What is RawPower?

RawPower is a CPU optimization program for Win95/98. Most modern microprocessors contain features that can increase the system performance, sometimes dramatically. Most of the features are especially interesting when memory-intensive applications are being run like in 3D gaming.

RawPower's is the best and most complete CPU optimizer for Win95/98 that exist!

Installation

To install RawPower simply run the provided installation program and follow instructions

Run RawPower. Select the Optimization tab to see which optimizations are applicable on your CPU. Press Optimize! to let RawPower enabled the selected items.
If you want to start RawPower each time you start Win95/98 go to the StartUp dialog, and check the Start with Windows box.

User Interface

* Info sheet *

On the "Info" sheet various CPU parameters like vendor (i.e. AMD), family (i.e. family 5 meaning a 5th genaration CPU like the Intel P5), chip stepping and clock rate are displayed. If you see the "CPUID not supported on this machine" message you either have a CPU that is too old to support the CPUID instruction (386, some 486) or it is disabled on your machine (this can happen on some Cyrix or WinChip machines, but normally RawPower should fix this problem).

If the displayed clock rate is incorrect, as can happen on some Cyrix CPUs, RawPower's main function, the optimization of your CPU, is NOT impaired.

* CPUID sheet *

The CPUID instruction has been introduced with the Intel 486 CPUs. It is an instruction that allows an application program retrieve information which features a CPU supports. If a feature is supported on your CPU it will be marked with a green mark, if not with a red cross.

* Features sheet *

The features sheet displays various CPU details that don't fit into another category. If an item either bears a read or green mark you can toggle it by double-clicking on the item. These items can also be optimized automatically- see "Optimization sheet".

* Caches sheet *

The Caches sheet displays information about your On-Chip/ On-Module caches. Caches are very fast RAMs that are built into your CPU to compensate for the relatively slow main memory (a cache can have an access time down to 4ns, whereas main memory accesses may take up to 70ns). The caches are organized in two levels, L1 and L2. The L1 cache is always on the chip-die itself. The L2 cache may be on-die (K6-3 or CeleronA), or on a seperate die but in the same case (like the PPro) or not in the chip itself but rather on the same CPU module (like the PII).

Also displays is information about TLBs, the Translation Lookaside Buffers. These allow fast translation of virtual addresses into real, physical addresses.

* Framebuffer sheet *

The Caches sheet displays information about framebuffers if your CPU supports them (on the PPro/ PII they are configured using MTRR's, the Memory Type Range Registers).

Framebuffers allow to configure special memory regions for faster access. This is especially useful for fast access to the graphics card memory. One feature often employes is Write Combining. When Write Combining is activated, up to 4 CPU write accesses to the framebuffer can be converted into one single write operation which can tremendously increase write performance, esp. in 3D gaming.

Framebuffers below or equal to 16KB in size are not optimized by RawPower since this might lead to problems (these buffers are most often used as a command interface to the graphics card).

* PCI sheet *

The PCI sheets (if you have a PCI bus) dispalys and identifies the various PCI deviced attached to your CPU.

* Optimization sheet *

The Optimization sheet allows you to select all features that should be optimized by RawPower. When you click on "Optimize!", all selected items will automatically be optimized.

* StartUp sheet *

The StartUp sheet allows you to configure what RawPower is supposed to do when you start your computer. If you have confirmed that RawPower works without problems (by pressing "Optimize!" on the "Optimization sheet") you can select "Run Automatic Optimization at StartUp". RawPower will then automatically start when you start Windows and optimized your CPU. To choose which settings should be optimized push the "Save Current Settings" button which will save the items selected on the "Optimization sheet".

* About sheet *

Here you can find various information like program version, homepage, email address etc.

Supported Hardware

RawPower should work instantly with all modern x86 microprocessors. These include:

Intel	P5, P5 MMX, PPro, PII (Xeon), Celeron, CeleronA, PIII
AMD	K5, K6, K6-2, K6-2 with new CXT cores, K6-3
Cyrix/ IBM	M1SC, M1 and M2, MediaGX
IDT	WinChip (C6), WinChip II (CII)

Optimization and Information

Modern microprocessors include a number of special features that can improve their performance. The problem is that they are not always enabled by common BIOSes. Therefore RawPower will detect the type of your CPU and enable th appropriate features.

Optimizations	Intel P5/ P5MMX	Intel PPro	Intel P II/ Celeron	AMD K5/ K6/ K6-2	AMD K6-2-CXT/ K6-3	Cyrix M1SC/ M1/ M2	IDT C6/ CII
Write Allocatation				Yes	Yes	Yes
Write Allocation 15-16MB				Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto HLT (AHD)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Low Power on AHD	Yes (MMX only)
Suspend on HLT				Always On		Yes	Yes
No Locking			Yes			Yes
Weak Ordering							Yes
Memory Type Range Registers		Yes	Yes
AMD-Style Framebuffers					Yes
Data Prefetch control					Yes
Information	Intel P5/ P5MMX	Intel PPro	Intel P II/ Celeron	AMD K5/ K6/ K6-2	AMD K6-2-CXT/ K6-3	Cyrix M1SC/ M1/ M2	IDT C6/ CII
Bus frequency/ Divider					Yes
On-Chip L1/L2 Cache		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
On Module L2 Cache		Yes	Yes
Translation Lookaside Buffers		Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes

Legal

The RawPower shareware version can be distributed freely, as long as it is not sold commercially without permission from the author. However, including this software on CD-ROMs containing other free software, permission has explicitly to be granted even if this software is not a primary selling argument for the CD.

Thanks

The following people deserve my special thanks for providing vital help:

Muddle who first aroused my love for the English language.
Alex van Kaam for MBM and his kind help.


More thanks to the following authors for their Freeware Delphi components:
Ahto Tanner (TUrlLabel)
Stefan Hoffmeister et.al. (TEMail)

...and all other people who encouraged me in the development of this program with appreciation, suggestions and helpful criticism.

DISCLAIMER