Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sun, 6 Jan 2002 23:40:37 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sun, 6 Jan 2002 23:40:27 -0500 Received: from oe64.law9.hotmail.com ([64.4.8.199]:16132 "EHLO hotmail.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sun, 6 Jan 2002 23:40:13 -0500 X-Originating-IP: [66.108.21.174] From: "T. A." To: "Linux Kernel Mailing List" , "Chris Wedgwood" In-Reply-To: <20020106032030.A27926@redhat.com> <20020106233726.GA26491@weta.f00f.org> <200201070215.g072F0u3010729@sm14.texas.rr.com> <20020107023854.GA26751@weta.f00f.org> Subject: Re: i686 SMP systems with more then 12 GB ram with 2.4.x kernel ? Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 23:40:15 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Jan 2002 04:40:08.0302 (UTC) FILETIME=[626658E0:01C19735] Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org There are 2MB pages as well. Probably would be a better choice than 4MB. Also only has a 2 tier paging mechanism instead of a 3 tier one when paging with 4KB which should help take care of the current slowdown with highmem. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Wedgwood" To: "Marvin Justice" Cc: "Alan Cox" ; "Benjamin LaHaise" ; "Gerrit Huizenga" ; "M. Edward Borasky" ; "Harald Holzer" ; Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 9:38 PM Subject: Re: i686 SMP systems with more then 12 GB ram with 2.4.x kernel ? > On Sun, Jan 06, 2002 at 08:18:33PM -0600, Marvin Justice wrote: > > Here's my (probably simple minded) understanding. With the PSE bit > turned on in one of the x86 control registers (cr3?), page sizes > are 4MB instead of the usual 4KB. One advantage of large pages is > that there are fewer page tables and struct page's to store. > > Ah, I knew 4MB pages were possible... I was under the impression _all_ > pages had to be 4MB which would seem to suck badly as they would be > too coarse for many applications (but for certain large sci. apps. I'm > sure this would be perfect, less TLB thrashing too with sparse > data-sets). > > On the whole, I'm not sure I can see how 4MB pages _everywhere_ in > user-space would be a win for many people at all... > > > --cw > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ > - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/