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Author	Topic: AMD owners, get the most from your CPU
Nat Pilot	posted 03-12- 05:33 PM I just downloaded the newest version of SetK6, I never thought about it till tonight, but you other using AMD could really benefit from this prog, it runs from a dos window, and theres a good readme with it (see below) You should get much better use of your AMD, and improved g/card usauge. You can get the prog here http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.perry/PCMusic/Downloads/setk6v3.zip here is the read me (excuse the English, written by a German guy) SetK6 controls and sets the internal processor registers for Write Allokation and Write Combining (K6-2/CXT, K6-III only). If the BIOS does not recognize and does not correctly intitialize the processor, it runs about 5 % slower than necessary. Under Windows setk6 is a consol application, which normaly should be started from the MSDOS shell, at least if you want to pass parameters. SetK6, Setk6D without parameters show the actual state. Setk6 /on : activates Write Allocation under Windows for the complete system memory Setk6 /off : deactivates Write Allocation Setk6 /on:xxM: activates WA for memory until xx MByte oder shortform: Setk6 xxM with xx: decimal with suffix M means xx MByte i.e. setk6 64M (without M setk6 interpretes the number hexadecimal in MByte, i.e setk6 64 => setk6 100M) under DOS you always have to specify the maximal memory ! Extension for the K6-2/CXT and K6-III The K6-2/CXT and K6III processors support a so called Write Combining for uncached memory. This enables a much faster access to the linear frame buffer (LFB) of the grafic card. For this the processor offers two Memory Type Range Registers (MTRR), where you can program the physical address and size of the LFBs. Modern grafic cards usually support two LFBs, one for direct accesses and one for the hardware accelerator. setk6 looks into the PCI header of the grafic card, where normally these resources are stored. setk6 /M0:LFB,xxM sets MTRR0 according to the first entry in the PCI header with the size xxM (default 16M) and with attribut WC (Write Combining) setk6 /M1:LFB2,xxM sets MTRR1 to the second Entry You even can specify an attribut, i.e. setk6 /M0:LFB,16M,WC or ...,UC (uncached) ...NE (No effect) If the entries in the PCI header are not conform with the real address of the framebuffer or you have other hardware with PCI-memory, you can specify directly a wanted address (in hex): setk6 /M0:E0000000 which is the same as /M0:3584M If you do not specify a Number with MTRR, setk6 looks for the next unused MTRR: setk6 /M:LFB : first unused MTRR is set for LFB according to the PCI header with default size 16M Mostly the typical setting under Windows looks like this: setk6 /on /M0:LFB /M1:LFB2 and so under DOS with 64 MByte memory: setk6D /on:64M /M0:LFB /M1:LFB2 Andreas Stiller/c't March 1999 ------------------ JV~44 "Naturlich" If you can't beat em.... out run em! http://members.xoom.com/naturlich/ IP: Logged
manock Cadet	posted 03-14- 12:11 AM WOW - this either works, or I want higher framerates so bad Im imagining it. Thanks for the tip Nat. Have always suspected these little third party applets are mostly a product of programmer hobbiests' egos but this appears to work. Why doesnt AMD publish utilities like this when its to their advantage to do so? Forever perplexed. IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-14- 10:42 AM wierd aint it, it really made a difference to me too, opening up the pipleine to the graphics card really helps, and the fact that you can configure it's setting so much.. you're right, this should be released by AMD as a utulities pack, or even betterm set that way on shipping IP: Logged
Gustang Cadet	posted 03-14- 11:37 AM Nat, Have you noticed any quirky stuff with this one yet? Gonna try this tonight... Gus IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-14- 11:46 AM Not at all Gustang, I used the older version on my AMDK62 350 and never has any trouble at all with it, it's a really cool little prog IP: Logged
Arrowbase Pilot	posted 03-15- 04:32 AM Bonjour ! I think the readme file is not so explicit regarding the "howto". What I understood is you must use the following parameters "setk6d /on:64M /M0:LFB /M1:LFB2" (64M is your amount of Ram, increase the /on:xxM is you have more) in your autoexec.bat only for a use in Dos. For Win, you must set a shortcut (however, it is my understanding) loaded at startup with the right parameters. In example : "c:\setk6.exe" /on /M0:LFB /M1:LFB2 Maybe I'm wrong as it's the first time I use it. Arrowbase IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-15- 11:38 AM ok, to help out, this is my system spec, and what commnad I type it: Win98 64mb Ram Voodoo3 2000 16mb PCI AMDK62-500 OK, do this: Open a dos windown switch to the directory where you have setk6 unzipped type in the following: setk6 /ON/M0:LFB,16M,WC setk6 /ON/M1:LFB2,16M,WC These commands will enable Linear Frame Buffers 1 and 2 upto 16mb with Write Combining Enabled (You can rase the 16, I have set mine to 32mb) To check your current settings, typing setk6 at the command prompt will display these, plus showing command line options. Hope this helps, There are no command lines to add to autoexec.bat or anything, the program itself sets the commands actually on the CPU, and they then remain that way until changed. Nat ------------------ JV~44 "Naturlich" If you can't beat em.... out run em! there again, you could go buy a shiny new F4U, and kick some butt!!! http://members.xoom.com/naturlich/ [This message has been edited by Nat (edited 03-15-2000).] IP: Logged
Kraftwerk Pilot	posted 03-15- 11:45 AM I tried it, but I didn't notice any difference. Could that be because that my ASUS board has a bios setting that enables AMD K6 Write Allocate? Are we talking the same thing here? IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-15- 12:05 PM I think you're right Kraft, I did see either in the readme, or in a small writeup for it that some motherboards support these function calls, so it could be that you wont notice a difference. Still I hope even if you didn't see any improvement you'll agree it was worth posting. I always think that even if only 1 person sees a benefit that it was worth it IP: Logged
Arrowbase Pilot	posted 03-16- 03:35 AM Bonjour, Do you mean that it's not needed to retype in the commands when you have to reboot??? That was the reason why I created a shortcut with the commands. Anyway, I myself didn't notice yet any changes, but I just use setk6 from yesterday. Arrowbase IP: Logged
Kraftwerk Pilot	posted 03-16- 07:25 AM Indeed it was, Nat! Power to the AMD by any means necessary! IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-16- 03:19 PM Arrow, no mate, once you've typed in those commands as specified, then your CPU is set that way all the time (or until you change them again) You don't need to do anything when you reboot, it's set that way now. IP: Logged
kopper JAG	posted 03-16- 10:26 PM I gave this a try and it says the "Write combining for LFB: Not configured" Is this suppose to change with the execution of the setk6 command with the parameters you suggested? ------------------ Kopper Fortunae Nihil (Nothing to Chance) OPPs Making SDOE a Dangerous place. One plane at a time. IP: Logged
Nat Pilot	posted 03-16- 11:14 PM yes, the prog will let you configure the LFB's, that last command line I put up there somewhere should sort it IP: Logged

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