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Conference turris::digital_unix

Title:DIGITAL UNIX(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEC OSF/1)
Notice:Welcome to the Digital UNIX Conference
Moderator:SMURF::DENHAM
Created:Thu Mar 16 1995
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:10068
Total number of notes:35879

9240.0. "Memory Modules and Performance" by NCMAIL::DOIRON () Thu Mar 20 1997 14:49

    Are there any performance implications for the way memory is added to
    AlphaServers running Digital UNIX? In other words, Are two 1-GB modules
    better or worse than one 2-GB module. Also, does mixing memory modules
    (1-GB with 512MB for instance) have a significant impact on
    performance?
    
    Thanks in advance,
    -Ron
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9240.1Lots of very different AlphaServersWIBBIN::NOYCEPulling weeds, pickin' stonesThu Mar 20 1997 16:3123
I believe this is entirely a hardware question.  You should ask in the
conference appropriate to the particular hardware platform:
	WRKSYS::MIKASA			1000, 1000A
	MVBLAB::SABLE			2000, 2000A, 2100, 2100A
	MSBCS::TURBOLASER		8200, 8400
	MVBLAB::ALPHASERVER_4100	4000, 4100

The interesting aspects will be
	number of banks
	raw latency
	whether interleaving is possible

For example, the new larger memory board for Turbolaser (is that the 2GB
board?) has 4 banks instead of 2 on older ones, but is a touch slower to
access.  For slot-constrained situations, it's valuable because one new
board provides as much memory (and as many banks) as two old ones.  But
if you're not constrained, I think the older one is better (by a barely
measureable amount) because it's somewhat faster.

Typically interleaving is only allowed between two equal-sized chunks of
memory.  Sometimes a chunk can be constructed with multiple boards.
So, for example, you might be able to interleave a 1 GB board with a
pair of 512 MB boards.
9240.2Random memoriesPERFOM::HENNINGMon Mar 24 1997 18:4517
    What I've heard whilst kicking around the lab:
    
      - no particular difference what you do with mikasa
    
      - On Sable, see note 1009.1 for an interesting start - the
        key variable is whether you have the 60ns or 80ns parts.
        Interleaving is not a big factor.
    
      - On Rawhide, the smaller 128mb "sync" modules are about 10%
        faster than the larger "edo" modules, but this difference
        will be much less with the new edo modules.  Interleaving
        is not a big deal.  Biggest memory must come first, so if
        you have mixed edo and sync the slower memory gets used first.
    
      - On Turbolaser, interleaving is VERY important.  For some tips, see:
        http://tlg-www.zko.dec.com/~henning/Mem_bw.html