Fast storage means getting close to the processor. Hardware enthusiast and engineer Nemez realized that the L3 cache on AMD’s V-cache chips was enough to mount a RAM disc within. A fast SSD on PCIe 5.0 can reach 14GB/s. Nemez’s modified Ryzen 7 5800X3D managed 175GB/s writes and 183GB/s reads—a 12x bump. Even this hardly touches the theoretical throughput of the V-cache, quoted at 2.5TB/s on second-generation models. Creating this involved fiddling with parameters using OFSMount and CrystalDiskMark, and getting a workable disc volume out of of 96MB isn’t easy. The process is tricky, but it shows potential other uses for that temptingly fast memory.
–CL