Max Macri Matthew Hodge

Introduction History of x86 ISA Microarchitecture (Nehalem) Features:◦ Modular Blocks◦ Pipeline◦ Memory Subsystem◦ Cache◦ Integration◦ SSE and Hyper-Threading◦ Turbo Boost◦ Miscellaneous Features

i7 Models Performance Conclusion, The Future

Newest High-end consumer processor Outperforms Core 2 predecessor Based on Nehalem Microarchitecture

4004 -> 8080 -> 8086

8086 16-bit ISA (x86-16)

80386 (aka i386) 32-bit ISA (x86-32)

i7 64-bit ISA (x86-64)

Backwards Compatible

Core i7 processor based on Nehalemmicroarchitecture (45nm die)

Replacement for Core microarchitecture Implementation of x86-64 ISA Westmere (32nm die shrink)

Modular design Easily add/remove components for

fabrication◦ Cores◦ Integrated graphics◦ QPI

Variants

Integrated memory controller Integrated PCIe Integrated DMI Advantages:◦ Removes bottlenecks◦ Reduces latencies◦ Removes the need for Motherboard based

components (memory controller and Northbridge)

SIMD: Single Instruction Multiple Data◦ Same operation performed on multiple sets of data◦ Exploits Data Level Parallelism

Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE)◦ Instruction set capable of performing SIMD

operations SSE4.2◦ Used in i7◦ 7 new instructions (from 4.1)

Return of HyperThreading!

Quick Path Interconnect (QPI)◦ Replaces Front-Side Bus◦ Available in high-end i7 models◦ Up to 25.6 GB/sec◦ Competition: Hyper-Transport (AMD)

Second Level Branch Predictor◦ Increases accuracy and performance of branch

predictions Second Level Translation Lookaside Buffer ◦ Cache used to improve virtual address translation

speed

Core i7Desktop Mobile

Lynnfield (45nm)

Bloomfield(45nm)

Gulftown (32nm)

Arrandale(32nm)

Clarksfield(45nm)

i7‐860 –i7‐880

i7‐920 –i7‐975 Extreme

i7‐970 –i7‐980X

i7‐610LE –i7‐680UM

i7‐720QM –i7‐940XM Extreme

4‐Core 4‐Core 6‐Core 2‐Core 4‐Core2.8GHz –3.07 GHz

2.67GHz –3.33GHz

3.2 GHz ‐3.33GHz

166MHz –766MHz

1.6GHz –2.13 GHz

$279 ‐ $583 $284 ‐ $999 $885 ‐ $999 $278 ‐ $346 $364 ‐ $1096774 million 732 million 1170 million 382 million 774 millionDMI, TB QPI, TB QPI DMI, GPU, IMC, TB DMI, TB

Recap◦ Great performance◦ Great power consumption◦ Can get pricey…◦ Comes in many flavors!

The Future◦ Westmere (now)◦ Sandy-Bridge (end 2010)◦ Haswell (2012)