Firmware Allocation of PCI Device Resources in Windows

Updated: October 26, 2006

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As the amount of system RAM, the number of PCI and PCIe devices in a system, and the size of memory resources that PCI devices require continue to increase, allocating sufficient memory resources below 4 GB becomes increasingly problematic. This paper describes how different versions of the Windows operating system handle PCI memory resource allocation, details the changes introduced with Windows Vista, and suggests strategies and best practices for system firmware designers to ensure that their platforms perform optimally on Window Vista and earlier versions of Microsoft Windows.

This information applies to the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Windows XP

In this white paper:

• System Address Space and Resource Arbitration in Windows

• Constraints on System Address Space

• PCI Resource Arbitration in Windows

• Bridge Window Configuration in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

• Multilevel Resource Rebalance in Windows Vista

• Boot Configuration of PCI Devices above 4 GB

• Firmware Implementation Guidelines for PCI Device Boot Configuration

• Using _DSM to Enable Windows to Ignore PCI Device Boot Configuration