> The cause?  The cache memory had failed.  Small amounts of high-speed
> cache cannot (generally) be error checked or error corrected without
> the addition of some serious time penalties.  Would you trade a 2x to 4x
> performance decrease for a more reliable system?  This is the real cost.

Note that the PowerPC 604 processor does have parity protection for its
on chip cache.  It (and the 603, too) even has parity protection not only
on its data bus, but also on its address bus, and it even honours it when
snooping the bus.

Too bad that the world seems to be through with the PowerPC :-(.

Ciao,
Wolfgang
-- 
ws@TooLs.DE     (Wolfgang Solfrank, TooLs GmbH) 	+49-228-985800