2007/06/24

Intel 8-core Xeon X5365 V8 Performance Preview



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The demands of enthusiasts are ever growing and the relative success of Intel’s Quad Core Platform would certainly verify this. Intel however are taking a bold step and are attempting to position their new Quad Core Xeon processors towards the high end enthusiast sector. This is not only in direct competition to AMD’s Quad FX release but to further meet the demands of a high end multitasking environment.

Today we are going to look at a pair of the new Quad Xeon X5365 processors running at 3.0ghz on a i5000X chipset.

Multi Core/Multi CPU

It wasn’t so long ago that even dual core was beyond the realities of many people, however today, multiple cores are firmly routed in the mainstream enthusiast market. The benefits of multicore are wide reaching, we can all enjoy faster response times and a more enjoyable multitasking environment. Even current consoles such as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 use multicore technology to power their gaming experience.

The evolution of CPU development is such that, once dual core hit the masses, Intel already had released Quad Core processors for those with deeper pockets and higher demands. With multiple processors on Quad core architecture, it is clear to see where we are headed with all of this. How about future gaming titles with two cores handling the artificial intelligence, while other cores are left to deal with the everyday tasks?

AMD were the first to bring multiple CPU/Core to the public with their Quad FX platform, however the performance was sadly lacking and it was a rather poor implementation when compared with the single die Intel Quad. AMD stated that the dual socket desktop market had a strong future and they would continue evolving after the quad core processors on K10 were released.

However it is Intel who today have kindly supplied the (pre)review product on our bench. It can be traced back to the first demonstration at CES 2007 where it was codenamed V8. The particular setup we are looking at is an eight core desktop PC for media content creation.

“Combining Quad Core processing and the advantages of Intel Core Microarchitecture, a media creation PC with dual Quad Core Xeon Processors is ideal for processor intensive, digital media usage models – speeding tasks like video encoding and transcoding. 3D Animation rendering, music editing and more. Eight processing cores also take advantage of today’s operating systems improved workload scheduling when running multiple applications simultaneously. It’s multitasking capability makes this platform a great choice for developers and media enthusiasts who can compile code or encode video in the background while working on other tasks”.
Up Close with V8

Intel’s multi cpu solution is a much simpler proposition when compared with the Quad FX platform, the V8 platform is physically nothing more than a traditional workstation system based on quad core Xeon Clowertown processors installed into a i5000X Greencreek chipset. While this is hardly revoluntary, it is a stable and tried solution and as many of our readers will already be aware, Apple have been offering similar configurations with their latest high end “Mac Pro” range.


The Clowertown CPUs are based on Core micro-architecture and feature a quad core structure, which makes these very similar to the Kentsfield Core 2 Quad processors. We all know that Xeon processors are marketed towards server and high end workstation applications so the socket design remains slightly different from that we are used to seeing, they are LGA-771. Additionally a Xeon cpu differentiates from a standard Quad Cpu in that they can also work in a dual socket motherboard, which will require a special chipset.

So it is clear so far that the Xeon's are being used due to the multi processor compatibility, however these processors are still faster than the desktop quad core equivalents (at 3.0ghz). The high end X5365 Clowertown models we will be using in this review also run on a 1333fsb which won’t be hitting standard desktop systems for a few months.

Each Quad Core Xeon is split up into two dual core dies and each of these features a shared 4MB L2 cache for both cores. Therefore, each Quad Core Xeon has two L2 caches with a total of 8MB per CPU.

For those of you who never read the diagrams, Intel is strongly promoting the economical aspects of these CPUs. The use of components with smaller die sizes increases the production yields by 20% and reduces the production cost by 12%.

Xeon Specifications:
Clock Frequency: 3.0ghz
Bus Frequency: 1333mhz
TDP: 150w
Brand ID: Intel Xeon Processor
Processor Number: X5365
Stepping: B3
Number of CPU Cores: 4
L2 Cache: 8MB per cpu (2x 4MB)
CPUID: 06F7
Multipler: 9x
Maximum Vcore: 1.4125v
PECI Enabled: Yes
Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology: Yes
Enhanced Halt State (C1E): Yes
Execute Disable Bit (XD): Yes
Intel 64 Technology: yes
Intel Virtualisation Technology: Yes
Packaging: LGA771 (FC-LGA6)

The more observant amongst you will have already noted that the vcore is higher than any of other core 2 processors at this point, this in turn has increased the thermal output to around 150w for this particular model. Slower cpus in the series such as the X5355 at 2.66ghz produce around 120w.

The question everyone is asking “ok, well how much do they cost?”. That is a rather difficult question to answer as you can only really buy them from the Apple Store in the shape of a Macintosh Pro. Hardly an ideal situation right now for the majority of enthusiasts! The only figures we can give you are for the slower X5355 cpu’s which cost around $1200 each at Newegg. The S5000VXN motherboard is around £350/$500 and the fully buffered memory is around £120/$135 per gigabyte. This certainly isn’t a system you would build to play solitaire on, that’s for sure.

Intel’s S5000VXN motherboard gains many aspects from the workstation class heritage, including 2 CPU sockets, eight DIMM slots (max of 32GB), six sata ports with Raid 0/1/10, dual GigE ports and High Definition Audio.

This heritage however has a downside, and that is the lack of support right now for multi GPU as the board has only one PCIe x16 slot. We also have a couple of PCIe x4 slots and a pair of PCI-X slots. The board is huge and measures 13 inches by 12 inches and you will need a large extended ATX chassis to house it. I ended up picking up a Rev 2 Thermaltake Armor Black with a 25cm (yes centimeter) case fan which more than accommodated the components while keeping everything running nice and cool.

The S5000VXN bios (rather unfortunately) has no options for overclocking so it will not prove popular with those who like to tweak and pry every ounce of performance out of their systems, however after a few weeks of testing we failed to have one BSOD, one hang, failed post or any other glitches, so perhaps there is something to be said for just leaving things alone.

Intel also supplied a Coolmaster 850W PSU because the S5000VXN requires both an eight pin auxiliary power connector AND a four pin one, combined. The first mobo we have seen with this in our labs.

Again we can see the parentage of the motherboard with the use of full buffered DIMMS (FB-DIMMs). These are firmly routed in server class systems, adding slight latency and power draw while offering better signal integrity (less erroring) and potentially higher bandwidth. These modules draw 5w per module more, when compared with standard DDR2 memory. We are in two minds about this choice, the added integrity is always something we wish for, however the latency and rather exclusive nature of the FB DIMMS proves to be a rather unusual choice by Intel.


8GB of sexy Fully Buffered DDR2

Crucial were very kind to supply us with FB DIMM’s for our testing at very late notice, and they have proved to be an reliable and great value for money option – they also are supplied with a sexy blue heatspreader which is always a bonus. We have always rated Crucial memory highly on Driver Heaven and I use it in my own home server so I know they will last the distance in such an important system.

Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor

Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor
Quad-core computing arrives on the desktop
by Scott Wasson — November 2, 2006
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YOU'VE GOTTA LIKE Intel's Core 2 Duo processors. After struggling mightily with performance and power consumption problems in the latter-day Pentiums, Intel came roaring back with the Core 2 Duo, producing a chip that goes like stink without spinning the electric meter into a frenzy. Since it offers a better combination of processing power, energy efficiency, and overclocking headroom than the Athlon 64, the Core 2 Duo has quickly become an enthusiast favorite, capturing prominent spots in our system guide recommendations and prompting a new round of upgrades for many folks.

Now comes the CPU de grâce, a processor that takes advantage of the Core 2 Duo's modest heat output by cramming two of those chips together into a single socket, a product Intel can plausibly claim is the world's first quad-core CPU. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 isn't exactly cheap and doesn't run especially cool, but it will turn your spare bedroom into the computing equivalent of a government astrophysics lab and make the neighbors terribly jealous—provided your neighbors are total geeks.

What hath Intel wrought with this quad-core beast? Do four CPU cores make sense in a desktop PC, and what sort of applications can really take advantage of such power? Let's have a look.

Core 2 Duo times two equals Kentsfield
We won't dwell too long on the specifics of the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. This product, which lived its early life going by the code-name Kentsfield, really is two Core 2 Duo chips mounted together on the same package. If you want to know more about the Core 2 Duo's basic technology, I suggest you read our review of that processor. Intel has used this multi-chip packaging technique in the past to create "dual-core" processors, such as the "Presler" Pentium D. Lashing together two separate chips rather than making one large chip makes good sense from an economic standpoint, because smaller die areas tend to make for higher yields of good chips from each wafer.

The result of this multi-chip fusion is a processor that plugs into a regular LGA775-style socket and packs four processing cores alongside a total of 8MB of L2 cache. Cosmetically, it looks for all the world like any other recent Intel desktop CPU.


The Core 2 Extreme QX6700

But here's a fancy illustration Intel came up with to show what's under the hood:

The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 runs at 2.66GHz on a 1066MHz front-side bus, so its clock speed matches that of the second fastest Core 2 Duo, the E6700. (The Core 2 Extreme X6800 is the fastest at 2.93GHz.) Intel probably chose not to push any harder on clock speed in order to keep the QX6700 inside of a reasonable power envelope. The E6700's thermal rating, or TDP, is 65W, while the X6800's is 75W. Fittingly, the QX6700's TDP is exactly twice that of the E6700 at 130W. That's quite enough heat production for a desktop processor, and Intel has already established a 130W thermal envelope for Pentium Extreme Edition CPUs that use this same LGA775 infrastructure.

In fact, the QX6700 should be compatible with many existing Core 2-compatible motherboards via nothing more than a BIOS update. Some mobo makers have already published compatibility lists for Kentsfield. Then again, Intel says previous revisions of its own D975XBX "BadAxe" mobo aren't designed for use with the QX6700, so nothing is certain. You'll want to check with the motherboard maker to ensure compatibility before taking the plunge.

Because the QX6700 is an Extreme Edition processor, it comes with a customarily robust price tag of $999 and an unlocked upper multiplier to facilitate easy overclocking. Intel also plans to introduce a less expensive Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU at some point in the first quarter of next year. That product will run at 2.4GHz and have a TDP rating of 105W.

Quad-core's performance challenges
The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 may be the apex of awesomeness in processors today, but it does face some formidable performance challenges, both due to its own nature and because of external factors. As a multi-chip package, the QX6700 contains two copies of a relatively well-integrated dual-core design. The two cores on each chip share a 4MB L2 cache between them, complete with dynamic partitioning and the ability to hand off ownership of data from one core to the next. Unfortunately, the integration between the QX6700's two chips is less than ideal.

Although they occupy the same package, their only means of communication is the system's front-side bus. The two chips must coordinate to ensure the sanity of the contents of their respective L2 caches via this bus. That will sometimes mean writing modified data out of one chip's cache into main memory and then reading it back into the other chip's cache—a positively eternal operation in CPU time. Both chips use this same bus to talk with the rest of the system, including main memory and I/O devices. Also, the presence of three electrical loads on the bus—two CPU chips and the core-logic chipset's north bridge—complicates matters. Someone looking to overclock his system's FSB may find less success with a Core 2 Quad or QX6700 than with a standard-issue Core 2 Duo.

If all of that sounds complex, just wait until you dig into the software issues. In order to take advantage of multi-core processors, software applications must execute by means of multiple threads. Today, very few games and not many other applications are multithreaded. We do try to take advantage of multithreaded applications when possible in our CPU test suite, but that's more difficult to do for four cores than for two. Many of the early optimizations for multi-core processors only use two threads, so their performance benefits are fully realized on a dual-core CPU.

There are reasons for this situation. For instance, one of our test apps, the MP3 encoding program LAME MT, employs a technique called linear pipelining that processes a portion of its work one frame ahead of the main thread and then buffers the result for later use. This method uses only two threads and can't take advantage of more than two CPU cores, but it is relatively easy to program. LAME MT's author says of linear pipelining: "In general, this approach is highly recommended, for it is exponentially harder to debug a parallel application than a linear one." On a similar note, we have seen measurable performance gains in dual-core systems using graphics drivers that offload some vertex processing to a second thread, but Nvidia's drivers, at least, don't appear to benefit from the presence of more than two cores.

The thread scheduling mechanism in Windows presents another challenge for quad-core processors, because it doesn't always make the best decisions. During our testing, for example, we found that the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 was turning in substantially lower performance running the same single-threaded task—a POV-Ray scene render—than the like-clocked Core 2 Duo E6700. This behavior was consistent across multiple benchmark runs and a little bit puzzling, until we looked at the Windows Task Manager as this process ran. Turns out the rendering work was bouncing around across all four of the QX6700's cores, playing havoc with cache locality and the like.

For the most part, you can expect the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 to perform like a Core 2 Duo E6700 in applications that use only one or two threads, but the QX6700 may prove slower in some cases due to additional bus overhead or bad thread management in Windows. Of course, when applications use more than two threads or more than two apps are running at once, the QX6700 will pull the tab back and pop open a can of whupass. We have some applications like that in our test suite, so you can see quad-core's true potential.

That potential, by the way, will almost certainly be more fully realized by future applications, especially games. Software developers know that multi-core processors are the future, and high-profile game development houses have been working on game engines that use multiple threads to handle various tasks. Heck, they practically have to given that the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 have multi-core CPUs. Doing this kind of thing well is by no means a trivial undertaking, but the general trajectory seems to involve spinning off threads for specific game elements like A.I., physics, rendering, and audio. Industry giants like Microsoft and Intel have been pouring resources into helping the conversion to multithreading happen, and I'm convinced that it will.

If you're not convinced, perhaps a couple of statements that Intel forwarded to us from key game developers will help. Here's Tim Sweeney, Founder and President of Epic Games:

Multi-core computing is the new standard for PC games, and we at Epic are thrilled to see Intel leading the industry forward with Core 2 Extreme. Its four high-performance CPU cores enable a new level of realism in games, with realistic physics simulation, character animation, and other computationally-intensive systems.

And here's Gabe Newell, President and co-founder of Valve:

Quad-core will change every aspect of PC gaming. It will change how we create our games, how we provision our service, and how we design our games. The scalability we've seen in graphics over the last few years will now extend to physics, AI, animation, and all the systems which are critical to moving beyond the era of pretty but dumb games.

I don't think these guys are just issuing blanket statements of support in order to play nice. That's not been their style, historically. In fact, we will have more coverage of the specifics of Valve's multithreading efforts very soon, so stay tuned for that.

Between now and when those next-generation game engines arrive, owners of quad-core processors will have to find other ways to take full advantage of their CPUs. The test results on the following pages offer numerous examples of applications that use four threads, and beyond that, there's always the prospect of really, really good multitasking. My initial reaction is that you don't need four cores for good multitasking. Despite frequent abuse, my current Athlon 64 X2-based desktop system rarely slows down, and when it does, available CPU time isn't the likely culprit. Then again, I sure wouldn't complain about having four cores at my beck and call.

2007/06/09

AMD goes quad-core with Phenom


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AMD goes quad-core with Phenom

Advanced Micro Devices says its badly needed quad-core desktop processors are on the way, and they'll arrive bearing a new name.

Later this year, AMD will unveil its Phenom processors in quad-core and dual-core iterations. Two quad-core chips will be available in the second half of the year, the Phenom FX and the Phenom X4, and a dual-core chip based on a similar design called the Phenom X2 will also appear by the end of the year.

The Phenom brand will become the moniker for AMD's performance chips going forward, said Leslie Sobon, director of the company's desktop division. The Athlon 64 X2 brand will remain for mainstream chips and Sempron will continue to bring up the rear, she said.
Photo: Powered by AMD's Phenom

AMD is banking on its design philosophy behind the Phenom chips and their server counterparts, code-named Barcelona, as a way of making up for Intel's lead in the quad-core processor generation. Intel has been shipping quad-core chips for servers and high-end desktops since last year. Those chips are known as "multichip modules" because they are essentially two of Intel's dual-core chips welded together in a package.

But AMD chose to build a single chip with four cores, which the company believes will result in better performance because information will not have to leave one core to visit its neighbor. It's the same debate over an integrated memory controller and point-to-point links that propelled AMD's Opteron and Athlon 64 chips to prominence: Cores that are directly linked offer better performance than cores that have to exchange information by leaving the chip.

Intel contends that by improving the speed and performance of its cache memory and the front-side bus--that off-chip bridge between cores--it can offer excellent performance and sidestep manufacturing concerns. Because AMD has yet to deliver its quad-core chips, the debate is mostly aesthetic, but it could become an important distinction if Barcelona and the Phenom chips open a significant performance advantage over Intel's currently shipping quad-core processors later this year.

Of course, Intel isn't standing still. It will deliver new quad-core chips later this year, and in 2008, it will introduce chips that incorporate the same integrated memory controller and point-to-point links as AMD's with its Nehalem generation of chips.
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But AMD is desperate for the Phenom and Barcelona processors to arrive so it can stabilize its average selling prices. The company has been suffering from Intel's lead in the quad-core race, since it has had to aggressively discount its dual-core processors to compete with Intel's offerings, especially in the server arena.

Barcelona will come first, scheduled for a "mid-2007" introduction with systems becoming available over the remainder of the year and into next year. The Phenom processors are scheduled for the second half of the year.

Around the time of the Phenom launch, AMD will expand upon its "4x4" idea from last year with a product code-named FASN8. (The company swears that's not the real name.) FASN8 is designed for the most performance-hungry PC builders out there, with the ability to hold two quad-core Phenom processors, AMD's new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics chip, and a new chipset. Intel plans to release a similar product for its quad-core chips.

Intel: Quad core to turbocharge chips

SAN FRANCISCO--PC performance will increase 70 percent for some applications with Intel's new "Kentsfield" quad-core processor coming in November, company executives said Tuesday.

The performance jump compares the 130-watt, 2.66GHz Kentsfield, to be called the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, with the current speed champ, the 80-watt, 2.93GHz dual-core Core 2 Extreme X6800, said Steve Smith, director of group operations in Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, in a briefing here at the Intel Developer Forum.

In addition, the quad-core "Clovertown" processor for servers, to be called the Xeon 5300 and also scheduled to arrive in November, will be about 50 percent faster than the current "Woodcrest" Xeon 5100 at the same 80-watt power level, Smith said. The performance improvement was measured with a test of integer-processing speed.

Intel is eager to tout its quad-core models, which are arriving months earlier than comparable products from rival Advanced Micro Devices. That's a change from 2005, when the companies were neck-in-neck delivering dual-core chips, but Intel representatives insisted "it's not a race."

The companies are employing very different strategies in their move to quad-core. AMD's models, due to arrive in mid-2007, will have four processing cores on a single slice of silicon.

In comparison, Intel combines two dual-core chips in a single package that plugs into a single chip socket. Kentsfield uses two Conroe chips, and Clovertown uses two Woodcrest chips, for example.

"The advantage we have by the approach we have is being first," Smith said. "We expect to ship very large volumes of quad-core in servers before we expect our competitors to ship any."

Smith argued that there are advantages besides time-to-market with Intel's multichip package approach. For one thing, the company can use the same chips for either dual-core or quad-core products, making it easier to match its product mix to market demands. And its yields--the fraction of usable chips that can be carved from each silicon wafer--are higher.

"We have over a 20 percent increase in good quad cores per wafer by picking the two-die multichip package approach," Smith said. "That translates into cost savings for Intel of at least 10 percent in manufacturing cost."

AMD sees things differently. Intel's approach means heating problems, computer communication bottlenecks and overly complex product road maps, said John Fruehe, worldwide business development manager for Opteron, the company's rival to Intel's Xeon line.

When it comes to electrical power, for example, Woodcrest chips that consume 65 watts turn into 80-watt Clovertown models, and 80-watt Woodcrests become 120-watt Clovertowns. Intel may prefer to compare the two 80-watt models, but customers see things differently, he said: "Most customers buying in the high bin today are going to continue to go with the high bin."

Intel plans future quad-core models that consume less power. In the first quarter of 2007, Intel will release mainstream Kentsfield chips, called Core 2 Quad, that consume 105 watts. And in "early 2007" will come 50-watt Clovertowns, Smith added.

In addition, Intel will release a quad-core chip for single-processor servers in the first half of 2007, Smith said.

Intel's manufacturing technology today can produce circuitry elements measuring 65 nanometers, but the company in 2007 will move to a 45-nanometer process that will mean more electronics on a single chip. Intel will sell quad-core chips built with the 45-nanometer process using both the multichip and monolithic single-chip approach, Smith said in an interview.
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Adding new processor cores may sound like an easy way to boost PC performance, but software must be able to take advantage of it for customers to actually benefit. Server software often already works well on multicore and multiprocessor computers, with programs already "multithreaded" to run in independent pieces, but Intel is working on coaxing programmers of desktop software to follow suit.

"The application base motivates people to either value (quad-core chips) or not. If you're doing media or content creation, it's a fantastic product, and we'll see very rapid adoption. But if you look at mainstream business PCs, it may be some time before you see the benefits there," Smith said.

It's an important issue: Software that isn't multithreaded can sometimes run more slowly on chips with more cores. To avoid problems from higher power consumption, quad-core chips typically run at a clock speed about 10 percent slower than their dual-core brethren, Smith said.

Intel's Extreme chip products are aimed at hard-core gamers who want every smidgen of performance, and game producers are working to adapt their software. One such company is Remedy, which demonstrated a game called "Alan Wake" at the Intel show.

The game is designed to farm tasks to different processor cores, said Markus Maki, director of development, in an interview. There are three major program threads and each can occupy a core of its own: one for the main game action, one for simulating physics of game objects and one for preparing terrain information that's later sent to the graphics chip for rendering. A fourth core can handle other threads, including playing sound and retrieving data from a DVD, Maki said.

AMD quad-core Barcelona laid bare

MPF 2006 No part untouched

By Charlie Demerjian: พุธ 11 ตุลาคม 2549, 17:22
AMD LAID OUT a bit more about Barcelona today at MPF, focusing in on six areas. They talked about SSE128, enhanced IPC, efficient memory use, better caches, virtualization and power management.

In the macro sense of things, Intel is chasing AMD, but on the micro level, the opposite is true. The talk was given by Ben Sander of AMD, you can read it on his nametag if you don't believe me.

[Ben Sander of AMD]

Barcelona is the first native quad-core AMD CPU, commonly but wrongly referred to as K8L. It is the first real new core from the chipmaker in quite a while, not merely a massaged version of what came before. You should be seeing it in Q2/07, although some whispers are now saying Q3.

Other than four cores, the most obvious difference is the new widened SSE instructions. On the pre-Barcelona parts, SSE was done in 64 bit chunks, so if you wanted to do a 128b operation, you needed two passes, possibly more. With the widening of SSE, it should immediately double throughput on SSE instructions. Obviously media operations will benefit, but HPC and FP heavy ops will get a solid kick in the pants too.

In addition to the obvious width change, several less noticeable changes were made to support it. Instruction fetch was upped from 16B/cycle to 32B and support for unaligned load ops was added and cache bandwidth was doubled to support this. Last but not least the FP scheduler was widened from 64 to 128b.

The enhanced IPC is more a case of little improvements adding up to a bigger bang rather than any single thing standing out. The SSE improvements add a bit here and there to start with, and a better branch predictor adds to this. It is bigger and better with a larger history, a dedicated 512 entry indirect predictor, and the return stack is doubled in size.

In the catching up with Intel side of things, added a sideband stack optimizer, out of order load execution and data dependent divide latency. They also upped the TLB to support 1G pages, 48-bit physical addressing, and improved the ITLB and DTLBs. There are also more fastpath instructions and a few more bit manipulation instructions and SSE extensions.

For RAM efficiency, one of the main things they did was make the two memory controllers on the chip act independently, up to Rev G they could only act in lockstep. This lets AMD hit two memory locations at once, potentially a big win for server type apps, but for single users, it's benefit is less clear.

On top of this, they changed the northbridge a lot increasing buffers and adding support for new DRAM types. The Barcelona controller will do FBD if necessary, but the chances of you seeing that are something less than zero. AMD also updated the way paging is done and modified the way write bursting happens.

Additionally, one of the big complaints I hear is prefetch, and that has been comprehensively addressed. They now track positive, negative and non-unit strides, and have a dedicated prefetch buffer. On top of that, Barcelona is much more aggressive in how they fill idle ram cycle and updated the core prefetchers on both the L1D and L1I side.

The newer L3 cache is called a 'victim cache', it sits on top of the existing discrete L2 caches, and is shared among the cores. The big thing here is that if the caches are empty, the request goes to L1 cache. If that fills, the data line is evicted to L2, and when L2 fills, it goes to L3. If a core reads from L3, there are one of two things that can happen. If it is data, the line is moved to L1D, but if it is instructions, the line may be moved to L1I, or it may be copied to L1I and left in L3. The L3 is not exclusive, and the point of this is that code is often shared among the cores while data is far less often. The cache lines have performance hints associated with them that will clue to cores in on the whole copy vs move debate.

That brings us to virtualization, a topic we have covered a lot in our Pacifica articles (1, 2, 3 and 4 )The main advance Barcelona brings is that it turns on Nested Page Table support and a few other things that did not make the cut on the Rev F parts. It is also said to reduce world switch time going to the hypervisor and back by 25%.

One of the last things they did was to break the CPU and northbridge into separate power planes. This will allow the CPUs to be clocked up and down, and volted up and down independently of the Northbridge. This was a major sticking point in the ramp of the previous iterations of the chip, and I expect big dividends here, and it also saves a lot of power. I am also told that they can change the voltage on cores independently, but that is more of a motherboard issue. Since it is not really supported anywhere on the current platforms, don't look for a BIOS option to turn it on, but if it came back in later platform revisions, I would not be overly surprised.

What you have for Barcelona is a CPU that looks a lot like the older revs at the block diagram level, but no part of it is untouched. Some pieces a massively updated, others far less so. In any case, it will add up to significant gains overall, but will it be enough to dethrone Woodcrest 2 core? Stay tuned in the middle of next year for the answer to that.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 CPU Quad Core

Introduction

Intel, leap ahead. At Intel, they constantly push the boundaries of innovation in order to make people's lives more exciting, more fulfilling, and easier to manage. Their unwavering commitment to moving technology forward has transformed the world by leaps and bounds. They're a company that's always in motion, fueling an industry that never rests. They inspire their partners to develop innovative products and services, rally the industry to support new products, and drive industry standards. Intel does this so that it can collectively deliver better solutions with greater benefits more quickly.

Leap ahead, these two words drive focus at Intel. Their job is to find and drive the next leap ahead around technology, education, culture, social responsibility, manufacturing, and more to continuously encourage their customers, partners, consumers, and businesses to join them as they continue to take exciting leaps forward. In the end, it's not just about making technology faster, smarter, and cheaper. It's about using that technology to make life better, richer, and more convenient for everyone it touches. Intel has a history of leading bold and positive change. Intel's passion for technology has transformed the world.

Copyright 2007 - MVKTech

After the incredible launch of Intel's Conroe series it's not too easy to follow that up. But make no mistake as at the end of last year, Intel has launched the world's first quad core desktop processor. The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is based on the new Kentsfield core. In fact the Kentsfield is nothing more than two Conroe's placed on a single package. Much like Presler before it, Kentsfield is technically a qual core processor with two separate die on the same package. While it is perhaps not as elegant as a true quad core processor, Intel's new quad core processor unquestionably gets the job done.

Features

  • Quad Core Processing
  • Intel Wide Dynamic Execution
  • Intel Smart Memory Access
  • Intel Advanced Smart Cache
  • Intel Advanced Digital Media Boost
  • Intel Virtualization Technology (VT)
  • Intel 64 Architecture
  • Execute Disable Bit

An Intel quad core processor consists of four complete execution cores in one physical processor, all running at the same frequency. All cores share the same packaging and the same interface with the other chipsets and memory. Imagine that a quad core processor is like an eight lane highway, it can handle up to twice as many cars as its four lane predecessor without making each car drive twice as fast. Similarly, with an Intel quad core based PC, people can perform multiple tasks such as downloading music and gaming simultaneously more efficiently. Overall, it offers a way of delivering more capabilities while balancing energy efficient performance.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 CPU Quad Core

Copyright 2007 - MVKTech

The Intel QX6700, which lived its early life going by the codename Kentsfield, really is two Core 2 Duo chips mounted together on the same package. Intel actually used this multi-chip packaging technique in the past to create their first dual core processors, such as the Pentium D (Presler). Combining two separate chips rather than making one large chip makes good sense from an economic standpoint, because smaller die areas tend to make higher yields of good chips from each wafer. The end result of such multi-chip fusion is a processor that plugs into a regular LGA775 socket and packs four processing cores alongside a total of 8MB of L2 cache. And it looks like any other recent Intel desktop CPU.

Copyright 2007 - MVKTech    Copyright 2007 - MVKTech

The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is clocked at the same frequency as the Core 2 Duo E6700, namely 2.67GHz with a 1066MHz front side bus. So its clock speed matches that of the second fastest Core 2 Duo, the E6700. Yes indeed, the current fastest Intel dual core CPU is still the Core 2 Extreme X6800 set at 2.93GHz. Initially, there will only be the one quad core processor in Intel's line up, but a second will follow this year. When the Core 2 Quad Q6600 is announced, it will not come as much of a surprise to you to find that it will be clocked at the same speed as the Core 2 Duo E6600.

Copyright 2007 - MVKTech    Copyright 2007 - MVKTech

The Intel Core 2 Extreme qual core processor is the ideal desktop processor for those who want an outstanding multimedia and gaming experience. Designed for gamers and PC enthusiasts who perform multiple complex tasks simultaneously, the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 provides exceptional performance for highly threaded digital media creation software and ultra realistic games. For experienced enthusiasts the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 bus ration locks have been removed. This offers added technical flexibility in tuning your system, even beyond the specified limits.

 

Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX6700






                
สวัสดีเพื่อนสมาชิกโอเวอร์คล๊อกโซนทุท่านครับ วันนี้ผม spin
9
กลับมาทักทายทุกท่านอีกครั้งกับเรื่องราวที่น่าสนใจครั้งใหญ่ส่งท้ายปลายปี
นั่นก็คือวันนี้ หรือ วันที่ 2 พฤศจิกายน 2549 ถือเป็นฤกษ์งามยามดีในการเปิดตัวซีพียู
"ควอด-คอร์" ตัวแรกของแพลทฟอร์มเดสก์ท็อปจากยักษ์ใหญ่อย่างอินเทล
หรือถ้าจะพูดให้ฟังดูน่าตื่นเต้นกว่านั้นก็คือ วันนี้เราจะได้เห็นซีพียูที่มีแกนประมวลผลมากถึง
4 แกน อันจะเป็นจุดเริ่มต้นของเทคโนโลยี มัลติ-คอร์ ในอนาคตนั่นเองครับ



                 
ย้อนกลับไปเมื่อกลางปีที่แล้วนี้เอง (กลางปี 2548) ผ่านไปเพียงราวๆ
หนึ่งปีเศษๆ กับจุดเริ่มต้นครั้งแรกสุดของซีพียู ดูอัล-คอร์
(Dual-Core Processor) ที่อินเทลได้ทำการเปิดตัวซีพียูดูอัล-คอร์ตัวแรกในชื่อของ
Intel
Pentium D Processor
พัฒนาเรื่อยมาถึงยุคของ Intel
Core 2 Duo Processor
ซึ่งก็ยังคงเป็นดูอัล-คอร์อยู่
(มีแกนประมวลผล 2 แกนในซีพียูตัวเดียว) และได้กลายเป็นมาตรฐานของซีพียูในปัจจุบันไปเป็นที่เรียบร้อย
ชนิดที่ว่าใครจะหาซื้อเครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์เดสก์ท็อปซักเครื่องในปัจจุบัน
ก็ต้องมองหาซีพียูที่เป็นดูอัล-คอร์เอาไว้ก่อน เพราะเทคโนโลยีดูอัล-คอร์นั้น
ช่วยให้การประมวลผลและการใช้งานจริงของเครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์ในปัจจุบัน
มีประสิทธิภาพที่เพิ่มมากขึ้นอย่างเห็นได้ชัด.. ชัดกว่าการเพิ่มความเร็วสัญญาณนาฬิกาหรือคล๊อกสปีด
ที่ในอดีตซีพียูได้แข่งขันกันทำคล๊อกสปีดให้สูงขึ้นเรื่อยๆ
จนเริ่มมาถึงทางตัน



How
can Intel achieve 10X performance over time?








                
จากการคาดการณ์ของอินเทล โดยใช้ซีพียู Intel Pentium 4 Processor
ในปี 2000 เป็นตัวยืนพื้นนั้น อินเทลได้คาดการณ์ว่า หากไม่มีการพัฒนาทางด้านมัลติ-คอร์
(การใช้แกนประมวลผลมากกว่าหนึ่งแกนในซีพียูตัวเดียว) อินเทลจะสามารถเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพของซีพียูได้เพียง
3 เท่าตัว ในระยะเวลา 8 ปี (คาดการณ์ถึงปี 2008) แต่ถ้าอินเทลต้องการจะเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพในการทำงานของซีพียูมากถึง
10 เท่าตัวนั้น วิธีเดียวที่จะทำได้ก็คือ การใช้เทคโนโลยี
ดูอัล-คอร์ หรือ มัลติ-คอร์เข้ามาช่วยนั่นเอง นี่จึงเป็นเหตุผลหลักที่อินเทลหันมาทุ่มเทพัฒนาซีพียูในระดับมัลติ-คอร์มากขึ้น
โดยค่อยๆ ลดความสำคัญของซีพียูในระดับซิงเกิล-คอร์ลงครับ
(ข้อมูลจากงาน Intel Developer Forum, Taiwan Fall 2006)


                
และวันนี้ 2 พฤศจิกายน 2549 ... จุดกำเนิดแห่งเทคโนโลยีมัลติ-คอร์อย่างแท้จริงก็ได้ถือกำเนิดขึ้น
กับซีพียูระดับ "ควอด-คอร์" ตัวแรกของแพลทฟอร์มเดสก์ท็อป
ที่มีแกนประมวลผลมากถึง 4 แกนในซีพียูตัวเดียว ภายใต้ชื่อของ
Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX6700 ... สุดยอดซีพียูในระดับเอ๊กซ์ตรีมตัวใหม่ของอินเทล
ที่วันนี้เราจะได้มาชมถึงเบื้องลึก พร้อมผลการทดสอบประสิทธิภาพอย่างละเอียดกันครับ


Introducing
the First Quad-Core Desktop Processor:

Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor
QX6700








                
อินเทล คอร์ 2 เอ๊กซ์ตรีม ควอด-คอร์ โปรเซสเซอร์ QX6700
ถือเป็นซีพียูเดสก์ท็อปรุ่นแรกของโลกที่มีแกนประมวลผล 4
แกนอยู่ในซีพียูตัวเดียวครับ ซึ่งก่อนที่จะไปดูถึงความแตกต่างและประสิทธิภาพของมันนั้น
ผมต้องขอทำความเข้าใจถึงสถาปัตยกรรมและที่มาที่ไปของเจ้า
QX6700 ตัวนี้เสียก่อน ว่าอินเทลพัฒนามันขึ้นมาได้อย่างไร
และซีพียูระดับควอด-คอร์จะเข้ามาอยู่ที่ตำแหน่งไหนในตลาดเดสก์ท็อปปัจจุบัน


                
อินเทล คอร์ 2 เอ๊กซ์ตรีม ควอด-คอร์ โปรเซสเซอร์ QX6700
มาในรหัสพัฒนา Kentsfield ซึ่งเป็นซีพียูที่มีพื้นฐานจากสถาปัตยกรรม
Core Microarchitecture ของอินเทลอยู่เหมือนกับซีพียูอินเทล
คอร์ 2 ดูโอ หรือรหัสพัฒนา Conroe ในปัจจุบันครับ ซึ่งแน่นอนว่า
มันจะยังคงมีฟีเจอร์ต่างๆ ที่อินเทล คอร์ 2 ดูโอ มีอย่างครบถ้วน
และเบื้องลึกที่น่ารู้ก็คือ เจ้า Kentsfield หรือซีพียูควอด-คอร์ตัวแรกจากอินเทลนี้
แท้จริงแล้ว ทางอินเทลได้นำเอาชิป Dual-Core จำนวนสองตัวเข้ามารวมกันไว้ภายใต้ซีพียูแพ็คเกจเดียวกัน
(ก็คือเอา Conroe สองตัวมาวางไว้คู่กัน เพื่อรวมดูอัล-คอร์สองตัว
ให้กลายเป็น 4 คอร์) และพัฒนาเทคโนโลยีในการติดต่อสื่อสารระหว่างแกนประมวลผลแต่ละแกน
เพื่อให้ระบบมองเห็นเป็น 4 คอร์นั่นเองครับ









ภายในซีพียู Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core QX6700
นั้น ถ้าแกะฝา heatspreader ออกแล้ว เราก็จะมองเห็นแกนประมวลผลแยกออกเป็นสองแกนอย่างในภาพครับ
โดยแต่ละแกนประมวลผลที่เห็นนี้ ก็คือแกนประมวลผลที่มาจากคอร์
Conroe ที่ภายในเป็นดูอัล-คอร์นั่นเอง เมื่อดูอัล-คอร์สองชิปมาอยู่ด้วยกัน
ก็ทำให้ซีพียูตัวนี้มีแกนประมวลผลรวมมากถึง 4 แกน
หรือ ควอด-คอร์










                
ภาย die-shot ของซีพียู Kentsfield นั้น ยิ่งแสดงให้เห็นชัดเจนครับ
ว่ามันคือ Conroe จำนวน 2 ตัวมาวางคู่กัน ซึ่งตามสเป็คของ
Conroe แล้ว มันก็คือดูอัล-คอร์ที่มีแคชระดับสองอยู่ภายในมากถึง
4MB ดังนั้น เมื่อ Conroe สองตัวถูกนำมาวางคู่กัน ก็จะทำให้
Kentsfield มีแกนประมวลผลรวมแล้ว 4 แกน (2x Dual-Core) และมีแคชระดับสองรวมมากถึง
8MB (2x 4MB) นั่นเองครับ









                
ด้วยเหตุผลของสถาปัตยกรรมต่างๆ ที่กล่าวมา ก็น่าจะทำให้พอทราบกันดีนะครับ
ว่าแท้จริงแล้ว Kentsfield ยังคงเป็นซีพียูที่อยู่ภายใต้สถาปัตยกรรม
Core Microarchitecture อยู่เหมือนเดิม ดังนั้น การรองรับของเมนบอร์ดในชิปเซ็ทต่างๆ
ก็ยังคงเหมือนกับการรองรับซีพียู Conroe หรือ คอร์ 2 ดูโอ
นั่นเอง โดยชิปเซ็ทที่รองรับในเบื้องต้น หลักๆ แล้วก็จะเป็นชิปเซ็ทอินเทลตระกูล
965 Express และ 975X Express ซึ่งเมนบอร์ดบางรุ่น บางยี่ห้อ
ต้องอาศัย BIOS เวอร์ชันใหม่ มารองรับ เพื่อทำให้ระบบมองเห็นซีพียูครบถ้วนทั้ง
4 คอร์ และใช้งานมันได้อย่างเต็มประสิทธิภาพครับ


                
และวันนี้ สุดยอดซีพียูควอด-คอร์ตัวแรกของแพลทฟอร์มเดสก์ท็อปอย่าง
Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core Processor QX6700 ก็อยู่ในมือผมเป็นที่เรียบร้อยครับ
ไปพบกับเรื่องราวของมันพร้อมประสิทธิภาพในการใช้งานจริงหลากหลายรูปแบบกันได้เลย