Vol. 3 11-17
MEMORY CACHE CONTROL
Table 11-5. Cache Operating Modes
CD NW Caching and Read/Write Policy L1 L2/L3
1
0 0 Normal Cache Mode. Highest performance cache operation.
• Read hits access the cache; read misses may cause replacement.
• Write hits update the cache.
• Only writes to shared lines and write misses update system
memory.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
• Write misses cause cache line fills.
• Write hits can change shared lines to modified under control of
the MTRRs and with associated read invalidation cycle.
• (Pentium processor only.) Write misses do not cause cache line
fills.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
• (Pentium processor only.) Write hits can change shared lines to
exclusive under control of WB/WT#.
• Invalidation is allowed.
• External snoop traffic is supported.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
0 1 Invalid setting.
Generates a general-protection exception (#GP) with an error code
of 0.
NA NA
1 0 No-fill Cache Mode. Memory coherency is maintained.
3
• (Pentium 4 and later processor families.) State of processor after
a power up or reset.
• Read hits access the cache; read misses do not cause
replacement (see Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon processors reference
below).
• Write hits update the cache.
• Only writes to shared lines and write misses update system
memory.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
• Write misses access memory.
• Write hits can change shared lines to exclusive under control of
the MTRRs and with associated read invalidation cycle.
• (Pentium processor only.) Write hits can change shared lines to
exclusive under control of the WB/WT#.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1 0 • (P6 and later processor families only.) Strict memory ordering is
not enforced unless the MTRRs are disabled and/or all memory is
referenced as uncached (see Section 7.2.4., “Strengthening or
Weakening the Memory Ordering Model”).
• Invalidation is allowed.
• External snoop traffic is supported.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes