Some Advice On The Relative
Merits Of Upping L2 Cache To 1 Megabyte
Rich Long <rcl@ultranet.com> wrote:
Hi, I have a Radius 81/110 that I'm thinking of bumping up
to a 1MB L2 cache > (from 256K). I saw some benchmarks
on the L2 Company's home page > <http://www.mindspring.com/~l2co/>
that look pretty impressive; has anyone > ordered a cache
from them? Any opinions?
Thanks,
Rich
Hello, from the L2 Company. Rich, just be aware of one item
in particular with the Radius 8100/110. As it comes from the
factory, the Radius 8100/110 does NOT include any video card.
The Apple 8100/110 included an Apple HPV (High Performance
Video) video card. For that reason, the Radius machine must
rely on DRAM based video, which puts a heavy load on the memory
bandwidth, and slows down both the video and CPU processing
power.
For that reason, the 1024K cache will substantially outperform
the 256K cache in that machine, as this cache is large enough
to completely cache the DRAM video in the L2 cache. At 640
x 480, in "thousands" of colors, it takes 600K of
DRAM to cache the video screen. Obviously a 256K cache will
not be able to cache the screen, but a 1024K will be able
to, and still have 400K of L2 cache "left over"
for non-video instructions and data. Our benchmarks for the
Radius machine in its "native" configuration using
DRAM based video are published on our web page.
Now, if you have added your own video card, our benchmarks
will NOT apply to you - the difference in performance between
the 256K cache you already have and our 1024K will be LESS
than indicated in the benchmarks, as the video card will NOT
use memory bandwidth to the high degree that the DRAM based
video will.
In that case, the most compelling cases for a 1024K cache
are:
1: If you use a GeoPort Telecom adapter, by all means get
a 1024K cache! The Express modem probably puts the heaviest
computational load we have ever seen on a CPU, and the 1024K
cache WILL substantially outperform the 256K cache, even if
you DO have a real video card.
2: If you do any 3-D rendering, or like to play 3-D games,
the 1024K cache performs well over the 256K cache.
3: If you run SoftWindows, the 1024K cache does well in this
high emulation environment.
Larry Knight -- The L2 Company http://www.mindspring.com/~l2co
3544 Jefferson Township Pkwy eMail: L2Co@mindspring.com Marietta,
GA, USA, 30066-1782 Sales: (800) 527-9772 (US only) International:
+1 770 641 9650 FAX : +1 770 641-9433
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