Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 8 Dec 2003 18:07:11 +0100 (MET) | From | Mikael Pettersson <> | Subject | Re: APIC support on Slot-A Athlon, K6 |
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On Mon, 8 Dec 2003 05:58:59 -0600, Ryan Underwood wrote: >> Furthermore, I/O-APIC usage requires (in hardware) that the >> processor has a local APIC. > >What can the APIC support alone accomplish, without an I/O-APIC? >Just NMI watchdog and related things? (looking at CONFIG_APIC help) >Looks like I/O-APIC is the real desired feature, but a functioning local >APIC, though not very useful by itself, is a prerequisite for it.
Local APIC gives you: - using the local APIC timer instead of the mobo's legacy timer - thermal management interrupts on P4s (dunno about K7s/K8s) - performance counter interrupts, which can be used as an NMI source (watchdog, profiling) or for performance analysis
I/O-APIC gives you: - more interrupt vectors ==> less IRQ sharing ==> improved stability and performance - lower-overhead interrupt management - I/O-APIC NMI watchdog (another timer with NMI delivery mode) - 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/
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