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----- Original Message ---- |
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> I have two questions: |
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> |
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> 1) Do I have to enable microcode updates in the BIOS of my Crosshair |
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> IV Formula to activate microcodes push in the CPU by the module |
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> "microcode" ? (AMD Phenom X6 1090T) |
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Not sure about BIOS, but the Linux Kernel you are running will certainly need |
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support enabled too. |
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> 2) Does anyone know, what these microcodes do? They are fixes for... |
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> ...what? |
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The Intel and AMD processors are more abstract than physical now. With i486 and |
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earlier the processors were typically hard wired; hardware "bug" fixes could not |
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be pushed out. |
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Intel's Pentium (and I don't know which AMD) started using micro-code to program |
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the processor. This enabled them to push out "hardware" bug fixes for the |
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processors. |
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So what happens is the x86 instruction (e.g. mov ax, bx) gets translated to |
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micro-code first, then it gets processed, and the result translated back to the |
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expected instruction result - essentially, emulating the x86 instruction set in |
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the processor. That's the simple version. |
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So now when they discover a bug in the hardware they can push out a micro-code |
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update to either fix the "hardware" (microcode) bug or work around a hardware |
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(physical hardware) bug. |
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|
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Ben |