07-03-2011, 03:51 PM
PRESENTED BY:
Prinesh Farkya
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Quad-core Processor
Introduction
Leaders of the pack seeking monster performance, look no further. With four execution cores, the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor blows through processor-intensive tasks in demanding multitasking environments and makes the most of highly threaded applications. Whether you're creating multimedia, annihilating your gaming enemies, or running compute-intensive applications at one time, new quad-core processing will change the way you do everything. Pioneer the new world of quad-core and unleash the power of multithreading.
Features and benefits
The high end just got higher. Whether it's encoding, rendering, editing, or streaming, make the most of your professional-grade multimedia applications with a PC powered by the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor. With four processing cores and up to 8MB of shared L2 cache¹ and up to 1066 MHz Front Side Bus, more intensive entertainment and more multitasking can bring a multimedia powerhouse to your house.
Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution, enabling delivery of more instructions per clock cycle to improve execution time and energy efficiency
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® Advanced Digital Media Boost, accelerating a broad range of applications, including video, speech and image, photo processing, encryption, financial, engineering and scientific applications
Make highly threaded applications happy. Get in on the increasing number of highly threaded programs with quad-core technology from Intel. With four processing cores, an Intel Core 2 Quad processor-based PC will fuel more intensive entertainment and more media multitasking than ever.
Why Intel Core Microarchitecture is Faster
• Featuring four instructions per clock (instead of the three typically found in other mainstream processors), each execution core is 33% wider and therefore more efficient at computing today’s applications (Intel® Wide Dynamic Execution).
• Out-of-Order Execution improves the performance of each core by intelligently loading or pre-fetching data in anticipation of the system’s actual needs (Intel® Smart Memory Access). Learn more about Intel Core Microarchitecture at
• Large on-die cache stores more data and instructions closer to the CPU so your server spends less time looking for data in system memory and more time processing it (Intel® Advanced Smart Cache).
Processor performance is driven by a variety of architecture features, including number of cores, instructions per clock cycle, cache size, and FSB speed, in addition to clock speed
Core 2 Quad Family
With Intel's Core 2 Quad family here, and AMD's Phenom desktop quad-core chips coming later this year, here's a handy guide to processor choices and specs, as well as hints on where to find bargains.
Quad core processing is now officially bargain country. On July 22, deep price cuts from Intel took effect, slashing the baggage for many of the chip giant's new four-way devices to less than what you used to have to fork over for a high-end dual-core part.
Your purchasing leverage is only going to increase in the coming months. That's because AMD hasn't released any quad-core parts yet--Intel has more than 20--and is under pressure to succeed when it finally does ship. Fortunately for buyers, that should translate into highly competitive pricing when AMD's Barcelona server quad core is released in August and the company's Phenom desktop processors follows by the end of the year.
Indeed, since the cost of dual-core chips from both Intel and AMD has come down in tandem with Intel's quad pricing moves, the only real question is: Do you want to pay a little bit more for the ultimate in performance, or would you rather snap up a real dual-core bargain?
On the practical front, the trick for individuals looking to buy--as opposed to OEMs who have access to the latest chips and best deals from distributors--is that prices and availability may differ significantly from what manufacturers' announcements may have let you to believe. For example, processor street prices at the online vendors popular with individual system builders--such as TigerDirect, NewEgg, Frys--often differ from Intel's list prices. For most chips, that difference is usually to the buyer's advantage, from a measly $10 to as much as $100 or more. However, it's the reverse case for the one or two hottest processors, which are usually selling for more than Intel's posted price sheet.
What's Available?
Intel offers six quad-core desktop chips, as part of its Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme families. (We'll provide detailed specs, below.) On the server side, Intel ships some 19 quad-core Xeons, in its 5300, low-voltage 5300, and 7300 series.
Here are price comparisons for all currently available desktop and server quad-core parts. Click on each image to see an enlarged, readable table:
When it comes to four-way chips, Intel is relying on its perhaps confusingly named "Core" architecture, while AMD has chosen the even less euphonious identifier "10h." Core as a micro-architectural moniker is not all that difficult to keep separate from the word's normal usage. However, there are cases where it can be a mouthful. Try saying "Intel's Core architecture Core 2 Extreme QX6850 quad-core" three times fast.
Nevertheless, Core merits attention because Intel expects to have all its processors upgraded to use the new design by the end of 2007. This includes all single- and dual-core chips, as well as well as the higher-profile quads. The defining characteristic f Core is a feature called wide-dynamic execution. This means that Core chips can carry out more instructions per clock cycle than could the earlier Netburst architecture, which powered the Pentium 4.
Core make the move to Intel's new 45-nanometer chip technology before the year is out. On trap for release is the "Yorkfield" desktop quad and the "Harpertown" server processor. Further afield, Intel is readying an next-generation micro-architecture code-named Nehalem. It'll also be on 45-nm and is scheduled to debut in 2008.
The move to 45-nm is important because these chips have small-sized features etched into the silicon, which enable lower-power operation. For years, the power dissipation of high-end microprocessors has been rising. Indeed, the need to keep the thermal envelop close to the 100-W figure is why Intel originally went to dual-core processing. (Increasing the clock speeds of single-core chips will north of 3 GHz would have pushed dissipation as high as 150 W.)
Look for power dissipation to emerge as a major competitive issue, once AMD ships Barcelona and Phenom. Intel offers several low-power quad Xeon SKUs (designated "E"), which rein the thermal in to 50 W. However, most of its other desktop and server parts range from 80-W all the way up to 130-W. Those figures aren't necessarily unacceptable, but look for Intel to try to do better when it moves to 45-nm, and for AMD to come in with slightly lower power numbers out of the chute with Barcelona.
More than power, for AMD the challenge is to meet its shipping-date targets for Phenom and Barcelona. As of last week, the scrappy semiconductor vendor is pledging that it will indeed move Barcelona, probably in August, and then Phenom before the year is out.
The devices are the flagship implementations of a new, high-performance AMD architecture known as "10h." The design incorporates numerous enhancements, including: new instructions, improved floating-point execution units, faster data transfer between floating-point and general-purpose registers, and 1-Gbyte paging, to name a few. The 10h architecture also incorporates optimization to make AMD's hardware-based virtualization run faster.
Beyond the computing power packed onto the chip itself, much of the elegance of the AMD approach is evident in the way it handles I/O to external devices as well as interprocessor communications. In contrast to the traditional method of sending outbound data over a front-side bus, AMD has long used its proprietary HyperTransfer interface. In 10h, HyperTransport3 will debut, boosting the total bandwidth of the page link to 20.8 Gbytes/sec.
