Abstract: Systems and arrangements to assess the thermal performance of a thermal solution based upon the ability of a device under test (DUT) to operate in accordance with electrical performance criteria are contemplated. Embodiments may include a tester to couple with the DUT to determine an operating junction temperature. In some embodiments, the measured junction temperature may be the operating junction temperature anticipated for the DUT in a customer installation. In other embodiments, the tester may comprise logic to calculate a projected, operating junction temperature based upon the measured junction temperature and known differences between the tester and a customer installation. Upon determining the operating junction temperature for the DUT at the customer installation, the operating junction temperature is compared against a maximum junction temperature for proper operation of the DUT. Advantageously, the maximum junction temperature may be varied based upon the project objective for a line of DUTs.

Abstract: Systems and arrangements to assess the thermal performance of a thermal solution based upon the ability of a device under test (DUT) to operate in accordance with electrical performance criteria are contemplated. Embodiments may include a tester to couple with the DUT to determine an operating junction temperature. In some embodiments, the measured junction temperature may be the operating junction temperature anticipated for the DUT in a customer installation. In other embodiments, the tester may comprise logic to calculate a projected, operating junction temperature based upon the measured junction temperature and known differences between the tester and a customer installation. Upon determining the operating junction temperature for the DUT at the customer installation, the operating junction temperature is compared against a maximum junction temperature for proper operation of the DUT. Advantageously, the maximum junction temperature may be varied based upon the project objective for a line of DUTs.

Abstract: Systems and arrangements to assess the thermal performance of a thermal solution based upon the ability of a device under test (DUT) to operate in accordance with electrical performance criteria are contemplated. Embodiments may include a tester to couple with the DUT to determine an operating junction temperature. In some embodiments, the measured junction temperature may be the operating junction temperature anticipated for the DUT in a customer installation. In other embodiments, the tester may comprise logic to calculate a projected, operating junction temperature based upon the measured junction temperature and known differences between the tester and a customer installation. Upon determining the operating junction temperature for the DUT at the customer installation, the operating junction temperature is compared against a maximum junction temperature for proper operation of the DUT. Advantageously, the maximum junction temperature may be varied based upon the project objective for a line of DUTs.

Abstract: A shared memory multiprocessor (SMP) data processing system includes a store buffer implemented in a memory controller for temporarily storing recently accessed memory data within the data processing system. The memory controller includes control logic for maintaining coherency between the memory controller's store buffer and memory. The memory controller's store buffer is configured into one or more arrays sufficiently mapped to handle I/O and CPU bandwidth requirements. The combination of the store buffer and the control logic operates as a front end within the memory controller in that all memory requests are first processed by the control logic/store buffer combination for reducing memory latency and increasing effective memory bandwidth by eliminating certain memory read and write operations.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving direct memory access and cache performance utilizing a special Input/Output or “I/O” page, defined as having a large size (e.g., 4 Kilobytes or 4 Kb), but with distinctive cache line characteristics. For Direct Memory Access (DMA) reads, the first cache line in the I/O page may be accessed, by a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Host Bridge, as a cacheable read and all other lines are non-cacheable access (DMA Read with no intent to cache). For DMA writes, the PCI Host Bridge accesses all cache lines as cacheable. The PCI Host Bridge maintains a cache snoop granularity of the I/O page size for data, which means that if the Host Bridge detects a store (invalidate) type system bus operation on any cache line within an I/O page, cached data within that page is invalidated, the Level 1 and Level 2 ((L1/L2) caches continue to treat all cache lines in this page as cacheable).

Abstract: A method and apparatus of allowing processors of different speeds to be used in a multi-processor system are disclosed. The method and apparatus comprise a programmable array logic (PAL) or field programmable gate array (FPGA) that detects each of the processors maximum speed and selects a speed common to all of the processors as the operating speed of the processors. The method and apparatus also adjust the system clock to match the speed of the processors.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a microprocessor bus interface to eliminate the turnabout in those cases where the same slave is involved in consecutive read data bus tenures or where the same master and slave are involved in consecutive write data bus tenures. A new optional signal is added to the bus interface, called pre-last transfer acknowledge. The signal is asserted by the slave one cycle before the last transfer acknowledge signal is asserted. The signal is intended to be received by the system's bus arbiter. If the current data tenure and the next data tenure are both read operations directed to the same slave (such as the memory controller) or both write operations from the same master to the same slave, then the arbiter may grant the data bus to the master of the next data tenure the cycle following the assertion of the pre-last transfer acknowledge indicator.