Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 14:44:39 -0700 From: Brandon Huey <brandon@virage.com> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cpu considerations for packet filtering Message-ID: <35EDBC47.C2698460@virage.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
yes, i need to get a clue about hardware. i guess i've been misled in a way by the PII's... thinking L2 cache is something integrated on-chip. i generally see systems marketed with L2 cache and cpu vaguely suggested as one feature, ie: "Pentium II/266 w/512KB L2 cache" but if it were just a matter of getting the right mobo, what explains the introduction of the celeron and the two version of the pentium pro with varrying cache sizes? let me ask a more broad question to stay on track: for packet filtering and heavy network usage, how important is cpu and should i give up on-chip cache to keep the cost of this unit down? thanks, -bh Steve Friedrich wrote: > > On Wed, 02 Sep 1998 13:35:53 -0700, Brandon Huey wrote: > > >how important is L2 cache for packet-filtering, and heavy network > >traffic in general? > > > >i have a very small 3.0-SNAP kernel with ipf and ssh that will boot from > >floppy into memory. the hard drive in the machine is used only for > >logging. i'm writing a front-end to ipf so that the admin of this > >gateway can generate new rules and have them updated via scp. > >i want to build this as cheaply as possible and am interested by the AMD > >3D cpu which i have found for < $100. the possible downside is that it > >has no integrated cache. > > > >advice? > > I'm confused... Level 2 cache is usually located on the motherboard, > with the Pentium II being the odd man out (nice if you have a big > enough die). Are you saying the motherboard doesn't have an L2 cache > ?? If you're getting a motherboard that has no L2 but it does have the > CPU, you can always buy a different motherboard. I went to AMDs web > site and their description of their 3DNow chips show an L1 cache... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?35EDBC47.C2698460>