I thought x86 wasn't allowed to do write-write reordering? Does that rule not apply to peripherals? Is an `mfence` guaranteed to fix it, or are there just no rules at all at that point?
PCI isn't x86, and x86 isn't PCI. PCI itself, for example in a PCI-to-PCI bridge chip, can do store buffering and read prefetches. The PCI specification lays out what you must to to suppress this.
There are at least 5 different sets of rules for ordering on x86, due to memory types. It's in the Intel manual, along with a table that shows how they interact with each other.
There are at least 5 different sets of rules for ordering on x86, due to memory types. It's in the Intel manual, along with a table that shows how they interact with each other.