SDRAM Stress Test

This is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

SDRAMStressTest is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the SDRAMStressTest. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

What does it do?

The SDRAM Stress Test is designed to give an SDRAM chip a heavy workout, using the multi-port SDRAM controller from the TurboGrafx16 core. The tester performs a pseudo-random series of writes to RAM on each port simultaneously, then reads back the same series of addresses from each port, comparing the data received.

Why?

Because the existing memory tester on MiSTer - which has been ported to other platforms - only takes the SDRAM for a gentle stroll, with no bank interleaving and thus any problems with crosstalk or power delivery to the module don't manifest. This test makes use of bank interleaving, meaning addresses are crossing the bus at the same time as data, banks are being precharged at the same time as data is being sent or received, and the chip is generally working a lot harder.

Limitations

The MiSTer memory modules in common use share the DQM pins with the upper two address bits. This prevents taking full advantage of bank interleaving - and in fact the memory controller used in this core will only work with such modules in CL2 mode. Since most chips can't do CL at more than 100MHz, that's the realistic maximum speed for this tester on MiSTer or other boards using the same modules. On boards which don't have this limitation, the tester can run in CL3 mode, as fast as the chips will allow. In order to have some compatibility with both types of memory, this tester doesn't make use of burst mode.

Test results

Video output will result in a green screen if no errors are detected. Each error will show a red strip in the screen.

To show numeric results you should execute this script meanwhile the core is running:

#git clone https://github.com/DECAfpga/SDRAMStressTest
#cd SDRAMStressTest
git  submodule update --init --recursive 
/path/a/quartus/bin/quartus_stp -t jtagbridge.tcl

NOTE: Between different tests it is better to power cycle the board.

BOARDS

Follows specific details for each board:

• DECA board README