Ragemem results

AmigaOne X5000 platform specific issues.
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Roland
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Ragemem results

Post by Roland »

I would be interested to know what kind of Ragemem results other X5000 users have obtained... It can be also run from SysMon.

Is it normal that the memory test gives significantly lower results for X5000 than for X1000? And that the results are somewhat different depending on whether there is only one or two DIMMs installed in the machine?

If there are e.g. two 2GB or 4GB DIMMs installed, does AmigaOS use both of them, 50%/50% or 25%/25% (within the limits of the currently possible maximum)?
Last edited by Roland on Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
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tonyw
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by tonyw »

My experience is that AmigaOS does not care if I install two DIMMs, although it can only use one of them. That is not the same result that U-Boot shows: on my machine, U-Boot slows to a crawl if I install 2x2 GB DIMMs and won't run at all if I install 2x4 GB DIMMs. Although U-Boot crawls with 2x2 GB DIMMs, once AmigaOS has booted, it runs just fine, so it is a U-Boot problem.

Some Linux users report that RageMem and some other benchmarks show disappointing results on an X-5000, compared to an X-1000. The reason is unknown, but the result is clearly nonsense, as any real test you care to try using OS4 (memory copy speed, read/write speed, I/O speed etc) performs about 20% faster on an X-5000 than on an X-1000, as you would expect.

If you install 2 DIMMs, U-Boot will initialise them to run interleaved, so they will naturally be shared.
cheers
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Roland
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by Roland »

tonyw wrote:My experience is that AmigaOS does not care if I install two DIMMs, although it can only use one of them. That is not the same result that U-Boot shows: on my machine, U-Boot slows to a crawl if I install 2x2 GB DIMMs and won't run at all if I install 2x4 GB DIMMs. Although U-Boot crawls with 2x2 GB DIMMs, once AmigaOS has booted, it runs just fine, so it is a U-Boot problem.
Sounds strange... Is your U-Boot version the same as in standard retail machines? What brand of memory have you tested? I have two 4 GB Kingston HyperX 1866 MHz DIMMs (HX318C10FWK2/8) in my machine, and have not noticed any slow down with U-Boot. They are classed as CL10, but U-Boot System info reports CL8 for them. So far I have seen only CL9 in other X5000s.

Is there any other memory test program than Ragemem, which would make more sense...?
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zzd10h
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by zzd10h »

"Ragemem" "It can be run from Sysinfo which is included in the 4.1FE." ?

Really ? Maybe you meant that the Crisot RageMem can be run from SysMon included in zTools AmiStore package ?
http://apps.amistore.net/zTools
X1000 - AmigaOS 4.1.6 / 4.1 FE
Roland
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by Roland »

zzd10h wrote:"Ragemem" "It can be run from Sysinfo which is included in the 4.1FE." ?

Really ? Maybe you meant that the Crisot RageMem can be run from SysMon included in zTools AmiStore package ?
Thanks, I corrected the name! I may have mixed it with Ranger for which there is a version included in OS4.1....The SysMon version I have is 4.3 (2013), I suppose it must be from OS4Depot originally. There are so many programs and versions around that it is impossoble to remember all details...:-/
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by Roland »

A few Ragemem memory test results with different Dimm compositions:

RAGEMEM v0.37 - compiled 11/06/2010
---------------------------------------------------
CPU: Freescale P50XX (E5500 core) 1.2 @ 1995 Mhz
Caches Sizes: L1: 32 KB - L2: 512 KB - L3: none
Cache Line: 64
.
..
Crucial 1x4GB 1600 MHz CL11 (U-Boot System info: CL9)
---> RAM <---
READ32: 732 MB/Sec
READ64: 1381 MB/Sec
WRITE32: 901 MB/Sec
WRITE64: 899 MB/Sec
WRITE: 2331 MB/Sec (Tricky)

...
Kingston 1x4GB HyperX Fury 1866 MHz CL 10 (U-boot System info: CL8)
---> RAM <---
READ32: 727 MB/Sec
READ64: 1394 MB/Sec
WRITE32: 941 MB/Sec
WRITE64: 940 MB/Sec
WRITE: 2320 MB/Sec (Tricky)

...
Kingston 2x4GB HyperX Fury 1866 MHz CL 10 (U-boot System info: CL8)
---> RAM <---
READ32: 695 MB/Sec
READ64: 1311 MB/Sec
WRITE32: 1521 MB/Sec
WRITE64: 1517 MB/Sec
WRITE: 2321 MB/Sec (Tricky)

***
In summary, it seems that in the write32/64 tests a Dimm which X5000 can run at CL8, instead of the usual CL9, gives a 5% speed advantage. Also, using two Dimms instead of one gives a 60% higher speed, but also slight speed penalty in the read tests... Have not done 'practical' tests yet. This is just FTI who always tend to 'optimize' their machines ;-).
Last edited by Roland on Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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daveyw
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by daveyw »

Roland wrote: ..
Crucial 1x4GB 1600 MHz CL11 (U-Boot System info: CL9)

Kingston 1x4GB HyperX Fury 1866 MHz CL 10 (U-boot System info: CL8)

Kingston 2x4GB HyperX Fury 1866 MHz CL 10 (U-boot System info: CL8)
I've been tempted by replace the 1 x 4 GB Crucial stick that AmigaKit supplied with my X5000 mobo, but, owning an A1XE, I'm a little bit hesitant to buy RAM that may not be compatible. I know the X5000 is more tolerant, but still... ;) I also understand there are problems with Linux if you have more than 2 sticks?

Any idea why uboot reports a different latency than that specified by the RAM maufacturer?
Roland
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Re: Ragemem results

Post by Roland »

daveyw wrote:I've been tempted by replace the 1 x 4 GB Crucial stick that AmigaKit supplied with my X5000 mobo, but, owning an A1XE, I'm a little bit hesitant to buy RAM that may not be compatible. I know the X5000 is more tolerant, but still... ;)
At least these 1866MHz HyperX Furys have worked without problems in my machine several months, and the respective 1600MHZ version has also been reported to be compatible (http://wiki.amiga.org/index.php?title=AmigaONE_X5000). But it may be that the CL8 can only be obtained with the 1866MHZ version.
I also understand there are problems with Linux if you have more than 2 sticks?
No, that is not true... I have tested all the available Linux variants and kernel lines in my X5000 with 2x4GB, and no problems there. Some users have reported that 2x8GB works, too. There was, though, with earlier kernels the 3,5GB limit of total memory, and you had to use the boot variable MEM=3500M. But that limitation is not anymore present in the current kernel versions. Only if you happen to have a RTL 8169 ethernet card you still have to keep that limit.
Any idea why uboot reports a different latency than that specified by the RAM maufacturer?
I would be curious to know that, too...!-)
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