[H-GEN] where does linux load first in memory?

Frank Brand fbrand at uq.net.au
Wed Apr 4 21:04:35 EDT 2001


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Darrin Mison wrote:
> 
> Been reading Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PC's 12ed and discovered
> that most intel-esque cache controllers can only cache the first 64Meg of
> RAM.  According to Mueller Win9x and NT load into the top of the memory
> first (don't know why) so unless you need it you really shouldn't use more
> than 64Meg in order to maximise performance.

Actually we had this discussion about 2 years ago.

The Intel 430 FX chipset supported 128 Mb RAM
The HX supported 512 Mb of RAM under certain circumstances and was
probably the best Intel 430 chipset but I suspect it was too expensive
and was phased out. It also supported multiple CPU's.
The VX and TX that followed supported 64 MB among other things.

The later chipsets supported more RAM. The 440BX (note 440 -the slot 1
chipset- not 430 which was the socket 7 chipset) supported 768 Mb (IIRC)
and I think that the LX, EX and ZX also did but I can not recall. The
440BX was probably the best chipset Intel has made and was derived from
the Pentium Pro chipset (the 440FX). The current Intel 815 chipset is
derived from the BX and upgraded to include support for 133 Mhz RAM.
Most of the current chipsets support 1.5 Gb RAM or more.



-- 
Frank Brand
E-mail:- fbrand at uq.net.au
Home Page:-http://www.uq.net.au/~zzfbrand

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