

I currently have one 64mb of SDRAM. If I add in a 128mb stick, for a total of 192mb, will my computer's performance go down? If so, how much of a hit will there be?

[Loveless]

please understand that if you have more than 1 stick of ram in a motherboard, it will run at the speed of the slowiest ram, say if you mix a pc100 and a pc133, the system will run them at pc100, say if you have pc100 cas 2 and pc100 cas 3, it will run at pc100 cas 3, your system is only using 64, the boost of 128mb will increase the performance.

[araaraara]

Ok, Loveless, you totally missed the point of my question. I know about PC100 and PC133 and the speeds they run at. This has nothing to do with this. What I want to know is this: Can 512kb of L2 cache cache more than 128mb of ram? I have heard that 256kb can cache 64mb, so I am guessing that 512kb can only cache 128mb. Am I right or wrong? If the cache isn't sufficient, how will the system performance be affected when the uncached ram is used?

The ram speed is irrelevant, as it will be running under 100mhz anyways.

[This message has been edited by araaraara (edited 03-25-2001).]

[Variable]

Some old mobos needed an extra TAG-RAM Cache chip to cache more than 64MB of RAM but that was 3 years ago. Newer motherboards should be able to do it.

BTW This has nothing to do with the size of the cache! I had 512KB in my old mobo but it would only cache up to 64MB until I added this TAG-RAM chip (3$).

There was a program called ctcm16r.exe that would tell you.... I have it if you want it.

[Nighthawk]

512kb of L2 cache can be found on everything after a TX board (even a VX with a COAST board). It's the CPU that matters if it's an intel CPU, and the chipset if it's not intel.

If this is any Intel chip with L2 on it, it will be able to cache 4GB of RAM, regardless of whether it's a celeron (128, 0 = no cache), coppermine (256), P2/3 (512), PPro (256/512/1mb), Xeon (256,512,1mb,2mb), etc.

If it's not intel and was made after 97 or 98 you should be completely fine with no hit (unless it's an Aladdin V, but that's a different story).

[DanU]

Hey araaraara, don't you have a K6-2+/3+? The internal L2 cache should be able to cache all 192MB. Just slam in that 128MB stick! Going from 64 to 192 does wonders!

The motherboard cache is a different story. Cacheable area for the mobo cache depends on the type of chipset used, the total amount of cache ram, and also any additional tag ram. The i430FX, VX, and TX chipsets can only cache up to 64MB no matter how much cache you have. I dunno about the other chipsets.

[araaraara]

DanU, I have a k6-3+ and a winchip. Both are using similar motherboards(I got one for the winchip and liked it so much I bought another one for the k6-3+). The motherboard is an ASUS P5A and P5A-B. Both have the ALI Aladdin V(5) chipset, 512kb of Write Back Pipeline Burst SRAM cache and intigrated Tag ram. My K6-3+ is on the P5A and has 128mb of PC133 SDRAM. The winchip is on the P5A-B and has 64mb of PC100 SDRAM. I want to add ram to the winchip, and with ram prices so cheap and close together, I figure 128mb is the way to go.

Variable, how about emailing that program to me. araaraara@funcow.com

[Nighthawk]

The P5As (and everything else with the Aladdin V chipset) actually go a bit slower with more RAM, but it's really only noticeable in benchmarking software and isn't that much of a drop. You'll get more boost from the added RAM than you'll see a drop from the caching.