INTEL CORE (CPU ARCHITECTURE)

(Redirected from Core architecture)

The 'Intel Core microarchitecture' (previously known as the 'Intel Next-Generation Micro-Architecture', or NGMA) is a multi-core processor microarchitecture unveiled by Intel in Q1 2006. It is based around an updated version of the Yonah core and could be considered the latest iteration of the Intel P6 microarchitecture, which traces its history back to the 1995 Pentium Pro. The extreme power consumption of NetBurst-based processors and the resulting inability to effectively increase clock speed was the primary reason Intel abandoned the NetBurst architecture. The Intel Core Microarchitecture was designed by the Intel Israel (IDC) team that previously designed the Pentium M mobile processor.
The architecture features lower power usage than before and is competitive with AMD in heat production. It has multiple cores and hardware virtualisation support (marketed as Virtualization Technology), as well as Intel 64 (Intel's implementation of x86-64) and SSSE3.
The first processors that used this architecture were code-named 'Merom', 'Conroe', and 'Woodcrest'; Merom is for mobile computing, Conroe is for desktop systems, and Woodcrest is for servers and workstations. While architecturally identical, the three processor lines differ in the socket used, bus speed, and power consumption. Low-end Core-based processors are branded ''Pentium Dual Core'' and ''Celeron''; server and workstation Core-based processors are branded ''Xeon'', while desktop and mobile Core-based processors are branded as ''Core 2''. The Intel Core processors do not use the Core microarchitecture.

Contents

Technology

Current processors

Laptops

Desktops

Servers and workstations

Future processors

Laptops

Desktops

Servers and workstations

See also

References

Technology

The Intel Core Microarchitecture is designed from the ground up, but similar to the Pentium M microarchitecture in design philosophy. The pipeline is 14 stages long — less than half of Prescott's, a signature feature of wide order execution cores. Core's execution unit is 4-issues wide, compared to the 3-issue cores of P6, P-M (Banias, Dothan, and Yonah), and NetBurst microarchitectures. The new architecture is a dual core design with linked L1 cache and shared L2 cache engineered for maximum performance per watt and improved scalability.
One new technology included in the design is Macro-Ops Fusion, which combines two x86 instructions into a single micro-operation. For example, a common code sequence like a compare followed by a conditional jump would become a single micro-op.
Other new technologies include 1 cycle throughput (2 cycles previously) of all 128-bit SSE instructions and a new power saving design. All components will run at minimum speed, ramping up speed dynamically as needed (similar to AMD's Cool'n'Quiet power-saving technology, as well as Intel's own SpeedStep technology from earlier mobile processors). This allows the chip to produce less heat, and consume as little power as possible.
For Woodcrest, the server and workstation variant, the front side bus (FSB) runs at 1333 MHz for most Woodcrest CPUs and 1066 MHz for the 1.60 and 1.86 GHz Woodcrest processors[1][2]. It is targeted to run at 667 MHz for Merom, the mobile variant. The second wave of Meroms, supporting 800 MHz FSB, have been released on a different socket in May 2007. The desktop version is officially slated to use the 1066 MHz bus, with a 1333 MHz bus line officially launching on July 22nd, and a budget version with an 800 MHz FSB, but that would be slightly more limited due to its more restrictive bus.
Some believe that the FSB will prove to be the weak link for Intel, as the Core microarchitecture uses a shared bus, unlike AMD's HyperTransport. While not so critical in the mobile and desktop segments, this might be the handicap which will prevent Woodcrest-MP from taking performance leadership from AMD Opteron on systems with more than 2 cores per socket. Intel attempted to alleviate this problem by the use of advanced prefetchers and memory disambiguation which try to hide main-memory-access latency. However, this is mitigated to some degree by the use of a separate front-side bus for each physical CPU package.
The power consumption of these new processors is extremely low — average use energy consumption is to be in the 1-2 watt range in ultra low voltage variants, with Thermal Design Powers (TDPs) of 65 watts for Conroe and most Woodcrests, 80 watts for the 3.0 GHz Woodcrest, and 40 watts for the low-voltage Woodcrest. However, this is subject to change. In comparison, an AMD Opteron 875HE processor consumes 55 watts, while the new Energy Efficient Socket AM2 line fits in the 35 watt thermal envelope (specified a different way so not directly comparable). Merom, the mobile variant, is listed at 35 watts Thermal Design Power (TDP) for standard versions and 5 watts TDP for Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) versions.
Previously, Intel warned that it would now focus on power efficiency, rather than raw performance. However, at IDF in the spring of 2006, Intel advertised both. Some of the promised numbers are:

★ 20% more performance for Merom at the same power level (compared to Core Duo)

★ 40% more performance for Conroe at 40% less power (compared to Pentium D)

★ 80% more performance for Woodcrest at 35% less power (compared to the original dual-core Xeon)

Current processors

Laptops

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Merom-1024''	Celeron M	520, 530, 540	65 nm	1	1.6, 1.73, 1.86 GHz	533 MT/s	1 MiB
''Merom-2M''	Core 2 Duo ULV	U7500, U7600	65 nm	2	1.06, 1.2 GHz	533 MT/s	2 MiB
	Core 2 Duo	T5300	65 nm	2	1.73 GHz	533 MT/s	2 MiB
		T5250, T5450	65 nm	2	1.5, 1.67 GHz	667 MT/s	2 MiB
		T5500, T5600	65 nm	2	1.67, 1.83 GHz	667 MT/s	2 MiB
		T5470, T7100	65 nm	2	1.6, 1.8 GHz	800 MT/s	2 MiB
''Merom''	Core 2 Duo LV	L7200, L7400	65 nm	2	1.33, 1.5 GHz	667 MT/s	4 MiB
		L7300, L7500	65 nm	2	1.4, 1.6 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB
	Core 2 Duo	T5200	65 nm	2	1.6 GHz	533 MT/s	2 MiB
		T5500, T5600	65 nm	2	1.67, 1.83 GHz	667 MT/s	2 MiB
		T7200, T7400, T7600	65 nm	2	2, 2.16, 2.33 GHz	667 MT/s	4 MiB
		T7300, T7500, T7700	65 nm	2	2, 2.2, 2.4 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB
''Merom XE''	Core 2 Extreme	X7800	65 nm	2	2.6 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB

Desktops

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Conroe-L''	Celeron	420, 430, 440	65 nm	1	1.6, 1.8, 2 GHz	800 MT/s	512 KiB
''Allendale''	Pentium Dual Core	E2140, E2160	65 nm	2	1.6, 1.8 GHz	800 MT/s	1 MiB
	Core 2 Duo	E4300, E4400, E4500	65 nm	2	1.8, 2, 2.2 GHz	800 MT/s	2 MiB
		E6300, E6400	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	2 MiB
''Conroe''	Core 2 Duo	E6300, E6400	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	2 MiB
		E6320, E6420	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
		E6600, E6700	65 nm	2	2.40, 2.67 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
		E6540, E6550, E6750, E6850	65 nm	2	2.33, 2.33, 2.67, 3 GHz	1333 MT/s	4 MiB
''Conroe XE''	Core 2 Extreme	X6800	65 nm	2	2.93 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
''Kentsfield''	Core 2 Quad	Q6600, Q6700	65 nm	4	2.4, 2.67 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
''Kentsfield XE''	Core 2 Extreme	QX6700, QX6800	65 nm	4	2.67, 2.93 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
		QX6850	65 nm	4	3 GHz	1333 MT/s	8 MiB

Servers and workstations

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Allendale''	Dual-Core Xeon	3040, 3050	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	2 MiB
''Conroe''	Dual-Core Xeon	3040, 3050	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	2 MiB
		3060, 3070	65 nm	2	2.4, 2.67 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
''Woodcrest''	Dual-Core Xeon LV	5128, 5138	65 nm	2	1.86, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
		5148	65 nm	2	2.33 GHz	1333 MT/s	4 MiB
	Dual-Core Xeon	5110, 5120	65 nm	2	1.6, 1.86 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
		5130, 5140, 5150, 5160	65 nm	2	2, 2.33, 2.67, 3 GHz	1333 MT/s	4 MiB
''Kentsfield''	Quad-Core Xeon	X3210, X3220, X3230	65 nm	4	2.13, 2.4, 2.67 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
''Clovertown''	Quad-Core Xeon LV	L5310, L5320	65 nm	4	1.6, 1.86 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
		L5335			2 GHz	1333 MT/s
	Quad-Core Xeon	E5310, E5320	65 nm	4	1.6, 1.86 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
		E5330, E5340, E5350			2.13, 2.4, 2.67 GHz
		E5335, E5345, X5355, X5365			2, 2.33, 2.67, 3 GHz	1333 MT/s

Future processors

Laptops

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Merom-2M''	Core 2 Solo ULV	U2100, U2200	65 nm	1	1.06, 1.2 GHz	533 MT/s	1 MiB
	Celeron M	550	65 nm	1	2 GHz	533 MT/s	1 MiB
''Merom-2M''	Core 2 Duo	T7250	65 nm	2	2 GHz	800 MT/s	2 MiB
''Merom''	Core 2 Duo LV	L7700	65 nm	2	1.8 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB
	Core 2 Duo	T7800	65 nm	2	2.6 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB
''Merom XE''	Core 2 Extreme	X7900	65 nm	2	2.8 GHz	800 MT/s	4 MiB
''Penryn''	Core 2 Duo	Txxxx, Txxxx	45 nm	2	2.1, 2.4 GHz	800 MT/s	3 MiB
		Txxxx, Txxxx, Txxxx			2.13, 2.4, 2.53 GHz	1066 MT/s
		Txxxx, Txxxx			2.5, 2.6 GHz	800 MT/s	6 MiB
		Txxxx, Txxxx			2.53, 2.8 GHz	1066 MT/s
''Penryn XE''	Core 2 Extreme	Xxxxx	45 nm	2	2.8 GHz	800 MT/s	6 MiB
		Xxxxx			3.06 GHz	1066 MT/s

Desktops

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Allendale''	Core 2 Duo	E4600	65 nm	2	2.4 GHz	800 MT/s	2 MiB
''Wolfdale''	Core 2 Duo	Exxxx	45 nm	2	?? GHz	1066 MT/s	3 MiB
		Exxxx			2.67, 2.83, 3, 3.16 GHz	1333 MT/s	6 MiB
''Yorkfield''	Core 2 Quad	Qxxxx	45 nm	4	2.5 GHz	1333 MT/s	6 MiB
		Qxxxx			2.67, 2.83 GHz		12 MiB
''Yorkfield XE''	Core 2 Extreme	QXxxxx	45 nm	4	3.33 GHz	1333 MT/s	12 MiB

Servers and workstations

Codename	Processor name	Processor No.	Architecture	No. of cores	Clock speed	FSB	L2 cache
''Conroe''	Dual-Core Xeon	3065, 3075, 3085	65 nm	2	2.33, 2.67, 3 GHz	1333 MT/s	4 MiB
''Tigerton-DC''	Dual-Core Xeon	E7210, E7220	65 nm	2	2.4, 2.93 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
''Tigerton''	Quad-Core Xeon LV	L7345	65 nm	4	1.86 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
	Quad-Core Xeon	E7310, E7320	65 nm	4	1.6, 2.13 GHz	1066 MT/s	4 MiB
		E7330	65 nm	4	2.4 GHz	1066 MT/s	6 MiB
		E7340, X7350	65 nm	4	2.4, 2.93 GHz	1066 MT/s	8 MiB
''Wolfdale''	Dual-Core Xeon	31xx	45 nm	2		1333 MT/s	6 MiB
''Wolfdale-DP''	Dual-Core Xeon LV	L5250	45 nm	2	3.16 GHz	1333 MT/s	6 MiB
	Dual-Core Xeon	E5205	45 nm	2	1.86 GHz	1066 MT/s	6 MiB
		E5260	45 nm	2	3.33 GHz	1333 MT/s	6 MiB
''Yorkfield''	Quad-Core Xeon	33xx	45 nm	4		1333 MT/s	12 MiB
''Harpertown''	Quad-Core Xeon LV	L5410, L5430	45 nm	4	2.33, 2.67 GHz	1333 MT/s	12 MiB
	Quad-Core Xeon	E5405, E5410, E5420, E5430	45 nm	4	2, 2.33, 2.5, 2.67 GHz	1333 MT/s	12 MiB
		E5440, E5450, X5460			2.83, 3, 3.16 GHz

See also

★ List of future Intel Core 2 microprocessors

★ List of future Intel Xeon microprocessors

★ List of Intel Core 2 microprocessors

★ List of Intel microprocessors

★ List of Intel Xeon microprocessors

★ Intel Core 2

★ Intel P6

★ Intel NetBurst

★ Microarchitecture

★ Nehalem (CPU architecture)

References

★ Intel Core Microarchitecture website

★ Intel press release announcing plans for a new microarchitecture

★ Intel press release introducing the Core Microarchitecture

★ Intel processor roadmap

★ A Detailed Look at Intel's New Core Architecture

★ Intel names the Core Microarchitecture

★ Pictures of processors using the Core Microarchitecture, among others (also first mention of Clovertown-MP)

★ IDF keynotes, advertising the performance of the new processors

★ The Core of Intel's new chips

★ RealWorld Tech's overview of the Core microarchitecture

★ Detailed overview of the Core microarchitecture at Ars Technica

★ Intel Core versus AMD's K8 architecture at Anandtech

★ Release dates of upcoming Intel Core processors using the Intel Core Microarchitecture

★ Benchmarks Compairing the Computational Power of Core Architeture against Older Intel Netburst and AMD Athlon64 Central Processing Units