Technical information

7-16
AIC-6915 Ethernet LAN Controller Programmer’s Manual
PCI MAXLAT (Maximum Latency) Register
Type: R
Internal Registers Subgroup: PCI Configuration Header
Byte Address: 3Fh
Table 7-26. Maximum Latency Register
Bit(s) rw
Reset
Value Description/Function
7:0 r 06h
MAXLAT[7:0]:
Always read as 06h. The Maximum Latency
register indicates how often the device needs to gain access to the
PCI bus. The value read from the register specifies a period of time
in units of 0.25 microseconds.
Assuming an average required transfer rate of 30MByte/Sec (25M
+ 5M overhead), and an average burst size of 64 bytes (which
takes 0.48usec based on clock of 33MHz and 4 bytes per Data
phase) the maximum latency would be:
30MByte/Sec = 64 / (0.48usec+MaxLat)
MaxLat = (64 / 30) - 0.48 = 1.65333usec =~ 1.50 usec
The AIC-6915's
MAXLAT
register value is 6h, which is
1.5usec/0.25usec.
Note
: For smaller burst sizes or higher required data transfer rates
this number has to change.
The default value can be changed to a value read from an external
serial EEPROM if the
BR_A1
signal pin is asserted when
PCIRST_
is deasserted.