Just try boot from Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (amd64) CD on my PC with ASUS Commando
m/b and 8Gb RAM.
Everything works perfect, linux show ~7,5Gb RAM
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P.S. Also FreeBSD/OpenBSD can't work with SATA dvd/r-rw drives on
ICH8R/ICH9R controllers :( This issue posted to freebsd-hardware.
Regards,
Alexandr.