MSRs (model-specific registers) exist and companies like Intel or AMD only document some of them for external use. Some configuration values may exist in on-chip read-only memories, but a lot of them can be overridden with different values on boot-up from the BIOS or even from the OS via...
Yes, and it's another way that the benefits of server chip development continue to trickle downmarket into the desktop space. Four cores at 65W means eight cores at 130W! Not to mention it enables nifty quieter, more mobile systems in the space most of us care about.
Oh, indeed. I see a...
Well, perhaps not if the replacement components have the exact same specifications. But the point of new design projects that aren't "dumb" shrinks is that they're not simply re-implementing the same circuits with smaller transistors, they're actually changing the functionality and capability...
Well, maybe. I'd love to be proven wrong on that. But even if every piece of the design has been used before, the whole is still a never-before-combined gestalt that has to be tuned and tested and debugged. Previous tunings pretty much have to be thrown out because of all the inter-component...
Glad you liked them. And thanks for the video pointer; I have not seen that before! And yes, without Netburst's failure against the Athlon64, Intel would not have implemented 64-bit x86 or tick-tock!
I'm eagerly waiting to read that reply. ;)
... what an ignorant thing to say. I don't know of many people at all who could possibly have more experience in examining different engineering solutions in the computing world than the gatekeeper of code contributions to the Linux kernel. I think it's fair to say that if it hasn't passed...
As other people have said, Intel tried with the Pentium 4, and even with non-x86 architectures like the iAPX 432 and Itanium, and those turned out to be dead ends. That's not to say various parts didn't eventually make it into later designs. But there's always risk in creating a new...
I love all the uarch diagrams and die photos y'all have assembled. That's great stuff, and I love just staring at them. Kudos!
This is a bit of a Ship of Theseus question, isn't it? When every component of a design has been replaced piecemeal over the years, is it really the same design at...
The majority of the desktop and mobile market gains no performance going above 4 cores, and it actually hurts power efficiency. Only niche applications benefit from it, and it's going to cost you niche prices. Back in 2006, Dadi Perlmutter, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intel...
You rang? ;)
Sounds like y'all could benefit from reading up on the differences between multithreading approaches that a processor core could implement. Paul Demone wrote a good treatment in his RealWorldTech article on what was planned for the Alpha EV8 chip. Jon Stokes of ArsTechnica wrote a...
Not much, other than if implemented correctly, the IME should have no impact at all on performance during normal operation. Really, it's like adding another independent watchdog component that operates in parallel with the existing chip components. So the entire premise of the thread is...
Yup. It's not just your CPU/chipset firmware you have to worry about, it's your storage component firmware as well. The guys at libreboot and these security outfits that make futile recommendations are pretty much screwed, because no modern hardware sold since 2008 meets their requirements for...
I dunno, but would they need to add a fourth physical ALU if that were the case? Why couldn't they just issue port 6 int ops to one of the original ALUs on port 0 or 1, if they weren't going to implement the full forwarding network?
There's some great information in there.
So, some highlights:
- Improved branch prediction
- Same pipeline length as Sandy Bridge -> branch misprediction penalty is the same
- Parallelized cache misses to reduce latency
- Deepened out-of-order buffers to provide a larger instruction window
-...
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.