Over 64 MB memory on TX-board?

[TidalWave]

Since the cacheable area of the TX-chipset is only 64 MB, what will be the effect when I put over 64 MB memory in it? The manual says it supports up to 256 MB.

[CMonster]

Uncached memroy access is very slightly slower, but it is not likely that you will notice the difference except in benchmarks; however, if you are doing things that use more than 64MB physical memroy (graphic/photo work, or even some memory intensive games) you will notice a huge improvement in speed.

Remember that even unchached physical memory is still 1000x times faster than virtual (disk) memory.

[800XL]

Depending on the application, the difference can be noticable. Windows 9x has a habit of loading OS code from the top of memory down, which would be the uncached area. That can really have an impact. Whether or not it really makes a difference, well that is very subjective. I'll try to do some benchmarks if I get the chance and post them up here.

I do have to say that it was a bonehead move on Intel's part. Even the older HX chipset had a cachable range of 4x what the TX chipset was given. Instead of a VX rehash, I would have gone for a remake of the HX if it had been my choice.

[Peter M]

... and the memory isn't even entirely uncached - just the onboard (L2) cache produces misses above 64 MB. Those caches that are in the CPU do cache all you have.

Regards, Peter

[TidalWave]

Yeah, I usually edit real huge audiofiles (.wav files) with SoundForge. They 'eat' a lot of mem, so expanding over 64 MB will improve performace since a bigger part of te audiofile will fit into mem? Cool... But why do I have to adjust the BIOS setting "mem >64 MB" to "YES"?
btw my board is an Asus TX97-E