Nios II Classic Processor Reference Guide

ID 683620
Date 10/28/2016
Public
Document Table of Contents

3.2.3.2. Physical Memory Address Space

The 4-GB physical memory is divided into low memory and high memory. The lowest ½ GB of physical address space is low memory. The upper 3½ GB of physical address space is high memory.
Figure 4. Division of Physical Memory

High physical memory can only be accessed through the TLB. Any physical address in low memory (29-bits or less) can be accessed through the TLB or by bypassing the TLB. When bypassing the TLB, a 29-bit physical address is computed by clearing the top three bits of the 32-bit virtual address.

Note: To function correctly, the base physical address of all exception vectors (reset, general exception, break, and fast TLB miss) must point to low physical memory so that hardware can correctly map their virtual addresses into the kernel partition. The Nios® II Processor parameter editor in Platform Designer prevents you from choosing an address outside of low physical memory.