82X38 datasheet(57/342 Pages) INTEL

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Datasheet

MCH Register Description

The MCH is responsible for translating and routing the processor’s I/O accesses to the

CONFIG_ADDRESS and CONFIG_DATA registers to internal MCH configuration

registers, DMI or PCI Express.

4.3.2

PCI Express Enhanced Configuration Mechanism

PCI Express extends the configuration space to 4096 bytes per device/function as

compared to 256 bytes allowed by PCI Specification Revision 2.3. PCI Express

configuration space is divided into a PCI 2.3 compatible region, which consists of the

first 256B of a logical device’s configuration space and a PCI Express extended region,

which consists of the remaining configuration space.

The PCI compatible region can be accessed using either the Standard PCI Configuration

Mechanism or using the PCI Express Enhanced Configuration Mechanism described in

this section. The extended configuration registers may only be accessed using the PCI

Express Enhanced Configuration Mechanism. To maintain compatibility with PCI

configuration addressing mechanisms, system software must access the extended

configuration space using 32-bit operations (32-bit aligned) only. These 32-bit

operations include byte enables allowing only appropriate bytes within the DWord to be

accessed. Locked transactions to the PCI Express memory mapped configuration

address space are not supported. All changes made using either access mechanism are

equivalent.

The PCI Express Enhanced Configuration Mechanism utilizes a flat memory-mapped

address space to access device configuration registers. This address space is reported

by the system firmware to the operating system. There is a register, PCIEXBAR, that

defines the base address for the block of addresses below 4 GB for the configuration

space associated with busses, devices and functions that are potentially a part of the

PCI Express root complex hierarchy. In the PCIEXBAR register there exists controls to

limit the size of this reserved memory mapped space. 256 MB is the amount of address

space required to reserve space for every bus, device, and function that could possibly

exist. Options for 128 MB and 64 MB exist in order to free up those addresses for other

uses. In these cases the number of busses and all of their associated devices and

functions are limited to 128 or 64 busses respectively.

The PCI Express Configuration Transaction Header includes an additional 4 bits

(ExtendedRegisterAddress[3:0]) between the Function Number and Register Address

fields to provide indexing into the 4 KB of configuration space allocated to each

potential device. For PCI Compatible Configuration Requests, the Extended Register

Address field must be all zeros.

82X38 Datasheet(PDF) 57 Page - Intel Corporation