The Intel Core™2 Duo and Core™2 Extreme

The Intel Core™2 Duo and Core™2 Extreme are the latest processors from Intel that challenges the AMD AM2. Based on the Intel Core Microarchitecture design which replaces the old Netburst architecture, the Intel Core 2 will be the standard for desktop processors. We will not elaborate on the Core Microarchitecture as we have covered it here before. Some of them are EM64T, Virtualization Technology, and Execute Disable Bit. The release will also introduce LaGrande Technology, SSE4, Enhanced SpeedStep Technology, and Active Management Technology (iAMT2). Two series will be available and they are the Core2 Duo and Core2 Extreme. In conjuction with this article, we have written three reviews of mainboards running the X6800 processor. The three boards uses 3 different chipsets - Intel 975x, 945P and VIA PT880Pro. Check out how they compare to an o/c AM2 4000+ (2.81GHz).

Intel CPU Core2Duo E4400

Intel CPU Core2Duo E4400 2x2GHz 800FSB LGA775 2MB cache Retail inc.Fan (3yr Manufacturers Warranty) The Intel® Core™2 Duo desktop processor delivers revolutionary dual-core performance and breakthrough processor energy efficiency.Based on the revolutionary Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture, the Intel Core 2 Duo processor has been developed for an increasingly multimedia-centered, high-definition world, and is designed to do more in less time.Intel Core 2 Duo processors operate at lower frequencies while producing higher performance compared to today’s higher frequency processors, thus enabling quieter and smaller desktop PCs.A platform based on the Intel® 965 Express Chipset family with an optimized memory engine for improved system performance, is the ideal compliment for the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This combination of processor and chipset brings an unparalleled level of performance to the desktop.

Pentium MMX

Soon, more choices were on the way. About the time the 166-MHz Pentiums shipped, Intel introduced MMX (Multimedia Extension) technology, designed to enhance performance of data-hungry applications like graphics and games. With larger data and code caches, Pentiums with MMX technology can run non-MMX-enhanced software approximately 10 to 20 percent faster than a non-MMX CPU with the same clock speed.

To reap the full benefits of the new processor, MMX-enhanced software makes use of 57 special multimedia instructions. These new MMX operators use a technology called SIMD (single-instruction multiple-data) stream processing. SIMD allows different processing elements to perform the same operations on different data—a central controller broadcasts the instruction to all processing elements in the same way that a drill sergeant would tell a whole platoon to "about face," rather than instruct each soldier individually.

The MMX chips also take advantage of dynamic branch prediction using the branch target buffer (BTB) to predict the most likely set of instructions to be executed.
The MMX Pentium processor is also more compatible with older 16-bit software than is the Pentium Pro; consequently, it soon doomed the Pro to the backwaters of PC computing. All later versions of the Pentium have incorporated some variation of MMX and improved on it. The original Pentium desktop line ended with the release of the 233-MHz MMX in June 1997.

Microprocessors

A microprocessor is an integrated circuit (IC) that contains a complete CPU on a single chip. In this lesson, we examine the microprocessor from its inception to the current state-of-the-art chip. It is important for a computer technician to understand the development of the processor and what makes each version different from its predecessors. This knowledge gives us an understanding of the enhancements each new design offers over earlier ones and how the system components can take advantage of the new features.

Fortunately, computer technicians aren't required to design microprocessors, only to understand how they work. Microprocessors can be viewed as little black boxes that provide answers or perform a variety of chores on command. We also need to understand the external data bus because it is the means by which the CPU accesses system resources.

Microprocessor Developments and Features

Microprocessor design grows more complex with each generation, and CPU packaging keeps changing to provide room for additional features and operating requirements. Microprocessors have evolved from the 4004 described earlier into today's high-speed Pentiums. Each new processor has brought higher performance and spawned new technology. Six basic elements are customarily used to gauge the performance and capability of a CPU design.

• Speed. The maximum number of clock cycles measured in MHz. The higher the speed, the quicker a command will be executed.

• Number of transistors. More switches means more computing power.

• Registers. The size (in bits) of the internal registers. The larger the registers, the more complicated the commands that can be processed in one step.

• External data bus. As data bus size increases, so does the amount and complexity of code (information) that can be transferred among all devices in the computer.

• Address bus. The size of the address bus determines the maximum amount of memory that can be addressed by the CPU.

• Internal cache. The internal cache is high-speed memory built into the processor. This is a place to store frequently used data instead of sending it to slower devices (speed is relative in computers) such as RAM and hard disk drives. It is built into the processor and has a dramatic effect on speed. We cover cache in more detail later in this lesson.

Intel has held most of the PC CPU market share since the original IBM PC was introduced. Closely following each new Intel launch, rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Cyrix have offered alternative chips that are generally compatible with the Intel models. This development, in turn, drives prices down and spurs a new round of CPU design. Another player is Motorola, a firm that manufactures the microprocessors used in the Apple family of computers, among others.

Variations on a Theme: The Intel Celeron CPUs

As it had in the past, Intel faced competitors who sold CPUs with similar performance at lower prices. Most high-priced desktop computers and servers were sold with a Pentium of one sort or another, but home and entry-level PCs were another matter. Enter a variation of the SX concept—the Celeron.

Celeron models available in 500, 466, 433, 400, 366, and 333 MHz have expanded Intel processing into the market for computers selling for less than $1,200.

All the Intel Celeron processors are available in PGA packages. The versions operating at 433, 400, 366, 333, and 300 MHz are also available in single-edge processor packages (see Figure 4.12).

Key features include the following
• MMX media enhancement technology.
• Dynamic Execution Technology.
• A 32-KB (16-KB/16-KB) nonblocking, L1 cache for fast access to heavily used data.
• Celerons operating at 500, 466, 433, 400, 366, and 333 MHz include integrated 128-KB L2 cache.
• All Celeron processors use the Intel P6 microarchitecture's multitransaction system bus at 66 MHz. Processors at 766, 733, 700, 667, 633, 600, 566, 533, 500, 466, 433, 400, 366, and 333 MHz use the Intel P6 microarchitecture's multitransaction system bus with the addition of the L2 cache interface.
• Like the Pentium family, the Celerons offer multiple branch prediction, data-flow analysis, and speculative execution.

Intel® Centrino® with vPro™ Technology

Business takes you places-when it does, you want the best Intel®-based laptops for business with Intel® Centrino® with vPro™ technology. Combining remote manageability, unique hardware-assisted and proactive security features, and breakthrough mobile performance, these laptops provide reliability IT can trust, unleashed.
Unleash productivity with peace-of-mind built in
With Intel Centrino with vPro technology, you get a desktop experience in a sleek, light, and powerful business laptop.


Remote manageability providing IT with remote PC monitoring and the ability to diagnose and repair the PC even when the OS is off or unresponsive.¹

Broad industry support from leading manageability and security independent software vendors (ISVs) like Symantec, LANDesk, HP, Microsoft, and Cisco that take advantage of the Intel Centrino with vPro technology features.
Industry-standard management support for protocols such as WS-MAN and DASH² that are more capable and secure than ASF and enables secure communication between the console and the PC.
Industry-leading mobile dual-core performance so you can run multiple intensive applications at once without slowing down
Breakthrough battery life enabled by next-generation hafnium-infused 45nm Intel® Core™ microarchitecture
2x greater wireless range and up to 5x faster wireless with the optional integrated 802.11n wireless technologyΔ
Full Windows Vista* and Windows Aero* graphics without the expense of an external graphics card enabled by powerful Intel® Graphics Technology
Delivering bold benchmarks to business
Keep systems secure, maintain them more efficiently, and reduce your operating expenses with laptop PCs with Intel's hardware-based management technologies enabling a stable and reliable IT infrastructure. Check out the benchmarks:

Achieve up to 94 percent faster time to patch saturation³
Reduce hardware related desk-side visits by up to 50 percent³
Reduce software related desk-side visits by up to 75 percent³
Conduct hardware and software inventory up to 95 percent faster than manually per PC³

Intel Announces The Centrino 2 Platform

Today is a special day for Intel as it is the 5^thanniversary for the Centrino mobile platform and they are celebrating it with the launch of the Centrino 2 platform (Montevina). Intel started to design the Intel Centrino mobile platform in 1999 and for the time it was cutting edge as WiFi in 1999 was a just dream. When the Intel Centrino platform was launched in 2003 only 16% of notebooks contained Wireless technology (WiFi). Today over 95% of retail notebooks contain WiFi. With Centrino 2, Intel is planning for the future with a platform that is able to adapt to what we need in today’s marketplace.

Intel believes that social networking, user-generated content and visualization are the driving forces in the market today. What platform will bring these uses to the user? Intel believes the Centrino 2 platform will be the perfect match for consumers to bring these driving forces together.

Intel 1333FSB Processors Arrive - QX6850 and E6750

At the beginning of this week, Intel officially introduced their flagship Core 2 Extreme QX6850 quad-core processor to go along with the recently announced Core 2 Duo E6550, E6750 and E6850 series processors. While all these processors have different model numbers, they do have one thing in common, a new faster 1333MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) for improved performance that has replaced the old 1066MHz FSB. For overclockers this is nothing new as reaching a FSB of 1333MHz could easily be reached with the right hardware, but now with the introduction of the Intel P35 'Bearlake" chipset and upcoming X38 chipsets, a FSB of 1333MHz is now supported without 'overclocking' the system components. Other than Intel chipsets, third party chipset designers like NVIDIA also support these new 1333MHz FSB processors, giving consumers a multitude of boards to pick from when building a new system.

For our dedicated readers that came looking for our launch article a few days ago and didn't find it, please note that we were waiting on something to be sent to us before running all of our benchmarks. For these new 1333MHz processors we wanted to run them on the ASUS P5K3 Deluxe motherboard with latest and greatest DDR3 memory. Just this past week Kingston Technology announced a new HyperX kit that operates at 1333MHz with 5-7-5-15 timings and since none of the four brands of DDR3 have reviewed offer timings tighter than CL7 timings we made the move to wait. By chosing to wait, it delayed the article by several days, but by doing so improved the system's performance by a significant amount (greater than five percent in a number of cases).

Now that we are armed with the latest memory, chipsets and motherboard BIOS revisions, Legit Reviews will be covering both the new Core 2 Extreme QX6850 quad-core processor and the Core 2 Duo E6750 dual-core processor. Both offer the new 1333MHz FSB and are monsters when it comes to performance and overclocking as you are about to find out.

Intel® Xeon® Processor 5000/3000 Sequence

Breakthrough performance, energy efficiency, extended lifecycle support and common socket Intel Xeon processor-based systems make them the ideal choice for compute-intensive embedded, storage and communications applications.

Lower thermal design power (TDP) and higher Tcase temperature Intel Xeon processor options are ideal options for low power consumption and/or compliance with the AdvancedTCA* form factor and NEBS level-3 thermal specifications*.

Platform configurations

These processors are validated with two different chipsets, providing a choice of flexible, dual-processor-capable platforms for a wide range of applications. These include storage area networks (SANs), network attached storage (NAS), routers, IP-PBX, converged/unified communications platforms, sophisticated content firewalls, unified threat management (UTM) systems, medical imaging equipment, military signal and image processing, and telecommunications (wireless and wireline) servers.

• Intel® 5000P chipset-based platforms are ideal for full performance and memory-intense applications by providing a maximum FB-DIMM memory capacity of 64 GB, 28 lanes of PCI Express* and accelerated I/O options.
• Intel® 5100 Memory Controller Hub (MCH) chipset-based platforms are ideal for bladed and dense bladed applications requiring less than 200 watts, including AdvancedTCA and NEBS-compliance.

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition

Conquer the world of extreme gaming with the fastest performing processor on the planet: the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition.¹ With faster, intelligent multi-core technology that accelerates performance to match your workload, it delivers an incredible breakthrough in gaming performance.

But performance doesn't stop at gaming. You'll multitask 25 percent faster and unleash incredible digital media creation with up to 79 percent faster video encoding and up to 46 percent faster image rendering, plus incredible performance for photo retouching and editing.¹

In fact, you'll experience maximum performance for whatever you do, thanks to the combination of Intel® Turbo Boost technology² and Intel® Hyper-Threading technology (Intel® HT technology)³, which activates full processing power exactly where and when you need it most.

Product information

• 3.20 GHz core speed
• 8 processing threads with Intel® HT technology
• 8 MB of Intel® Smart Cache
• 3 Channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory

Features and benefits

Get extreme with your gaming and advanced multimedia.

Intel Core i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in quad-core performance and feature the latest innovations in processor technologies:

• Intel® Turbo Boost technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload-more performance when you need it the most.²
• Intel® Hyper-Threading technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multi-tasking becomes even easier.³
• Intel® Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry leading multi-threaded games.
• Intel® QuickPath Interconnect is designed for increased bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the Extreme Edition processor.
• Integrated memory controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller's lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications.
• Intel® HD Boost significantly improves a broad range of multimedia and compute-intensive applications. The 128-bit SSE instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new level of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processor

When you power your notebook with an Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor, you'll get the performance you need for today's mobile multitasking. Built on the breakthrough 45nm halfnium-based technology, the Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor gives you plenty of power to run many demanding applications simultaneously, whether at home, in the office, or on on-the-go.

Features and benefits

More multitasking power. Less power consumption. Ready for technology that increases your productivity? You'll get it with Intel® Core™2 Duo. Intel Advanced Smart Cache, up to 1066Mhz Front Side Bus, and Intel HD Boost ensure solid mobile performance for the latest applications. With Intel® Core™2 Duo, you'll do more and wait less.

• Intel® Intelligent Power Capability, designed to deliver more energy-efficient performance and smarter battery performance in your laptop
• Intel® Smart Memory Access, improving system performance by optimizing the use of the available data bandwidth
• Intel® Advanced Smart Cache, providing a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for multi-core and dual-core processors
• Intel® HD Boost, accelerating a broad range of applications, including HD and standard definition video, speech and image, photo processing, encryption, financial, engineering and scientific applications
• 25W Thermal Design Power (TDP), allows for thinner, lighter mainstream notebooks

Intel® Xeon® Processors LV and ULV

The Intel® Xeon® processor LV and Intel® Xeon® processor ULV are members of Intel’s growing product line of multi-core processors. Each dual-core processor combines the benefits of two high-performance execution cores with intelligent power management features to deliver significantly greater performance-per-watt over previous single-core Intel Xeon processor-based platforms. The dual-core/dual-processor capabilities are ideal for a wide range of low-power communications and embedded applications.

Product highlights Two complete execution cores in one processor package provide advancements in simultaneous computing such as multi-threaded applications and multi-tasking environments. Dual-core processing efficiently delivers performance while balancing power requirements High-performance front-side bus (FSB) provides dual-processor support for demanding high-performance, volume applications. Combined with dual-core processing, this supports up to four simultaneous threads on the system Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology allows a system to dynamically adjust processor voltage and core frequency, decreasing average power consumption and average heat production Intel® Smart Cache Design allows two execution cores to share 2 MB of L2 cache, reducing FSB traffic and enhancing system responsiveness

Intel® IXP465 Network Processor

The Intel® IXP465 network processor is a member of the Intel® IXP46X product line for SME communications and embedded networking applications. The Intel IXP465 network processor is an addition to the Intel® IXP4XX product line of network processors, and extends Intel XScale® technology into a broad range of applications that require communications functionality. The consistency of the Intel IXP4XX product line software and hardware architecture protects customers' development investments and speeds development of a standards-based product portfolio.

The highly integrated, single-chip design of the IXP465 network processor provides a unique combination of performance, reliability and flexibility. The IXP465 network processor combines Intel XScale technology with a variety of built-in communications features to support requirements for modular routers, security appliances, line cards for telecommunications infrastructure, industrial control and automation applications, interactive clients, test and instrumentation, RFID readers, and networked print imaging applications. The high-performance Intel XScale core provides processing headroom to flexibly support a broad range of OEM applications while minimizing power consumption. Integration of multiple 10/100 Ethernet interfaces and built-in hardware acceleration for time synchronization reduces overall system cost and simplifies development.

Intel Pentium M Processor

The Intel Pentium M processor utilizes a new microarchitecture to meet the current and future demands of high-performance, low-power embedded computing, making it ideal for medium-to-large enterprise communications applications, transaction terminal, interactive client, and industrial automation applications. While incorporating advanced processor technology, it remains software-compatible with previous members of the Intel microprocessor family.

The Intel Pentium M Processor on 0.13u process technology is validated with the Intel E7501 and Intel 855GME chipsets. The Intel Pentium M Processor on 90nm process technology is validated with the Intel E7501, 855GME, E7520, E7320 chipsets, Mobile Intel 915GME Express Chipset and Intel 3100 (see table for details). These unique platform combinations help address a variety of customer requirements.

Intel Celeron Processor 440

The Intel Celeron processor 440 balances proven technology with exceptional value for embedded computing designs such as print imaging, gaming, interactive clients, and industrial automation. Featuring Intel Intelligent Power Capability, it supports smaller, quieter, more energy-efficient embedded systems with improved performance over previous Intel Celeron processors.

Manufactured on 65nm process technology, the Intel Celeron processor 440 at 2.0 GHz offers 512 KB of L2 cache with a thermal design power (TDP) of 35 watts. Based on a new energy-efficient microarchitecture, this Celeron processor enables smaller and quieter embedded designs. It features Execute Disable Bit (for built-in security support) as well as Intel 64 architecture (Intel 64), enabling applications to access larger amounts of memory when used with appropriate 64-bit supporting hardware and software.

The Intel Celeron processor 440 is available in an LGA-775 package with integrated heat spreader. When combined with the Intel Q45 Express Chipset, Intel Q35 Express Chipset, Intel Q965 Express Chipset or Intel 3210 Chipset, the platform provides exceptional value with mid-range performance and reduced power.
Product information