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6-4 Technical Information
The Intel 80386 Microprocessor
Your mainboard uses an Intel 80386-33 microprocessor running at
33MHz.
The Intel 80386 is a high-performance 32-bit microprocessor designed
for multitasking operating systems. The processor can address up to
4 gigabytes of physical memory and 64 terabytes of virtual memory.
It incorporates integrated memory management and protection in its
architecture in the form of address-translation registers, advanced
multitasking hardware, and a protect mechanism to support operating
systems. In addition, its object code is compatible with the 8086 family
of microprocessors.
The 80386 has built-in features to support coprocessor-s, DMA and
interrupts (both maskable and non-maskable). It has two modes of
operation: Real Address mode and the Protected Virtual Address
mode.
In Real Address mode, the 80386 operates as a fast 8086 with a 32-bit
extension if necessary. The Protected Virtual Address mode is the
natural environment of the 80386. Software can perform a task switch
into tasks designated as virtual 8086 mode tasks. Virtual 8086 tasks
can be isolated and protected from one another by use of paging and
l/O-permission bit mapping.
Cache Algorithm
In a cache memory system, all data are stored in main memory and
some data are duplicated in the cache. When the processor accesses
memory, it checks the cache first. If the desired data are in the
fast-memory cache, the processor can access the data quickly. If the
desired data are not in the cache, the data must be fetched from main
memory. If the requested data are found in the cache, the memory
access is called a cache hit; if not, it is called a cache miss. The hit rate
is the percentage of accesses that are hits; it is affected by the size and
physical organization of the cache, the cache algorithm, and the
program being run.
The following section describes the cache algorithm of your main-
board.
Chapter 6: Appendix
23
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