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If you bought something from me, you did not identify your MSFN handle when you did so. PM or E-Mail me with the info. If you are planning to do any serious testing, you will need to buy the RAMDisks. The 32-Bit and 64-Bit RAM areas ARE separate. I could only assume you wanted a single Drive Letter. Each invocation is separate, so there is no specific limit to the number of Drives. I haven't tested on an XHCI Port, but booting from one would probably work even better as Windows 9x would not reset it as it does with older Ports. Keyboards and Mice should work too, All would run in BIOS emulation. I have separate RAMDisk Programs for 32-Bit, 64-Bit and the new Dual-Mode. There is no need for the latter two to support 32-Bit CPUs. Also HIMEMEX uses PSE so it would not work on a 386. Allocating on a 1GB or any other specific boundary would be riduculous. Deallocating or reallocating requires memory tables to be maintained. This would definitely increase the footprint. HIMEMEX currently uses progressive allocation. No deallocation allowed. What would you do that needs to keep reallocating RAMDisks? You could just as easily create Folders within one RAMDisk and use SUBST. The 64-Bit RAMDisk only deals with 64-Bit RAM by definition. The System Arena is in Virtual Memory, not Physical Memory. Space can be reserved in it even if no RAM is actually committed. It is always 1GiB regardless of the amount of Physical RAM. 512 Bytes is the sector size, no useable Filesystem is going to fit in it. The theortical limit is 2K. Incidentally, I would not recommend the 7950GX2 because the second Controller is not initialized and won't be recognized by 9x. It costs more and takes up more MMIO than a single Controller card with no advantage.

Back on topic. First you want all of RAM in one Drive Letter. Now you want 23 to 25 separate RAMDisks. Make up your mind. You have asked more support questions than all of my customers combined. If you want more support, you are going to have to buy something. You can run code from a RAMDisk just as from a Hard Disk. You cannot run code in the RAMDisk memory itself. It has to be copied to Conventional RAM. Windows 9x can be run from my RAMDisk. I have a default 8GB RAMDisk just for that purpose. I have a Letter swapper that lets you set the RAMDisk to C:. I haven't tried Booting an USB Drive and copying to RAMDisk. It should work provided you deal with the USB issue as you have to if you Boot Windowx 9x directly from the USB Key. Few people would want more than a couple of RAMDisks at a time, so optimizing the footprint for a large array is not useful. I saw some value in the Dual Mode RAMDisk so I made it. In older systems you can use the 32-Bit RAMDisk. There is no need to use the Dual Mode RAMDisk. How many people have a need to dynamically allocate and deallocate RAMDisks from DOS? I don't think anybody have even suggested it. It adds a significant amount of complexity that would impact performance and footprint. XMS RAMDisks can handle 4GiB in DOS only. In Windows 9x, they compete with the System and File Cache for the 1GiB System Arena space. With minimum File Cache, this limit is somewhere around 500MB. Multiple methods of entering parameters is not that important. You are just too lazy to convert the size you want into KiB. The minimum possible allocation unit would be 512 Bytes in any case.

For a 4TB Hard Drive you need my Terabyte Plus Package. If your 4TB Drive is USB, it probably can be partitioned as one 4TB Partition. If not, it will have to be split into 2 2TB Partiitons. I have an experimental setup that overcomes this limit but is complicated to setup. DOS would never see 4GiB or more of RAM or 2TiB of Disk. The Terabyte Plus Package provides access to larger Disks in DOS and Windows 98SE. My 64-Bit RAMDisk can be used in DOS to take advantage of the remainder of the 8GiB of RAM.

XMS limits the maximum size of a DOS RAMDisk. Non-XMS does not. If someone knew about the XMS limitation they would be interested in a non-XMS Version. If they did not know, they would be curious why I am promoting "non-XMS" and would find out why. I am sticking with "non-XMS". Obviously the new version uses only one Drive Letter. Otherwise there would be no point. All three versions allow you to specify a Drive Letter or default to the next free Drive Letter. The 32-Bit Version requires you to specify it's size in KiB. There is no default. The 64-Bit and Dual Mode Versions allow you to specify the amount of 64-Bit RAM or default to all 64-Bit RAM. The Dual Mode Version will additionally Allocate all Reserved 32-Bit RAM. You specify 32-Bit RAM with the /A or /L Option on HIMEMEX. As I said before, they use less than 3KB of conventional memory per Drive. HIMEMEX also uses conventional memory. You have that so you can test it yourself. I haven't actually used a 29GiB RAMDisk for any particular purpose, but I did manipulate a 26GiB array in RAM using direct coding to maximize speed. I used Windows 98SE to reduce overhead. Adding the ability to Change, List or Delete RAMDisks is not in my plans.

Any other name would be meaningless to people. The Title is too short to describe the features. The description explains them. XMS usage by ANY Program is tracked by Windows 9x. The RAMDisk Drivers use less than 3KB per Drive. HIMEMEX is not restricted to RAMDisks. It is also used by my MEMORY64 Package. You can write Applications that can use HIMEMEX to manage Memory. It is not a type of UMA so you can't run Real Mode Code from it's Memory..

You can relabel my RAMDisks as you see fit. The description distinguishes them from the other RAMDisks which use XMS. XMS RAMDisks can be any size in DOS but are limited in Windows 9x. Mine are not. I just tested a Dual Mode RAMDisk that can combine both 32-Bit and 64-Bit RAM into a single Drive. I created a 15.74GiB RAMDisk on my 16GiB System. I have no USB 2 PCI-E Cards to test. If someone has any. Do they work?

To Boot from a Add-On Card, you need to select it, or the Drive connected to it, in the Boot Order Menu. The Highpoint Card that was shipped with some of the first 3TB Hard Drives was AHCI only, and it used a memory access method that would crash EMM386 and Windows 9x. I don't remember the name of the other AHCI only card. I returned it. It was one that advertised support for 6 Drives and had 4 independent internal ports. Non-XMS is a descriptive term not a Brand name. EMS provides no advantage and conventional memory would limit it to Kilobytes.

My Patches can support the full memory and the 160GB Hard Drive.

Whatever RAM is installed, all of it is available as either 32-Bit or 64-Bit RAM. Only a couple of Megabytes are actually stolen. Most people would maximize 32-Bit RAM so that Windows can use it. Except for one SATA Card that refused to work unless I setup RAID, all Add-On Hard Drive Cards I have tested support Booting. Except for two AHCI only Cards, they worked with my SATA Patch. The Z170 is definitely a big step down in Windowx 9x support. Motherboard support for Hard Drives and USB have been lost. The earlier JMicron based PCI-E SATA Cards work. I haven't tested any USB 2 PCI-E Add-On Cards. The nVidia 7xxx PCI-E Video Cards work.They are not available new though.

@98SE: I'm not sure why you are obsessed with maximizing 64-Bit RAM. Having 30GiB instead of 29GiB isn't going to make much difference. You can only increase 64-Bit RAM by reducing 32-Bit RAM. 32-Bit RAM is more useful as it can be used by Windows directly. PCI-E SATA Cards, like PCI SATA Cards have their own BIOS ROMs. They can be used to Boot a Drive. You will need a version of my SATA Patch to fully utilize them in Windows 9x. IDE to SATA adapters are old news. They don't help with newer Motherboards that have no Legacy Ports. My RAM Limitation Patch modifies the Windows ME Memory Manager. It does not copy the 98 Code. The unmodified ME Memory Manager can handle approximately 1.9GiB as compared to 1.152GiB for the 98SE Memory Manager.

The Test Program does not report memory. It verifies 64-Bit Access and A20 control. HIMEMEX reports the amount to 64-Bit RAM. Since the unused 32-Bit RAM is remapped to 64-Bit RAM by the BIOS, increasing the MMIO usage increases the 64-Bit RAM at the expense of 32-Bit RAM. The OS does not affect the amount of available Memory unless you tell the BIOS to let the OS configure PnP. Most PCI-E SATA Cards still support IDE Mode so they could be used to get around the AHCI problem if you have a spare slot. Unfortunately there is no easy way to tell from the product descriptions.

Running in Compatibility Mode makes Disk access much slower as it has to go back to the BIOS to transfer data. You also lose the Optical Drives unless you add DOS Drivers. HIMEMEX0 is not a hidden RAMDisk. It is an interface to the HIMEMEX Memory Manager. The 4 Files copied by TEST.BAT are Commands to the Memory Manager. Since you got the two lines with the one character shift, your Motherboard supports my 64-Bit RAMDisk and should work with HIMEM and/or HIMEMX. HIMEM may be getting confused somehow. There are options to set the A20 Detection Method in HIMEM. The Fast A20 gate method is supported, as verified by HIMEMEX. You can also try HIMEMX. The Ryzen you mentioned is not enough of an improvement over what I already have to justify building another Machine.

The AHCI test shows that Windows 98SE will only run in Compatibility Mode unless I can come up with an AHCI Driver. Running TEST.BAT copies the 4 test files to the DOS Driver HIMEMEX0. It should have displayed two lines of colored symbols if HIMEMEX is loaded. Did these lines appear? Or did it create a file called HIMEMEX0? Do not copy anything else to HIMEMEX0. If it wasn't so expensive, I would go for the ThreadRipper and use my MULTCORE API to run 36 HyperThreads.

I have always preferred AMD over Intel. I decided to buy the Z87 because I had heard that Intel CPUs were faster doing Math and I needed at least one modern Intel System to identify implementation differences in the Hardware. As it turned out, it was not faster doing Math so my next Computer was another AMD. It did help me adjust some of my Products to work properly with Intel Motherboards. I already know how to use 98SE with a Z87. I am more interested in identifying the possible issues with the Z170. USB and Mouse problems can be related to issues with nVidia Drivers.

Lots of questions. No answers. 1. The BIOS remaps the physical Memory at the Hardware level using the Chipset or CPU Registers. 2. PCI, AGP and PCI-E all use MMIO. Up to 256MiB, they normally use the actual amount. Above 256MiB many use 256MiB of MMIO and bank or map Video RAM. PCI-E adds it's own 256MiB of Configuration space in MMIO. You will have to purchase my non-XMS RAMDisk to do a "fair test". 3. I have P4s, a Z87, and Amigas. Most of my Computers use AMD. 4. I am not aware of any Z170 or Z270 users of my Patch. The RAM Limitation Patch has no connection to the RAMDisks. 5. I have USB Floppy Drives. I never had a Z97. The M5A97 and SLI Krait use an AMD 970 Chipset. They both run 98SE just fine. 6. What Mods are you talking about? My RAM Limitation Patch works with Windows ME. Memory capacity for all 32-Bit Operating Systems have the same limit. They may report a couple of Megabytes difference at best. I asked you to run those tests to determine if there are serious issues with Z170 Motherboards that could be a deal breaker for 98SE.

You never reported any results for the TESTAHCI Program on your Z170 Motherboard.

@98SE You never reported the results of the 64-Bit Memory Test I posted on your Z170 Motherboard.

Did you use FIXINTR.VXD, FIXINTRB.VXD or FIXEOI.VXD? IRQ 11 is common but I have seen IRQ 5 and IRQ 10 used elsewhere.

Since you don't need the entire NVSIZE Package, it is $11.00 US. It doesn't move Interrupts. The older VXDs hook into the Interrupt(s) and release them if they weren't already released. The newest one polls, looking for hung Interrupts, and then releases them.

That indicates that you have the Interrupt EOI problem. Apparently the problem is not confined to 512MB or 7xxx Series Video Cards. You can try switching to an earlier Driver for your Video Card. Otherwise you will need my Interrupt Fixup VXD. Because your Keyboard is on one of the USB Ports using Interrupt 11, it is disabled as well. You could try moving it to the Controller that doesn't use Interrupt 11. The Mouse is not visible on a BSOD.

I have updated the free NVCHECK Package on my Website. There is now an Interrupt Test VXD in the Package. Download it and install it. It will tell you if you have the problem.

The first scenario sounds like it, but the second does not. When the Mouse freezes, keep moving it. If it jumps once every 15 seconds, let me know. On my Computers, the problem appeared randomly, even when not using graphics.

Then the Interrupt issue is still possible. Does the Mouse continue to work after the BSOD? Does the Mouse work until the BSOD or does it freeze shortly before?

Sometimes changes can cause multiple Interrupts to be moved. If, using AHCI, the Video Card remains on Interrupt 11 while the Disk is switched to Interrupt 10, and you get a Disk access BSOD then you are not having the Interrupt issue that I have identified.

You can limit the RAM, with or without the RAM Limitation Patch, using the MaxPhysPage setting. The main point of my Patch was to increase RAM, not limit it. A few people may benefit from the other features of the Patcher.