My My How things have changed

[Chucky Cheese]

I just finished rebuilding my system with a new MB(Intel DX58SO Extreme), RAM(DDR3 OCZ - 8GB), Processor(Intel 980x Extreme - 3.33 GHz 12MB L3 cache w/12 logical cores) and Video Card(Sapphire Radeon HD 5830 -1GB). Slowest thing now is my 7200 RPM 1TB(32 MB cache) HDD. Anyways everything is running pretty snappy at the moment and I was checking out the System Info viewer and was just marveling at the IRQ table according to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit...

IRQ 16 Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A37 OK
IRQ 5 Intel(R) ICH10 Family SMBus Controller - 3A30 OK
IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3C OK
IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A36 OK
IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 3A26 OK
IRQ 4294967288 Intel(R) 82567LM-2 Gigabit Network Connection OK
IRQ 23 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A34 OK
IRQ 23 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3A OK
IRQ 22 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A35 OK
IRQ 19 Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 3A20 OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A39 OK
IRQ 4294967291 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 3A40 OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 4294967292 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 3A42 OK
IRQ 81 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 82 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 83 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 84 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 85 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 86 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 87 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 88 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 89 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 90 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 91 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 92 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 93 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 94 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 95 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 96 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 97 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 98 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 99 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 100 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 101 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 102 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 103 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 104 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 105 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 106 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 107 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 108 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 109 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 110 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 111 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 112 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 113 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 114 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 115 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 116 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 117 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 118 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 119 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 120 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 121 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 122 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 123 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 124 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 125 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 126 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 127 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 128 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 129 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 130 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 131 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 132 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 133 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 134 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 135 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 136 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 137 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 138 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 139 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 140 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 141 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 142 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 143 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 144 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 145 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 146 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 147 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 148 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 149 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 150 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 151 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 152 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 153 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 154 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 155 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 156 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 157 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 158 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 159 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 160 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 161 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 162 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 163 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 164 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 165 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 166 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 167 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 168 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 169 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 170 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 171 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 172 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 173 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 174 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 175 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 176 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 177 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 178 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 179 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 180 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 181 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 182 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 183 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 184 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 185 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 186 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 187 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 188 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 189 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 190 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 4294967287 ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series OK
IRQ 4294967290 Intel(R) 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 1 - 3408 OK
IRQ 4294967293 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 5 - 3A48 OK
IRQ 17 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 17 Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 (8851) OK
IRQ 4294967294 Intel(R) 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 3 - 340A OK
IRQ 21 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A38 OK
IRQ 4294967289 Intel(R) 5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 7 - 340E OK
IRQ 0 System timer OK
************************************************** **********************

IRQ 4 billion, 294 million, 967 thousand and 289...really? That is a long way from the days of 15 IRQs. Makes me feel old that I can even remember back that far.

[ALBPM]

Oh Boy!!!!! Free Beer on IRQ 11

And 199, and 243, and 299 and ..............

[Chucky Cheese]

YES...Free Beer!!!

yep...just pick your favorite number!!

[Mehen]

You're running 8gb of RAM on a triple channel capable motherboard?

[degrub]

i think there are still only 16 hardware interrupts, yes ?
Everything else is shared or "soft" and non-real time ?

[Chucky Cheese]

Memory Modes???

You're running 8gb of RAM on a triple channel capable motherboard?

Yes...why do you ask? should it be a number evenly divisible by 3? I did notice that the MB documentation said that for maximum performance to use the 3 blue memory slots. I haven't noticed any negative consequences yet.

How can I tell if the memory is running in triple channel mode, or for that matter what mode it is in?

[Chucky Cheese]

Legacy IRQs

i think there are still only 16 hardware interrupts, yes ?
Everything else is shared or "soft" and non-real time ?

What do they do with the legacy IRQs? This MB has no legacy IO and I don't recall seeing anything about IRQs in the bios...do they mask that and build a virtual IRQ table totally within the operating system?

I don't know but it seems as though something like the VGA core of this video card would still need a legacy IRQ for displaying text and such...like in the bios. The only legacy IRQs in that list are 0,5,8,13 and 16. I don't have an IDE controller but the SATA flag in the bios is set to IDE.

[Mehen]

You'd have to be running a multiple of 3 DIMMs in order to be running triple channel mode. It basically just means you'd have more memory bandwidth. The i7/X58's bandwidth is insane even with dual channel mode, so it isn't a big deal

[Chucky Cheese]

Ok

Thanks for that Mehen...I think the next time I shut this down for cleaning I will remove the first stick of ram in the black slot and see if I can observe a difference.

So basically I am running in dual channel mode then ? I noticed in the Intel Desktop Control Center that the ram had bumped my processor to 3.6GHz and was running at a timing of 7-7-7-16.

IDCC.JPG

I am not an overclocker...I'd rather buy the raw horsepower and I made no changes in the bios to affect the memory or processor and I haven't clicked on the "Auto Tune" function within the IDCC...YET!

[Evildead666]

Mehen's right.

basically you have a 192-bit capable Memory path.
3x64-bit.

Up until the i7-9xx all the CPU's were Dual Channel capable (128bit), mostly, and Triple channel just blows that away.

I think Intel noticed that people were clocking memory higher and higher, when a third channel would remove the need for insane memory speeds, whilst not starving the CPU of memory bandwidth.

In simple terms, no need for insanely expensive memory any more, better off having an extra memory channel.

Its not just for overclockers, any software you have that is/maybe memory bandwidth related, would love the extra channel.

Not much apart from games, and even then, is memory bandwidth restricted...

[degrub]

Anything labeled IRQ (0-15) would be an actual hardware interrupt. Note the system timer is IRQ0 - the highest priority to keep everything else in sync. i think you are right in that the other IRQs are mapped into a virtual table with software to address prioritization within a given level where real time doesn't matter.

[Elie]

You know... I think it's about time the whole X86 architecture changes. I mean it's still from the old days of PC's with 15 IRQ's and DMA addresses etc.

Make it more efficient, and scalable.

[Umfriend]

IIRC, the original PC and PC/XT had only 8 IRQs....

[Chucky Cheese]

Triple Channel it is then...

I just ordered a bluray burner so when I shut it down to install it the memory module in the black slot is out of there, and I'll be down to 6GB...I can live with that!!

[Evildead666]

Don't forget to try and do some benches before the change, and then repeat afterwards if possible.