feipoa wrote:kixs wrote:I'd say it's more unusual the performance wouldn't at least somewhat increase with more cache as more code fits in a very fast L2. But it also depends on applications how large is the essential code and 256KB might be enough already. 3DBench is interesting in this case.
About the installed memory... I just test with what is at hand. I think when I tested 1024kb cache it was 1x16MB installed. Will sure check when I get to do the Windows benchmarks. I'm also hoping to get it running at 180MHz (3x60).
When do you think you'll have an update on this?
I guess I missed your reply... For cache/mem size I did the tests in another thread.
Simple copy-paste to include it here too.
For Windows tests I'll need more time... maybe this spring/summer.
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I've done some quick test with my Gigabyte 486AM/S UMC 8881 board, Intel 486DX4-100 SK096 WB, 1024KB WB cache, Tseng ET4000/w32p PCI. I've only tested WriteBack L1 & L2. Not sure if WT would be any different in this comparison.
Tested with 3DBench 1.0c, PCPBench, Doom, Quake (Phil's pack) and following memory configurations (1x16MB, 1x4MB, 2x4MB, 2x16MB, 2x4MB+2x16MB)
Every memory configuration was the same. The only variation was in Doom with 1x4MB - result was 1 point faster (1641). Also Quake wasn't run with 4MB as minimum is 8MB.
3DBench... 71.1
PCPBench... 24.5
Doom... 1642
Quake... 11.1
The way I see it, cache is just a super fast mini memory. Larger it is, more data it can hold. Benefits largely depend on the applications itself - how large is it's most used code/data. Cache implementations hold the key only to the efficiency of cache - directly mapped cache has most cache misses and isn't as effective as n-way associative. More cache usually means better performance. But it's true some motherboards (maybe better said: chipsets) don't like large cache as you have to increase wait states and this usually means benefits of a larger cache are diminished.
I just remembered I've done this cache size comparison a few years ago on 386 VLB board with 486DLC-40 from 128KB to 256KB and the same memory configuration - 8x1MB. Here are results from my benchmark notes:
Test........128KB.......256KB
3DBench... .26.3.........26.6
PCPBench.....5.5...........5.8
Doom.........6191........5905
Not much, but it's faster overall.
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