Interleaving Memory |
March, 27, 2003 3:56 PM |
chrisdold |
I have seen several places that it is not recommended to interleave memory on OldWorld machines when using OSX. Does anyone have any technical details to support or dispute this? |
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RE: Interleaving Memory |
March, 31, 2003 2:27 PM |
chrisdold |
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Thanks to all for the information. I went ahead and interleaved and all is well. The details in your responses gave them a lot more credibility than the "Don't interleave" I had heard before. |
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RE: Interleaving Memory |
March, 30, 2003 4:20 PM |
marcush |
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I used os9helper to install 9.2.2 which you can download from OWC or os9forever.com. The latest version of the Sonnet Cache extension unofficially supports 9.2.x. It was easy to install actually. Just a few button clicks. I just looked at Sonnet's website in downloads -> Processor upgrade software and found Sonnet Processor version 2.0.2 under Crescendo/Encor software. That is what you will need. |
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RE: Interleaving Memory |
March, 30, 2003 12:16 AM |
tron49 |
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I agree with "marcush" .... I have an 8500 with 1 gig of interleaved memory and a Sonnet G4/800 and the speed is awesome. I'm currently running 9.1 but plan on upgrading it.... QUESTION to "marcush".... what did you use to get to 9.2.2 and how difficult was it and does the Sonnet driver support it? How can I get the new version of the driver if any??? Unable to get on Sonnet Tech's site for software updates.... Only get their online store. No mention of software updates or ability to get to their Home page. Thanks, Sig |
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RE: Interleaving Memory |
March, 29, 2003 10:04 AM |
earlyd416 |
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I, too, interleave my RAM. I have an 8600/200 with a PowerLogix G4/450 card. Good memory will allow interleaving. I use exclusively EDO 128MB memory modules which I purchased from Ramdirect on eBay. |
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RE: Interleaving Memory |
March, 27, 2003 4:39 PM |
marcush |
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There is no right answer really. Whether it works for you or not is a confluence of many factors, i.e., Logic Board revision, processor manufacturer, RAM manufacturer, and so forth. Right now all 1GB of my RAM is interleaved and it is not giving me any problems. In fact, interleaving your RAM improves memory throughput. If you have a G4 then that throughput is boosted even more. When I was running a G3/500 in my Power Tower Pro the Gauge Pro memory test indicated that my memory throughput was 39MB/s. When I upgraded to a G4/450 it jumped up to 70MB/s. I saw a quantifiable increase in game performance as a result. Quake 3 framerates went from the low 30's to the low 40's at 1024x768 with all settings at high quality. I did have problems with my RAM when I went to the G4/450 though. It turned out to be a problem with the XLR8 Six-Slot Edition carrier card and/or processor and not the RAM. I initially had to deinterleave my RAM and remove 2 of my 128MB sticks and replace them with four 64MB sticks from my Power Center Pro. I eventually found out about a method to get my RAM interleaved again with that card. I read about it in the CPU upgrades database at xlr8yourmac.com. I simply had to reinstall my original L2 cache. Apparently this provided some additional buffering between the processor and the memory bus that allowed the card to work with the full 1GB of 128MB RAM sticks I had. That took a while to figure out. As soon as I did that I ran the Guage Pro memory test and got the 70MB/s result. Then last July, which was only a few months after I got the system stabilized with the XLR8 G4/450, the Sonnet G4/800 upgrade was announced. There was no question that I had to have it. I got one in one of the first shipments and installed it after removing my L2 cache again. It simply worked. After a few weeks I decided to give the two 128MB sticks another go, this time with the Sonnet card, and they've worked flawlessly with the Sonnet card ever since. I ran Gauge Pro in OS 9.2.2 immediately after and my memory throughput had gone up to 93MB/s. X-Bench running in OSX shows that memory throughput went up to 104MB/s. So, as you can see if you can interleave your RAM it is advantageous to do so. To back that up there are some tests that were done by Mike Breeden at xlr8yourmac.com a few years ago that bear out the advantages of interleaved RAM. His advice is to always interleave if possible. Afterall, Apple purposefully designed their high end logic boards of that era to take advantage of RAM interleaving. |
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