Re: amd64 + mtrr: only 3.1gb of 8gb are covered, kernel 2.6.30 andearlier.

From: Robert Hancock
Date: Sat Aug 22 2009 - 01:45:01 EST


On 08/21/2009 10:14 AM, Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
Hi,

I have an amd64 system with 8GB ram. Of these only 3.1GB are currently covered
with mtrr:
cat /proc/mtrr
reg00: base=0x000000000 ( 0MB), size= 2048MB, count=1: write-back
reg01: base=0x080000000 ( 2048MB), size= 1024MB, count=1: write-back
reg02: base=0x0c0000000 ( 3072MB), size= 128MB, count=1: write-back

This is with a Phenom II X4. Mobo is an Asrock A770Crossfire with AMD 770
chipset. Ram is 1066 ddr2 running at 800.

Before that I had a X2 6000 where I had one more mtrr, covering additional
256mb with 6gb ram total.

When I use the opensource driver, I get a 'mtrr disabled' message when X
starts, nothing like that with fglrx. The results are the same.

Is there anything that I can do about it? I already played with mtrr cleanup
options - without any results.

I seem to recall hearing that on some newer AMD CPUs the memory above 4GB is either hardcoded to cacheable or set that way via some other mechanism such that MTRRs aren't needed for it. Maybe someone else can provide more details.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/