Is the maximum memory that can be cached by 1m VA503+ 320mb?

I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that the
maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the board.
The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that the
maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache 256mb, so
256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.


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You are correct. The mobo cache becomes a secondary cache, and it
only works on 256 meg (actually, 255meg I think is the number, some
hitch in the implementation of the mvp3 chipset and the internal TAG
RAM).

--
Best regards,
Kyle
tired of spam, no email address
"Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
news:biuqf7$tff$...
| I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that
the
| maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the
board.
| The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that
the
| maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache
256mb, so
| 256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.
|
|
| ---
| Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
| Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
| Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 2003/8/28
|
|

Doesn't work that way. Motherboard cache becomes L3 cache. Cacheable area
with the K6-III is 4 GB. See "Processor Caches" on:
http://www.sandpile.org/impl/k6.htm
"Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
news:biuqf7$tff$...
> I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that the
> maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the board.
> The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that the
> maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache 256mb, so
> 256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 2003/8/28
>
>

that is correct, it's a function of the CPU

"Robert" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Doesn't work that way. Motherboard cache becomes L3 cache. Cacheable area
> with the K6-III is 4 GB. See "Processor Caches" on:
> http://www.sandpile.org/impl/k6.htm
> "Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
> news:biuqf7$tff$...
> > I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that the
> > maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the
board.
> > The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that the
> > maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache 256mb,
so
> > 256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> > Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 2003/8/28
> >
> >
>
>

Well, I did not read your post very closely, but the bottom line is
the k6-3 CPU caches the entire memory space. The mobo cache becomes a
tertiary cache and caches only 256 meg.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
tired of spam, no email address
"Kyle Brant" <> wrote in message
news:biuqqv$cqt4u$...
| You are correct. The mobo cache becomes a secondary cache, and it
| only works on 256 meg (actually, 255meg I think is the number, some
| hitch in the implementation of the mvp3 chipset and the internal TAG
| RAM).
|
| --
| Best regards,
| Kyle
| tired of spam, no email address
| "Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
| news:biuqf7$tff$...
| | I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that
| the
| | maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the
| board.
| | The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that
| the
| | maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache
| 256mb, so
| | 256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.
| |
| |
| | ---
| | Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
| | Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
| | Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 2003/8/28
| |
| |
|

Thank you very much for your valuable information. Does this mean that I
can add up to 512mb of ram without any performance hit because it seems that
it is the cpu's L2 on-board cache that matters rather than the L3 external
cache.
"Robert" <> ¦b¶l¥ó news:
¤¤¼¶¼g...
> Doesn't work that way. Motherboard cache becomes L3 cache. Cacheable area
> with the K6-III is 4 GB. See "Processor Caches" on:
> http://www.sandpile.org/impl/k6.htm
> "Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
> news:biuqf7$tff$...
> > I have a VA503+ which has 1mb onboard cache. It is supposed that the
> > maximum cacheable memory is 256mb. However, I use a K6-3 with the
board.
> > The cpu has 256k built-in cache memory. Therefore I believe that the
> > maximum cacheable memory will become 320mb because 1m can cache 256mb,
so
> > 256k can cache 64mb and 256mb+64mb=320mb.
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> > Version: 6.0.514 / Virus Database: 312 - Release Date: 2003/8/28
> >
> >
>
>


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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I would think you should see good memory performance even with 512 meg
of sdram.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
tired of spam, no email address
"Stanley Chu" <> wrote in message
news:bj40io$iri$...
| Thank you very much for your valuable information. Does this mean
that I
| can add up to 512mb of ram without any performance hit because it
seems that
| it is the cpu's L2 on-board cache that matters rather than the L3
external
| cache.

On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 13:52:09 +0800, "Stanley Chu"
<> wrote:

>Thank you very much for your valuable information. Does this mean that I
>can add up to 512mb of ram without any performance hit because it seems that
>it is the cpu's L2 on-board cache that matters rather than the L3 external
>cache.

<snip>

Performance for simple operations might be reduced slightly but
not noticeably with 512MB. Perfromance could be increased (by
preventing or reducing virtual memory swapping) if you are heavily
multitasking or using a huge amount of data.

With Write Back caching disabled (the normal situation), a K6-3
caches everything in its L1 and L2 cache, and the VA-503+
motherboard caches 255MB as an L3 cache. 255, not 256.

In 2001 I measured a 0 to 3 percent faster speed in Graphics
Winbench 96 using 256MB versus 255MB (via "MaxPhysPage=FF00" in
system.ini). Search for "MVP3 (VA-503+) benchmark results with
256MB memory?" on Google Groups Search for details.

I did not compare speeds with 256MB and 384MB of memory. I did not
try 512MB of memory.

Too many memory chips made my VA-503+ inoperable. 27 chips worked
on mine but 36 chips did not. 512MB will probably work for you if
it comprises a total of 16 (18 for ECC) 8-bit wide chips.