CPU Cache disabling software? \ VOGONS

CPU Cache disabling software?

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First post, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 11:06

Divarin Offline

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Hi. I have a Toshiba Satellite 1605cds with an AMD K6-2 CPU.
I'd like to be able to temporarily disable the L1 cache so that I can run some older games. Some games run with graphical glitches, some give me a runtime error or divide by zero error, or run too fast.
On another computer (a P2-300) I've found that these games run flawlessly if I disable the L1 cache in the cmos setup.
However, the satellite does not have this option in the cmos setup. I've found and tried the program "setmul" but it gave me an error indicating that it doesn't support cache disabling on an AMD K2-6 CPU.
I have found some technical documents on the CPU and it appears that the CPU does have the ability for its cache to be disabled but so far I haven't found any program that will do it.
If anyone has any other cache disabling software that I might try I'd love to give it a shot.

Reply 1 of 14, by appiah4

Posted on 2020-02-19, 11:09

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Do a search on VOGONS for SETMUL, newer versions should support disabling L1 on these..

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Reply 2 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 11:42

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Okay, the version I tried was 1.24 I'll see if there's a newer version

Reply 3 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 11:53

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After a bit of searching I found an older version (1.2) which did the trick over here:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/k6-2-2-3-resources.html

Reply 4 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 13:53

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correction, actually this version also is saying "Unsupported AMD core detected (5.8.12)"

Reply 5 of 14, by Joseph_Joestar

Posted on 2020-02-19, 13:59

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I'm not sure if Throttle will work on that laptop since it only supports specific chipsets, but it might be worth a try.

It's not quite as versatile as SetMul, but it also has an option for disabling L1 cache.

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Reply 6 of 14, by appiah4

Posted on 2020-02-19, 14:02

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Wait, you are trying this on a Laptop, which means you don't have a K6-2 CPU but rather a K6-2P (Mobile) CPU.

SetMul does not affect L1 for these CPUs IIRC, but you can disable L2. Try that.

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Reply 7 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 14:09

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I tried it says "Only L1 Cache Disabling/Enabling is supported. (L1D/L1E)"
but when I try "setmul L1D" then I get the "unsupported amd core" message
I tried "setmul L2D" anyway and it didn't work 🙁

Reply 8 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 14:13

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oh wait something I did worked. I typed "setmul /?" and saw "L6 Plus: L1DX/l1EX" so I tried L1DX and L2DX. both just gave me the same "unsupported" error but then I went to run monuments of mars (which was giving me the divide error) and it ran. so one of those commands worked even though I got the error message.

Reply 9 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 14:22

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you know what I think i just was lacking the "/" before "L1D". strangely I get the same output from setmul no matter what but if I type "setmul /L1D" it works. Anyway thanks for answering 😀

Reply 10 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 18:26

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Okay so after a lot more playing around with it I found out that a) setmul was not working regardless of what command line arguments I gave it and b) monuments of mars would intermittently work even with the L1 cache on. So I guess I'm still looking for a way to disable the L1 cache on this CPU.

Reply 11 of 14, by gerwin

Posted on 2020-02-19, 23:01

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Maybe there is a K6-2 specific bug in SetMul that I need to fix...

Until then maybe cacheoff.com works for you.
Found here: A question about speed

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 12 of 14, by Divarin

Posted on 2020-02-21, 10:31

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Okay I'll give that a try this weekend, thanks!

Reply 13 of 14, by gerwin

Posted on 2020-03-06, 02:41

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gerwin wrote on 2020-02-19, 23:01:

Maybe there is a K6-2 specific bug in SetMul that I need to fix...

I am looking into this now, though not on actual K6 hardware, but I don't see the problem.
Use "SetMul L1D" and "SetMul L1E" to toggle the L1 cache. Without (back)slash in front of the parameter. Text case does not matter.
The program will do that already, before doing the bulk of the CPU identification procedure.
It will say "Disabling L1 Cache." in cyan text.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 14 of 14, by appiah4

Posted on 2020-03-06, 04:44

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A lot of people try to use L1D argument as a switch ith a forward slash, it is just DOS muscle reflex.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

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