Introduction
Ahead of the summer holiday season, both leading processor manufacturers, AMD and Intel, have released the latest processor models in their current CPU lines aimed at high-performance PCs. First, AMD made the last step before the upcoming qualitative leap forward and about a month ago presented the Athlon XP 3200+, which is supposed to become the fastest member of the Athlon XP family. AMD's further plans in this sector of the market are linked with the next generation processor with x86-64 architecture, Athlon 64, which is to appear in September this year. Intel waited a short pause and presented the last Penlium 4 based on the 0.13-micron Northwood core just today. As a result, Pentium 4 with a frequency of 3.2 GHz became the final model in this family. The hiatus for the next desktop processor based on the new Prescott core will continue until the fourth quarter, when Intel will once again raise the bar for desktop processor performance with higher clock speeds and improved architecture.
It should be noted that during the confrontation between the Athlon and Pentium 4 architectures, the more scalable architecture from Intel has shown itself. Over the period of existence of Pentium 4, produced in various technological processes, their frequency has more than doubled and without any problems reached 3.2 GHz using the usual 0.13-micron technological process. AMD, which stuck with its Athlon XP at the 2.2 GHz mark, cannot boast of such high frequencies of its processors at the moment. And although at the same frequencies Athlon XP significantly outperforms Pentium 4 in performance, the constantly widening gap in clock frequencies has done its job: Athlon XP 3200+ with 2.2 GHz can be called a full-fledged competitor to Penium 4 3.2 GHz only with significant reservations.
In the graph below, we decided to show how the frequencies of Pentium 4 and Athlon processors have grown over the past three years:
As you can see, the 2.2 GHz frequency is an insurmountable barrier for AMD, which will be conquered at best only in the second half of next year, when AMD will switch its production facilities to use 90-nanometer technology. Until then, even the next generation Athlon 64 processors will continue to operate at such low frequencies. Whether they will be able to compete with Prescott is hard to say. However, it looks like AMD is facing tough problems. Prescott, which has an increased cache of the first and second levels, improved Hyper-Threading technology and growing frequencies, may become a much more attractive offer than Athlon 64.
As far as Pentium 4 processors are concerned, their scalability can only be envied. The frequencies of the Pentium 4 have been gradually increasing since the launch of these processors. A slight pause, observed in the summer and autumn of this year, is explained by the need to introduce a new technological process, but it should not affect the alignment of forces in the processor market. By enabling Hyper-Threading technology and switching its processors to use the 800 MHz bus, Intel has achieved a tangible superiority of its older models over the competitor's processors, and now can not worry about anything, at least until the mass distribution of Athlon 64 begins.
Also in the graph above, we showed the upcoming plans of AMD and Intel for the release of new CPUs. It seems that AMD should not harbor any illusions about its position in the market any time soon. The fight with Intel on equal terms for it ends, the company returns to its usual role of catch-up. However, it's too early to make long-term forecasts, let's see what the Athlon 64 will give for AMD. However, judging by the restrained reaction of software developers to AMD64 technology, no revolution will happen with the release of the next generation of AMD processors.
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz
The new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, which Intel announced today, June 23, is nothing special from a technological point of view. This is the same Northwood operating at 800 MHz bus frequency and supporting Hyper-Threading technology. That is, in fact, the processor is completely identical (except for the clock speed) to the Pentium 4 3.0, which was announced by Intel in April.
Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, like its predecessors, uses the D1 stepping core
The only fact that should be noted in connection with the release of the next Pentium 4 processor based on the Northwood core is the increased heat dissipation. Now the typical heat dissipation of Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is about 85 W, and the maximum heat dissipation is significantly higher than 100 W. That is why the use of well-designed enclosures is one of the essential requirements for operating systems based on Pentium 4 3.2 GHz. A single fan in the case is now clearly not enough; moreover, it is necessary to ensure that the air in the area where the processor is located is well ventilated. Intel also says that the temperature of the air surrounding the processor heatsink should not exceed 42 degrees.
And once again, let us remind you that the presented Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is the latest CPU from Intel for high-performance desktop systems based on 0.13-micron technology. The next processor for such systems will use the new Prescott core manufactured using 90nm technology. Accordingly, the heat dissipation of future desktop processors will be less. Consequently, Pentium 4 3.2 GHz will remain the record holder in terms of heat dissipation.
The official price for the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is $ 637, which means that this processor is the most expensive CPU for desktop computers today. Moreover, Intel recommends using the new product with expensive motherboards based on the i875P chipset. However, as we know, this requirement can be neglected: many cheaper mainboards based on i865PE provide a similar level of performance due to the activation of PAT technology by manufacturers and in the i865PE chipset.
How we tested
The purpose of this test was to find out the level of performance that the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can provide in comparison with its predecessors and older models of the competing Athlon XP line. Thus, in addition to Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Petnium 4 3.0 GHz, Athlon XP 3200+ and Athlon XP 3000+ took part in the tests. As a platform for the Pentium 4 tests, we chose a motherboard based on the i875P (Canterwood) chipset with dual-channel DDR400 memory, and the Athlon XP tests were carried out using a motherboard based on the most productive NVIDIA nForce 400 Ultra chipset.
The composition of the test systems is shown below:
Notes:
- The memory in all cases was operated in synchronous mode with the FSB in a two-channel configuration. The most aggressive timings were used 2-2-2-5.
- The tests were carried out on Windows XP SP1 with DirectX 9.0a installed.
Performance in office and content creation applications
First of all, according to the established tradition, we measured the speed of processors in office applications and applications working with digital content. To do this, we used the test suites of the Winstone family.
In Business Winstone 2002, which includes typical office business applications, the Athlon XP family of processors is at its best, the performance of which significantly exceeds the speed of the competing processor family. This situation is quite familiar for this test and is conditioned by both the peculiarities of the Athlon XP architecture and the large cache memory of the Barton core, the total capacity of which reaches 640 KB due to the exclusive L2.
The benchmark Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2003, which measures the speed of test platforms in digital content applications, shows a slightly different picture. Pentium 4 processors with NetBurst architecture and a high-speed bus with a bandwidth of 6.4 GB per second leave the older Athlon XP models far behind.
Streaming Performance
Most applications working with data streams are known to run faster on Pentium 4 processors. All the advantages of the NetBurst architecture are revealed here. Therefore, the result we got in WinRAR 3.2 shouldn't surprise anyone. The older Pentium 4s significantly outperform the top Athlon XP in data compression speed.
A similar situation is observed when encoding audio files into mp3 format with the LAME 3.93 codec. By the way, this codec supports multithreading, so the high results of the Pentium 4 here can be attributed to the support of these CPUs for the Hyper-Threading technology. As a result, Pentium 4 3.2 outperforms the older Athlon XP with a 3200+ rating by almost 20%.
In this testing, we included the results obtained when measuring the encoding rate of an AVI clip in MPEG-2 format by one of the best encoders, Canopus Procoder 1.5. As it is not surprising, Athlon XP shows slightly higher performance in this case. However, this should most likely be attributed to the high-performance floating point unit of the Athlon XP. SSE2 instructions for Pentium 4 processors in this case, as we can see, cannot be such a strong alternative. However, it should be noted that the speed gap between the older Athlon XP and Pentium 4 models is quite small.
MPEG-4 video encoding is another example of a challenge where the Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology and 800MHz bus demonstrates its strengths. The superiority of Pentium 4 3.2 over Athlon XP 3200+ in this test is almost 20%.
A similar situation is observed when encoding video using Windows Media Encoder 9: this application is optimized for the SSE2 instruction set and is perfectly adapted for the NetBurst architecture. Therefore, it is not surprising that Intel processors have occupied the upper part of the diagram again.
Performance in gaming applications
After the release of the patched version of 3Dmark03, the results of Pentium 4 versus Athlon XP in this test became slightly higher. However, this did not change the balance of power: Pentium 4 were in the lead in this benchmark before.
Pentium 4 confirms its leadership in the overall standings in 3Dmark03. True, the gap here is small: the fact that 3Dmark03 is primarily a test of the video subsystem affects.
After the Pentium 4 switched to the 800MHz bus, the Pentium 4 began to outperform Athlon XP in the older version 3Dmark2001 as well. Moreover, the gap between Pentium 4 3.2 GHz and Athlon XP 3200+ is already quite significant and amounts to 6%.
In Quake3 Pentium 4 traditionally outperforms Athlon XP, so the result is not surprising.
A similar picture is observed in the game Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This is completely logical, since this game uses the same Quake3 engine.
One of the few applications where the older Athlon XP model manages to retain its leadership is Unreal Tournament 2003. I would like to note that all modern games do not support Hyper-Threading technology, so the potential of the new Pentium 4 is not fully revealed in games.
But in Serious Sam 2 Athlon XP 3200+ is no longer the leader. With the release of a new processor from Intel, the palm in this game goes to Pentium 4 3.2 GHz.
The new Splinter Cell game, although based on the same engine as Unreal Tournament 2003, runs faster on Intel processors.
On the whole, it remains to admit that the fastest processor for modern 3D games at the moment is Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, outperforming Athlon XP 3200+ in most gaming tests. The situation is changing rapidly. Not so long ago, senior Athlon XP in gaming tests were in no way inferior to Intel processors.
3D rendering performance
Since 3ds max 5.1, which we used in this testing, is well optimized for multithreading, Pentium 4, which can execute two threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading technology, is by far the leader. Even the older Athlon XP 3200+ cannot compete with it.
The same can be said about the rendering speed in Lightwave 7.5. However, in some scenes, for example, when rendering Sunset, older Athlon XP models do not look so bad, but such cases are rare.
It's hard to argue with Pentium 4 executing two threads simultaneously in rendering tasks for Athlon XP. Unfortunately, AMD has no plans to introduce technologies like Hyper-Threading even in future Athlon 64 processors.
An absolutely similar situation is observed in POV-Ray 3.5.
Scientific computing performance
To test the speed of new CPUs from AMD, ScienceMark 2.0 package was used in scientific calculations. Details of this test can be obtained at http://www.sciencemark.org. This benchmark supports multithreading as well as all SIMD instruction sets including MMX, 3DNow !, SSE, and SSE2.
It has been known for a long time that the Athlon XP family processors perform well in mathematical modeling or cryptography problems. Here we see another confirmation of this fact. Although, I must say, Athlon XP is starting to lose its former advantage. For example, in the Molecular Dinamics test, the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz comes out on top.
In addition to the ScienceMark test, in this section we decided to test the speed of the new processors in the client of the Russian project of distributed computing [email protected] on the calculation of the dynamic properties of oligopeptides (protein fragments). Calculation of the properties of oligopeptides may be able to help the study of the fundamental properties of proteins, thereby contributing to the development of science.
As you can see, the new Pentium 4 solve molecular dynamics problems faster than the Athlon XP. The Pentium 4 achieves such a high result thanks to its Hyper-Threading technology. The client himself [email protected] Unfortunately, it does not support multithreading, but running two client programs in parallel on systems with processors with Hyper-Threading technology can speed up the calculation process by more than 40%.
conclusions
The tests carried out clearly show that at the next stage of the competition, Intel managed to defeat AMD. The latest processor based on the Northwood core outperforms the older and latest Athlon XP in most tests. Recently, Intel has been able to significantly increase the frequencies of its CPUs, increase the frequency of their bus, and also implement a clever Hyper-Threading technology, which gives an additional speed boost in a number of tasks. AMD, however, being unable to increase the clock speeds of its processors due to technological and architectural difficulties, was unable to adequately strengthen its CPUs. Even the appearance of the new Barton core did not correct the situation: the latest Pentium 4 models are clearly stronger than the older Athlon XP. As a result, Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can be considered the most productive CPU for desktop systems at present. This situation will last at least until September, when AMD will finally have to announce its new Athlon 64 processors.
It should also be noted that the rating system currently used by AMD to label its processors can no longer be a criterion by which Athlon XP can be compared with Pentium 4. Improvements that have occurred with Pentium 4, among which should be noted the translation these CPUs on 800MHz bus and the introduction of Hyper-Threading technology resulted in a Pentium 4 with a frequency equal to the rating of the corresponding Athlon XP, obviously faster.
In general, we will look forward with interest to the autumn, when both AMD and Intel will present their new developments, Prescott and Athlon 64, which may be able to aggravate the competition between old rivals in the processor market. Now AMD is pushed aside by Intel into the sector of low-cost processors, where, however, this company feels excellent: Celeron is an openly weak competitor compared to Athlon XP.
Intel introduced this processor in May 1997. Before its official appearance, it was known under the code name Klamath, and there were a lot of rumors around it in the computer world. The pentium II is essentially the same sixth generation processor as the pentium Pro, albeit with a slightly improved version. The crystal of the pentium II processor is shown in Fig. 3.25.
However, in the physical aspect, this is really something new. The pentium II processor is housed in a Single Edge Contact (SEC) package with a large Fig. 3.25. Pentium II processor. Photo courtesy of Intel. 
Rice. 3.26. Pentium II processor board (inside SEC cartridge). Photo courtesy of Intel Heat Sink. It is installed on its own small board, very similar to a SIMM memory module and containing a L2 cache (Fig. 3.26); This card fits into a Slot 1 connector on the system board, which looks very similar to an adapter connector. 
Rice. 3.27. SECC Cartridge Components There are two types of processor cartridges called SECC (Single Edge Contact Cartridge) and SECC2. These cartridges are shown in fig. 3.27 and 3.28 respectively. Note that the SECC2 cartridge has fewer components. In early 1999, Intel switched to cartridges for pentium F / W processors. One of the types of cartridges described is more expensive to manufacture than a pentium Pro processor. Intel's pentium II processors operate at the clock speeds listed below.
| Processor type / | Clock multiplicity | Clock frequency |
| performance | frequency | motherboard, MHz |
| pentium II 233 | 3.5x | 66 |
| pentium II 266 | 4x | 66 |
| pentium II 300 | 4.5x | 66 |
| pentium II 333 | 5x | 66 |
| pentium II 350 | 3.5x | 100 |
| pentium II 400 | 4x | 100 |
| pentium II 450 | 4.5x | 100 |
Rice. 3.28. The SECC2 Cartridge Components in This Chapter The iCOMP 2.0 index of the pentium II 266 MHz is twice that of the original pentium 200 MHz processor. Speed aside, the pentium II processor can be thought of as a combination of pentium Pro and MMX technology. It has the same multiprocessing capabilities and exactly the same integrated L2 cache as the pentium Pro, while the MMX borrows 57 new multimedia instructions. In addition, the Pentium II has twice the internal L1 cache as the Pentium Pro (now 32KB instead of 16). The maximum power consumption and operating voltage for the pentium II processor are shown below. | Main clock | Consumed | Process (size | Voltage, V | ||
| frequency, MHz | power, | W | structures), | micron |
|
| 450 | 27,1 |
|
0,25 |
|
2,0 |
| 400 | 24,3 |
|
0,25 |
|
2,0 |
| 350 | 21,5 |
|
0,25 |
|
2,0 |
| 333 | 23,7 |
|
0,25 |
|
2,0 |
| 300 | 43,0 |
|
0,35 |
|
2,8 |
| 266 | 38,2 |
|
0,35 |
|
2,8 |
| 233 | 34,8 |
|
0,35 |
|
2,8 |
| Bus frequency | 66, 100 MHz |
| Frequency multiplication | 3.5x, 4x, 4.5x, 5x |
| Clock frequency | 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 450 MHz |
| Built-in cache memory | Level 1: 32KB (16KB for code |
|
|
and 16 KB for data); second level: 512 KB |
|
|
(half the clock speed of the processor) |
| Bit depth of internal registers | 32 |
| Width of the external data bus | 64 |
| Width of the address bus | 36 |
| Maximum addressable memory | 64 GB |
| Maximum virtual memory | 64 TB |
| Frame | 242-pin with one-way contact (Single |
|
|
Edge Contact Cartridge - SECC) |
| Case dimensions | 12.82 x 6.28 x 1.64 cm |
| Coprocessor | Built in |
| Reduced energy consumption | SMM system (System Management Mode) |
| Pentium II MMX processor | (350, | , 400 and 450 MHz) | ||
| Submission date |
|
April 15, 1998 | ||
| Clock frequency |
|
350 (100x3.5), 400 (100x4) and 450 (100x4.5) MHz | ||
|
|
386, 440 and 483 (350, 400 and 450 MHz, respectively) | |||
| iCOMP 2.0 |
|
|
||
| Number of transistors |
|
7.5M (0.25 micron technology) plus 31M 512K L2 cache | ||
| 4 GB | ||||
| Working voltage |
|
2.0V | ||
| Connector type |
|
Slot 2 | ||
| Crystal size |
|
|||
| Pentium II mobile processor (266, 300, 333 and 366 MHz) | ||||
| Submission date |
|
January 25, 1999 | ||
| Clock frequency |
|
266, 300, 333 and 366 MHz | ||
| Number of transistors |
|
27.4 million (0.25 micron technology) | ||
| Dimensions (edit) |
|
31x35 mm | ||
| Working voltage |
|
1.6V | ||
| Heat generated |
|
366 MHz - 9.5 W, 333 MHz - 8.6 W, 300 MHz - 7.7 W, 266 MHz - 7.0 W | ||
| Pentium II MMX processor | (333 MHz) | |||
| Submission date |
|
May 7, 1997 | ||
| Clock frequency |
|
333 MHz (66 MHzx 5) | ||
| Test performance |
|
366 | ||
| iCOMP 2.0 |
|
|
||
| Number of transistors |
|
7.5M (0.35 micron technology) plus 31M 512K L2 cache | ||
| Cached RAM | 512 MB | |||
| Working voltage |
|
2.0V | ||
| Connector type |
|
Slot 1 | ||
| Crystal size |
|
10.2 mm square | ||
| Pentium II MMX processor | (300 MHz) | |||
| Submission date |
|
May 7, 1997 | ||
| Clock frequency |
|
300MHz (66MHzx4.5) | ||
| Test performance |
|
332 | ||
| iCOMP 2.0 |
|
|
||
| Number of transistors |
|
7.5M (0.35 micron technology) plus 31M 512K L2 cache | ||
| Cached RAM | 512 MB | |||
| Connector type |
|
Slot 1 | ||
| Crystal size |
|
|||
| Pentium II MMX processor (266 MHz) | ||||
| Submission date | May 7, 1997 | |||
| Clock frequency | 266 MHz (66 MHz x 4) | |||
| Test performance | 303 | |||
| iCOMP 2.0 |
|
|||
| Number of transistors | ||||
|
|
||||
| Cached RAM | 512 MB | |||
| Connector type | Slot 1 | |||
| Crystal size | 14.2 mm square | |||
| Pentium II MMX processor (233 MHz) | ||||
| Submission date | May 7, 1997 | |||
| Clock frequency | 233 MHz (66 MHzx3.5) | |||
| Index performance | 267 | |||
| iCOMP 2.0 |
|
|||
| Number of transistors | 7.5M (0.35 micron technology) plus 31M cash | |||
|
|
512KB L2 memory | |||
| Cached RAM | 512 MB | |||
| Connector type | Slot 1 | |||
| Crystal size | 14.2 mm square | |||
Rice. 3.30. Pentium II Processor Packaging: Single-sided Case | SL37G | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 1,2,4 | |
| SL2WB | dBO | 0652h | 450/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 1 | 2, 5 |
| SL37H | dBO | 0652h | 450/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 1 | 2 |
| SL2KE | TdBO | 1632h | 333/66 | 512 | ECC | PGA | 2 | 4 |
| SL2W7 | dBO | 0652h | 266/66 | 512 | ECC | SECC 2.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2W8 | dBO | 0652h | 300/66 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2TV | dBO | 0652h | 333/66 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2U3 | dBO | 0652h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2U4 | dBO | 0652h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2U5 | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2U6 | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL2U7 | dBO | 0652h | 450/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL356 | dBO | 0652h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 PLGA | 2 | 5 |
| SL357 | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 2 | 5 |
| SL358 | dBO | 0652h | 450/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 2 | 5 |
| SL37F | dBO | 0652h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 PLGA | 1 | 2, 5 |
| SL3FN | dBO | 0652h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 2 | 5 |
| SL3EE | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 PLGA | 2 | 5 |
| SL3F9 | dBO | 0652h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 PLGA | 1 | 2 |
| SL38M | dBl | 0653h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 1 | 2, 5 |
| SL38N | dBl | 0653h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 1 | 2, 5 |
| SL36U | dBl | 0653h | 350/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL38Z | dBl | 0653h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC 3.00 | 2 | 5 |
| SL3D5 | dBl | 0653h | 400/100 | 512 | ECC | SECC2 OLGA | 1 | 2 |
Rice. 3.31. SECC2 package, PLGA and OLGA modifications Table 3.17. Settable voltage for pentium II
| VID4 | VID3 | VID2 | VTD1 | VTD0 | Voltage, V |
| 0 |
|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1,30 |
| 0 |
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 1,35 |
| 0 |
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 1,40 |
| 0 |
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 1,45 |
| 0 |
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 1,50 |
| 0 |
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 1,55 |
| 0 |
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1,60 |
| 0 |
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 1,65 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1,70 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1,75 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1,80 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1,85 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1,90 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1,95 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2,00 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,05 |
|
|
|
1 | 1 | 1 | Processor not installed |
|
|
|
1 | 1 | 0 | 2,1 |
|
|
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2,2 |
|
|
|
1 | 0 | 0 | 2,3 |
|
|
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 2,4 |
|
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 2,5 |
|
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 2,6 |
|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 2,7 |
|
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2,8 |
|
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2,9 |
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3,0 |
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3,1 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3,2 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3,3 |
|
|
0 |
Basic principles of overclocking Pentium II / III processors
Unfortunately, overclocking Intel Pentium II and Intel Pentium III processors cannot be performed by changing the multiplier connecting the external and internal frequencies. Intel has developed a number of methods to combat overclocking of its processors. As a result, the multiplier is fixed. Thus, the company protects its processors from counterfeiting. In addition, by fixing the multiplier, Intel protects the market for its products, not allowing cheaper, overclocked processors to compete with more expensive options with high internal frequencies.
Processors starting from Pentium MMX-166, as a rule, do not allow increasing the internal frequency by changing the multiplier. Although, it must be admitted that there are few processors of some series that allow such a possibility. However, these are extremely rare exceptions.
For Intel Pentium II and Intel Pentium III processors, another method of overclocking is relevant, which is not related to changing the multipliers. It consists in increasing the clock frequency of the host bus. So, for example, a Pentium II-266 processor (4 x 66 MHz) can be overclocked to 300 MHz (4 x 75 MHz) or even to 333 MHz (4 x 83 MHz), a Pentium III-500 processor (5 x 100 MHz) - up to 560 MHz (5 x 112 MHz). In this case, as a rule, without increasing the supply voltage of the processors.
Examples of overclocking Pentium II processors
Examples of overclocking processors Pentium III
It should be noted that in order to reduce power consumption and, accordingly, heat generation, processor manufacturers, as the technology of their production improves, reduce the levels of supply voltages. It is not uncommon for processors of the same type with equal internal and external frequencies, but released at different times and having mismatched serial numbers, have different supply voltages. The BIOS of modern motherboards usually easily and correctly determines the required levels of supply voltages for processors. However, to ensure stable operation at high frequencies, it is sometimes necessary to slightly increase the supply voltage. But for different processors, these levels and their increase, of course, should be different. That is why, for some motherboards and processors, different sets of processor overclocking parameters may be optimal, for example, they may differ from the recommended supply voltage values. For other motherboards, overclocking is generally impossible as a method of increasing computer performance. Such motherboards automatically determine all the modes necessary for the processor, and they do not have the means to change them. But in any case, before the experiments, you should provide effective additional cooling of both the processor and the rest of the computer.
Remarking Intel Pentium II Processor - Obstacle to Overclocking
Changing the labeling of processors, that is, their relabeling, some firms in a number of, as a rule, Asian countries began to deal with, of course, illegally, with the advent of the first processors. For the first time, such actions began to be practiced on a large scale with 486 and Pentium processors. In fact, the procedure for forging a label is quite simple. Using a special machine or saw, a thin layer was removed from the microcircuit case. Then, after grinding the surface, a new marking was applied to it with an overestimated operating frequency. Often, data on manufacturers was faked on processors. Distinguishing a real processor from a relabeled one is not an easy task. Processors of the same generation were manufactured using similar technologies and most often the same semiconductor wafers were used. Forged processors often performed just as well as real ones. Subsequently, many processor companies, such as Intel, have developed a large number of processor protection levels. This also applied to protection against overclocking processors.
The relatively new and modern Intel Pentium II processor offers additional protection. It consists in the use of special circuits that block all multiplication factors that do not correspond to the value set by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, this protection is often easily bypassed by people who professionally relabel processors - by opening the cartridge, they simply remove unwanted protection schemes.
It is claimed that there are programs that can distinguish real Intel Pentium II processors with a frequency of 300 MHz from relabeled ones. This is done by analyzing the cache memory in the processor cartridge. The fact is that Intel Pentium II processors with a frequency of 266 MHz use a second level cache memory without error correction - ECC, while Intel Pentium II processors with a frequency of 300 MHz come with memory that uses ECC. However, there is information that Intel produced Pentium II processors with frequencies of 233 "and 266 MHz, which also used ECC. They were mainly focused on use in servers. It turns out that ECC tests are not entirely correct and do not always give correct results. ...
The most advanced and efficient processors of the Intel Pentium II series with frequencies of 350, 400 and 450 MHz also have overclocking protection. Basically, this is fixing a multiplier. Additional protection comes from the use of specific L2 cache chips. This cache memory works fine at the set frequency, but it consistently fails when it is significantly increased. This protection has not yet been fully worked out and therefore has not been implemented everywhere. However, when practicing it, it can greatly upset professionals and overclocking enthusiasts.
It should be noted that re-labeled processors are the least common among those supplied in a box - in box. Processors in such a package are much more difficult to counterfeit than, for example, OEM variants.
There are other methods of protection, which are still only in the long-term plans of Intel, as well as other firms - manufacturers of processors. It is planned to introduce a variety of identification schemes into the processor architecture, similar to those used in Intel Pentium III processors. In addition, ideas are being expressed about the complete fixation of all frequency parameters. Fortunately for overclocking enthusiasts, all this is still only a long-term plan of processor manufacturers.
Increasing the processor bus frequency
With the advent of the 1440BX chipset from Intel, many motherboards have appeared on the market, which are built on the basis of this chipset and for the first time began to support the host bus frequency - 100 MHz processor bus as standard. With the help of the 100 MHz bus, it became possible to significantly increase the processor frequency, and, consequently, the performance of the entire computer. Some manufacturers have expanded the range of possible frequencies by introducing higher values. In the list of frequencies, such values as 133 MHz and even 150 MHz appeared. Undoubtedly, this is a new step for proponents of increasing computer performance through the use of overclocking.
Many motherboards have been manufactured with strict adherence to Intel specifications (for example, motherboards made by Intel itself). Unfortunately, for such motherboards, the value of 100 MHz for the processor bus can only be set for Intel Pentium II processors starting from 350 MHz. This is because the Intel Pentium II and Intel Celeron processors set the bus frequency themselves. That is, depending on which processor is used, the host bus will operate at 66 MHz or 100 MHz.
But, like many other protection options of this kind, automatic frequency setting can be removed relatively easily.
There is a special contact on the processor board that is responsible for the automatic setting of the processor bus frequency. His number is known. This is contact B21.
All that needs to be done is to disconnect contact B21, which will allow switching to 100 MHz for a processor with an external frequency of 66 MHz, by overclocking the processor and other computer subsystems by increasing the host bus frequency. It is quite easy to disconnect the contact, but the work requires some care. There are several ways.
First, you can simply cut this contact. However, this method cannot be called the best.
Secondly, you can glue the contact, for example, with adhesive tape - scotch tape. This is not the best option, since the adhesive of the adhesive tape will gradually oxidize the contact, and may also slip from the contact to the motherboard connector.
Thirdly, you can try to cover contact B21 with any insulating varnish. This can be, for example, a special colored or colorless nitro varnish, nail varnish or even parquet varnish. Using varnish is the most effective way. However, if the temperature is too high, the structure of the varnish may change. As a result, the insulating properties may be compromised or, which is no less bad, the polymer film will turn into glue. Excellent properties of a special epoxy varnish. You can use epoxy instead of varnish.
Having achieved a high frequency of the processor bus, it is necessary to remember that such elements as a processor, video adapter, etc. require effective cooling. This is usually achieved through the use of additional funds.
In case of unstable operation of the processor and the impossibility of solving this problem, it is necessary to restore the broken contact B21.
For a more accurate analysis of the temperature regime of a computer and an assessment of the necessary cooling means, below are the data on the power dissipation of the Pentium II and Pentium III processors.
Pentium II
Pentium III (SECC)
Pentium III (SECC2)
Frequency, MHz |
L2 cache, KB |
Maximum power dissipated by the board, W |
If you decide to buy a system with a Pentium MMX processor, wait a bit. It might be worth choosing a different processor. In preparation for this article, AMD announced the highly anticipated next-generation K6-PR2-233 chip, which is expected to compete with Intel's Pentium II die (formerly known as Klamath). The Pentium II processor, the next version of the Pentium Pro chip, began shipping in May. Like the Pentium MMX processor, the chips from these two companies support multimedia instructions and should push the Pentium MMX out of the market.
How Good Are the Pentium II and K6? And will AMD be able to compete with Intel? Test lab of the journal PC World conducted testing of the first prototypes of PCs based on K6 and Pentium II processors. The machines were tested using the PC WorldBench test suite using standard business applications. In addition, we tested the performance of machines running MMX-optimized multimedia and graphics programs. The AMD system was based on a K6-PR2-233 die, and the Intel machine was equipped with a 266 MHz Pentium II processor.
What is the result? Both prototypes set new performance records. The AMD K6 system completed the test tasks faster than any of the machines previously tested in the PC World labs, overtaking the former champion, the Sys Technology model based on the 200 MHz Pentium Pro processor. In the PC WorldBench test, the K6 SoC finished with a score of 251.
However, this record did not last long. The new champion was the 266-MHz Pentium II, which outperformed the K6-PR2-233-based machine by 4%, and the Sys Technology machine with a 200-MHz Pentium Pro crystal by 10%. The Pentium II-based computer performed roughly what you'd expect from it given its clock speed, cache size, and MMX support.
Pentium II won the race for speed, but does this mean defeat for K6? Intel will market the Pentium II as a top-tier processor for powerful workstations and multimedia machines starting at $ 3,500. Ultimately, less affluent customers who cannot afford a Pentium II-based PC can, according to Intel, purchase a machine with with a Pentium MMX crystal. However, PC makers have their own plans, so it is likely that the price of a well-configured Pentium II machine will not exceed $ 3,000 dollars (in Russia, as usual, prices will be noticeably lower. - Approx. ed.). All of this should really please buyers - competition is forcing manufacturers to lower prices and accelerate the promotion of new CPUs.
Fastest PCs
How high is the performance of these new processors? AMD's prototype machine, equipped with 1MB L2 cache and an extremely fast 4.55GB SCSI hard drive, passed PC WorldBench benchmarks with an astonishing 251 points (compared to Sys Technology's Pentium Pro this figure is 236). In four of the six applications used in PC WorldBench, the AMD chip set performance records, and in the other two, it was closest.
But before the ink in the book of records had dried, a prototype of a system based on a Pentium II processor raced through the PC WorldBench tests with an indicator of 260 units. The system has demonstrated the highest performance in all applications.
Even greater superiority of the new processors over others was revealed in tests with MMX applications. Recall that the K6 is the first non-Intel processor to support MMX instructions, which significantly accelerates video, audio and other multimedia tasks using MMX technology. The K6 system outperformed all Pentium-200 MMX machines tested in the PC World labs, but lagged slightly behind the 266-MHz Pentium II-based PCs. The machine with an Intel processor showed the best results in tests with 3D graphics: it took only 55 seconds to perform operations with redrawing objects in the Ray Dream 3D Studio by Fractal Design, while a PC based on a K6 processor took 68 seconds. Standard systems with a 200 MHz Pentium MMX die take 80 seconds to complete this task.
In tests with Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Director, in which most of the work was done using filters and animation, the Pentium II's speed advantage was less noticeable. When playing animated images in the Director package, the Pentium II system was outputting 91 frames per second, and the system with the K6 processor was outputting 87 frames per second. In the Photoshop test for filtering and color conversion, the undisputed leader was actually the K6 processor: it took 47 seconds to complete tasks, while the Pentium II did the same in 59 seconds. However, the Pentium II pulled ahead in the scaling test in less than 45 seconds (the K6 took almost 68 seconds), so the overall winner was the Pentium II. Both CPUs show significant performance gains over the Pentium MMX.
Intel (and AMD) inside
The high performance of the K6 prototype PC is partly due to its fast SCSI hard drive and 1MB L2 cache (compared to 512KB on a Pentium II machine). Nevertheless, the results obtained confirm AMD's predictions that the K6 will compete with the Pentium II, and this will be even more true when the K6-PR2-266 and K6-PR2-300 versions of microcircuits appear (expected already this year).
Today, both the K6 and the Pentium II are manufactured using a 0.35 micron design rule, meaning that transistor elements are typically 0.35 microns in size. The K6-PR2-300 is likely to be the first to be produced in the 0.25 micron process, which will reduce its power consumption and heat dissipation. AMD officials are refraining from discussing the possibility of using the K6 processor in notebook PCs, but according to Microprocessor Report editor Lenly Gwennap, "the K6 crystal is travel-ready."
In turn, the Pentium II processor is a further development of the Pentium Pro crystal. The Pentium II processor provides better 16- and 32-bit Windows 95 performance than its predecessor, plus it has MMX expansion and increased L1 cache from 16KB to 32KB. (Recall that when running 16-bit programs, the 200-MHz Pentium Pro is inferior to the 200-MHz Pentium MMX, but when running 32-bit applications, the Pentium Pro is ahead.) To raise the CPU core clock speed to 233 MHz or higher , the Pentium II L2 cache is located on the same SEC cartridge as the processor.
Like the K6, the Pentium II processor is manufactured in 0.35 micron process technology, but over time Intel plans to move to the more advanced 0.25 micron process. The microcircuit with a 0.25 micron rate is codenamed Deschutes, it should appear by the end of the year. It will be the first P6 processor designed for productivity in notebook PCs.
Price or speed?
Today, the choice of the K6 crystal seems to be more profitable. The K6-PR2-233 chip is projected to be priced at $ 469 for PC makers, which is $ 130-250 less than the 266 MHz Pentium II processor. In terms of price / performance ratio, the K6 crystal can even compete with the Pentium MMX. Better yet, the K6 fits into a standard Socket 7 socket on current mainboards for the Pentium processor, while the Pentium II requires a new motherboard that can be used with an SEC cartridge. AMD has a chance to make the K6 a mainstream processor, if only it can win contracts with system manufacturers.
AMD has experience with leading PC vendors, Gwennap said, and has the potential to ship 10-15 million K6 chips this year and up to 40 million next year, after which it will be able to move to a smaller design standard version of the die. These high volumes could draw the attention of major system manufacturers to the K6. AST is considering a K6-based PC, and Everex, Polywell and Robotec have already announced they will sell machines based on these chips.
However, the Pentium II is favored by the higher clock speed, since the tightly coupled L2 cache is significantly faster than the regular cache found on the motherboard (and used by the K6 processor). In addition, Intel will use the new Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) on Pentium II motherboards, which is expected to dramatically improve the performance and quality of 3D graphics programs.
What place among these microcircuits will the M2 crystal - the representative of the next generation of Cyrix processors - take? According to Gwennap, the M2 (it should appear in June) will not be able to match the performance of either the K6 or the Pentium II.
A new life for the Pentium
Despite the high performance of the Pentium II, the life of the Pentium MMX does not end. Intel's new 430TX chipset optimizes the performance of key components such as system memory and hard drive. Two desktop machines based on 200 MHz Pentium MMX processors, in which the 430TX kit was used, visited the PC World laboratory. In PC WorldBench tests, these machines scored 234 and 238 units. The biggest performance gain was found in tests with MMX applications. In a test with editing an image in Photoshop, one of these PCs performed the highest among all systems (except for a PC with a 266 MHz Pentium II processor).
If you are going to buy a machine with a Pentium MMX processor, choose the model with the 430TX chipset. Home users should love the new features in this suite, such as the Always On feature, which Intel says allows the machine to "wake up" from suspend mode when tasks such as processing e-mail occur. With better power management and support for fast synchronous dynamic memory (SDRAM), the 430TX should also find widespread use in notebook PCs.
What to buy?
Which system should you give preference to? K6-based machines have the best price / performance ratio, however you may need to look for PC vendors that have AMD processors in their machines. Also, it can take several months before AMD releases enough chips, so you'll have to wait. However, if your budget does not allow you to spend significant amounts, a system with a K6 processor is the way to go.
For those looking to buy a fast mid-range or high-end system, the Pentium II is more suitable. Intel's production capacity allows it to release significantly more Pentium II processors than AMD can supply K6 crystals to the market, but overclocking will again take time. Prices for systems with Pentium II may vary, but it is not hard to assume that the pricing policy of firms will be very aggressive. You can buy a well-configured Pentium II PC for about $ 3,000.
If the K6 processor doesn't suit you for some reason and you don't have the money for a Pentium II system, the choice is clear: a PC with a Pentium MMX processor and 430TX chipset for maximum multimedia performance.
New CPUs - new speed records
| System | CPU | RAM, MB | Second level cache, KB | PC WordBench Score |
| Pentium II-266 | Pentium II-266 | 32 | 256 | 260 |
| AMD K6-PR2-233 | AMD K6-PR2-233 | 32 | 1024 | 251 |
| Polywell Poly 500 TX1 | Pentium MMX-200 | 32 | 512 | 238 |
| MicroExperts MMXP-5000 | Pentium MMX-200 | 32 | 512 | 234 |
| "Medium" PC of 10 machines | Pentium MMX-200 | 32 | 512 | 231 |
Multimedia applications
| System |
Macromedia Director animation (frames per second) |
| Pentium II-266 | 91 |
| MicroExperts MMXP-5000 | 86 |
| AMD K6-PR2-233 | 87 |
| Polywell Poly 500 TX1 | 85 |
| "Medium" PC of 10 machines | 80 |
Testing technique
Business Applications: all systems were tested using the PC WorldBench package. The higher the PC WorldBench score, the better the performance. A description of the PC WorldBench tests can be found on the PC World website ( http: //www.pcworld. com / testing ).
Multimedia applications: each system was tested using a series of programs optimized for MMX.
The Adobe Photoshop 4.0 test measured the time it took to complete multiple image editing operations. In the test with the Ray Dream 3D Studio program from Fractal Design, it was measured how long it takes to redraw the rendered three-dimensional objects of two levels of complexity. In the test with the Macromedia Director 5.0 package, a graphics-rich executable file was played.
Pentium 2 processor
The first processors with the name Pentium II appeared on May 7, 1997. These processors combine Pentium PRO architecture and MMX technology. Compared to Pentium Pro, the size of the primary cache is doubled (16KB + 16KB). The processor uses a new housing technology - a cartridge with a printed edge connector, to which the system bus is brought out: S.E.C.C (Single Edge Contact Cartridge). It was produced in the Slot 1 design, which naturally required an upgrade of old motherboards. The cartridge with dimensions of 14 x 6.2 x 1.6 cm contains a processor core microcircuit (CPU Core), several microcircuits that implement a secondary cache, and auxiliary discrete elements (resistors and capacitors).
This approach can be considered a step back - Intel has already worked out the technology of embedding L2 cache in the core. But in this way it was possible to use third-party memory chips. At one time, Intel considered this approach promising for the next 10 years, although after a short time it abandons it.
At the same time, the independence of the secondary cache bus is preserved, which is closely tied to the processor core by its own local bus. The bus frequency was half the core frequency. So the Pentium II had a large cache running at half the processor frequency.
The first Pentium II processors (codenamed Klamath), which appeared on May 7, 1997, had about 7.5 million transistors in the processor core alone and were executed using 0.35 micron technology. They had core clock speeds of 233, 266 and 300 MHz with a 66 MHz system bus. In this case, the secondary cache worked at half the core frequency and had a volume of 512 KB. For these processors, Slot 1 was developed, which closely resembles Socket 8 for Pentium Pro in signal composition. However, Slot 1 allows you to combine only a couple of processors to implement a symmetric multiprocessor system, or a system with redundant functionality control (FRC). So this processor is a faster Pentium Pro with MMX support, but with reduced support for multiprocessing.
On January 26, 1998, a processor from the Pentium II line was released with the core name - Deschutes. It differed from Klamath in a finer technological process - 0.25 microns and a bus frequency of 100 MHz. It had clock frequencies of 350, 400, 450 MHz. It was produced in the S.E.C.C design, which in older models was replaced by S.E.C.C.2 - the cache is on one side of the core, and not on two, as in the standard Deschutes, and a modified cooler mount. The last core officially used in Pentium II processors, although the latest Pentium II 350-450 models came with a core that looked more like Katmai - only, of course, with a cut SSE. There is still support for MMX. The first level cache is the same 32 KB (16 + 16). The L2 cache has not changed either - 512 KB operating at half frequency. The processor consisted of 7.5 million transistors and was produced for the Slot 1 connector.
Pentium II OverDrive - this was the name of the processor released on August 11, 1998 for upgrading Pentium PRO on old motherboards, and working in Socket 8).
Codenamed P6T. It had a frequency of 333 MHz. The first-level cache was 16 KB for data + 16 KB for instructions, the second-level cache was 512 KB and was integrated into the kernel. It worked at the frequency of the processor. 66 MHz bus. It contained 7.5 million transistors and was manufactured using the 0.25 micron process technology. Supported the MMX instruction set.
Celeron
A new branch in the direction of microprocessor technology for Intel was the release of parallel mainstream, "lightweight" and cheaper versions. This is the Celeron series. On April 15, 1998, the first processor, called Celeron, was presented and clocked at 266 MHz.
Codename Covington. This processor is a "cut-off" Pentium II. Celeron is built on the basis of the Deschutes core without a second-level cache. Which, of course, affected its performance. But it accelerated just fine (from one and a half to two times). If overclocking the Pentium II was limited by the maximum cache frequency, then it simply was not there!
Celeron worked on a 66 MHz bus and repeated all the main characteristics of its ancestor - Pentium II Deschutes: cache of the first level - 16 Kb + 16 Kb, MMX, 0.25 micron process technology. 7.5 million transistors. The processor was produced without a protective cartridge - constructive - S.E.P.P (Single Edge Pin Package). Connector - Slot 1.
Starting with a frequency of 300 MHz, Celeron processors appeared with an integrated second-level cache operating at the processor frequency of 128 KB. The codename is Mendocino. Released August 8, 1998. Thanks to the full-speed cache, it has high performance comparable to Pentium II (assuming the same system bus frequency). They were produced with clock frequencies from 300 to 533 MHz. On November 30, 1998, a variant of the processor with the P.P.G.A (Plastic Pin Grid Array) construct was released, which worked in the Socket 370 socket.
Up to 433 MHz it was produced in two constructs: S.E.P.P and P.P.G.A. For some time, Slot-1 (266 - 433 MHz) and Socket-370 (300A - 533 MHz) variants existed in parallel, in the end, the former was gradually replaced by the latter.
The new Celeron was a step towards Pentium III, but as it worked on the 66 MHz bus, it could not show all the advantages of the integrated high-speed cache. Since the cache was integrated into the core, the number of transistors that make up the processor has significantly increased - 19 million. The technical process remains the same - 0.25 microns.
XEON
For powerful computers, the Xeon family is intended. Pentium II Xeon is the server version of the Pentium II processor, which replaced the Pentium PRO. It was produced on the Deschutes core and differed from the Pentium II in faster (full-speed) and more capacious (there are options with 1 or 2 MB) L2 cache and constructive. Produced in S.E.C.C design for Slot 2. This is also an edge connector, but with 330 pins, VRM voltage regulator, EEPROM memory device. Able to work in multiprocessor configurations. It was released on June 29, 1998.
The L2 cache, like in Pentium PRO, is full speed. Only here it is on the same board with the processor, and not integrated into the core. First level cache - 16 Kb + 16 Kb. The bus frequency is 100 MHz. Supported the MMX instruction set. The processor worked at frequencies of 400 and 450 MHz. Produced using the 0.25 micron technical process. and contained 7.5 million transistors.
This is where the development of the Pentium II line ends. Starting with the Pentium II, Intel has distinguished three main directions in the production of processors: Pentium - a high-performance processor for workstations and home use, Celeron - a budget version of the Pentium for the office or home, Xeon - a server version with increased performance.
Pentium 3 processor
The first processors named Pentium III differed little from Pentium II. They worked on the same bus with a frequency of 100 MHz (later, since September 27, 1999, models operating on a 133 MHz bus appeared), were produced in the S.E.C.C. 2 and were designed for installation in Slot 1
The cache memory remains the same: L1 - 16 Kb + 16 Kb. L2 - 512KB allocated on the processor board and running at half the processor frequency. The main difference is the expansion of the set of SIMD instructions - SSE (Streaming SIMD Extensions). The MMX instruction set has also been expanded and the memory streaming mechanism has been improved. The codename for the Katmai core. Released on February 26, 1999. The processor operated at frequencies of 450-600 MHz and contained 9.5 million transistors. Just like the predecessor - Pentium II Deschutes, it was produced using the 0.25 micron technical process.
Coppermine was the name of the next core of the Pentium 3 processor, which replaced Katmai on October 25, 1999. In fact, it is Coppermine that is a new processor, and not a refinement of Deschutes. The new processor had a full-speed 256KB L2 cache (Advanced Transfer Cache) integrated into the core.
Produced using the 0.18 micron technical process. Thinning the technology from 0.25 to 0.18 microns made it possible to place a larger number of transistors on the core and now there are 28 million of them, against 9.5 million in the old Katmai. However, the bulk of the newly introduced transistors belongs to the integrated L2 cache. L1 cache remained unchanged. Supported MMX and SSE command sets. First produced in S.E.C.C. 2, but since the cache is now built into the processor core, the processor board was unnecessary and only increased the cost of the processor. Therefore, soon processors began to come out in the FC-PGA (Flip-Chip PGA) construct. Like Celeron Mendocino, they worked in Socket 370.
However, there was limited compatibility with older motherboards. Since the processor was now running at higher clock speeds, the core was located on top and had direct contact with the heatsink. Coppermine was the last processor for Slot 1. It operated on 100 and 133 MHz buses (in the processor name, the 133rd bus was denoted by the letter B, for example, Pentium III 750B). Processors with the Coppermine core worked at clock speeds from 533 to 1200 MHz. The first attempts to release a processor on this core with a frequency of 1113 MHz ended in failure, as it worked very unstable in extreme modes, and all processors with this frequency were recalled - this incident greatly tarnished Intel's reputation.
The Tualatin kernel replaced Coppermine on June 21, 2001. At this time, the first Pentium 4 processors were already on the market, and the new processor was intended to test the new 0.13 micron. technology, as well as to fill the niche of high-performance processors, since the performance of the first Pentium 4 was rather low. Tualatin is the original name of Intel's global project to move processor manufacturing to 0.13-micron technology. The processors themselves with the new core were the first products to appear under this project.
There are not many changes in the core itself - only the "Data Prefetch Logic" technology has been added. It improves performance by preloading the data required by the application into the cache. In addition, the difference between these cores lies in the production technology used - Coppermine is manufactured using 0.18 micron technology, and Tualatin - 0.13 micron. The connector for the new processor remained the same - Socket 370, but the construct was changed to FC-PGA 2, which was used in Pentium 4 processors. It differs from the old FC-PGA primarily in that the core is covered with a heat-dissipating plate, which also protects it from damage when installing the radiator.
With the release of the Tualatin, the Pentium III line split into two classes - desktop and server processors. For the former, the L2 cache remained at 256 KB, for the latter, it doubled to 512 KB; also the desktop version of the new P-III (the so-called Desktop Tualatin) lacked SMP support. First level cache - 16 Kb + 16 Kb. It should be said that Desktop Tualatin did not last long: it was supplied only to large PC builders, and was withdrawn from the market in order not to compete with the Pentium 4. But the Pentium III-S, the server version of the processor, was supposed to occupy the niche of powerful server processors. since the performance of the Xeon processors was not enough, and the Pentium 4 did not have SMP support, and indeed showed rather low performance.
As mentioned above, Tualatin processors were produced using the more advanced 0.13 micron. technical process, worked on a bus with a frequency of 133 MHz and consisted of 44 million transistors. Supported instruction sets MMX and SSE. The processor worked at frequencies from 1 GHz to 1.33 GHz (Desktop Tualatin), and from 1.13 GHz to 1.4 GHz (server version).
Quite recently I learned quite interesting information - it turns out that Intel was developing a processor that was supposed to be a continuation of the Pentium line !!! This processor was based on the upgraded Tualatin core using 0.13 micron. technical process. Its main difference from the usual Tualatin was increased to 1024 Kb. L2 cache and 166 MHz system bus! The frequencies had to reach at least 2.0 GHz. But Intel, relying on the Pentium 4 processor, is abandoning the new Tualatin. Even if Celeron Tualatin, overclocked to about 1.7 GHz, easily competes not only with Celeron Willamette, but also with Pentium 4, the new Tualatin equipped with a huge cache and fast bus would not leave them any chance.
Celeron
After the release of Pentium III processors, Intel, in order not to lose positions in the market of budget processors, continued to release the Celeron line. Now these were completely different processors - Intel repeats the experience of creating the first processors called Celeron: it uses the core of the Pentium III processor with the L2 cache cut down to 128 KB and a slow 66 MHz bus.
On March 29, 2000, the first Celeron processors on the Coppermine 128 or Coppermine Lite core appear.
As the name implies, the processor is based on the Coppermine core with half the L2 cache. Just like the older brother - Pentium !!! Coppermine, the new Celeron, has a set of additional SSE instructions, fast built-in cache memory and is manufactured according to the same technological standard (0.18 microns), differing only in the L2 cache size - 128 KB versus 256 KB in Pentium III (the most offensive thing is that the cache is physically present in the processor, it is simply disabled). Works in the same Socket 370.
The first processors appeared with a frequency of 566 MHz and worked on a 66 MHz bus. Later, on January 3, 2001, with the release of the 800 MHz version, Celeron switched to a faster 100 MHz bus. The maximum frequency of these processors was 1100 MHz. First level cache: 32 KB (16 KB for data and 16 KB for instructions). The processor consisted of 28.1 million transistors.
On October 2nd, 2001, Intel migrates the Celeron processor to a new core - Tualatin.
Never before has Celeron been so close to a Pentium processor. It differed from Pentium III Desktop Tualatin only in a slower 100 MHz bus. In general, leaving the L2 cache unchanged and reducing the FSB frequency to 100 MHz for the Tualatin core for desktop use, Intel released a "new Celeron". The processors were produced with clock frequencies from 900 MHz to 1400 MHz, consisted of 44 million transistors, supported MMX, SSE. The technical process is 0.13 microns. Produced in FC-PGA 2 design for Socket 370.
XEON
With the release of the Pentium 3, Intel continues to release server processors based on the new generation of Pentium. On March 17, 1999, the first processor from the Pentium 3 Xeon line was released.
The codename for the Tanner kernel. It was built on the basis of Pentium 3 Katmai. Contains 512, 1024 or 2048 KB full speed L2 cache. First level cache - 16 Kb + 16 Kb. It was produced with frequencies of 500 and 550 MHz using 0.25 microns. technical process, and consisted of 9.5 million transistors. Operated on 100 MHz system bus. It was produced in the S.E.C.C design for Slot 2. It was intended for use in two-, four-, eight-processor (and more) servers and workstations.
With the transition of the Pentium III to a new core on October 25, 1999, a modification of the Xeon processor with the new Cascades core appeared. Basically, it was the modernized core of Coppermine. The processor had from 256 KB to 2048 KB of L2 cache and operated at the system bus frequencies of 100 and 133 MHz (depending on the version). Processors with frequencies from 600 to 900 MHz were produced. Processors with a frequency of 900 MHz from the first batch were overheating and their supply was temporarily suspended. Like its predecessor, the Xeon Cascades was designed to fit into Slot 2. It was produced using 0.18 µm. technical process and consisted of 28.1 million transistors. He could work in two-, four- and eight-processor servers and workstations.
There were no Xeon processors based on the Tualatin core. They were replaced by the Pentium III-S, which I described above. Xeon processors supported the MMX and SSE instruction sets.
Pentium 4
Faced with many problems when trying to increase the frequency of the Pentium III processor with Coppermine core above 1 GHz, Intel engineers realized that the old processor architecture, which has not changed since the days of the Pentium Pro, requires radical changes. And although the transition of production to 0.13 microns will help Pentium III do its job with dignity for about a year, the potential of this architecture has already been practically exhausted and the company has developed a new architecture for its new 32-bit processors, which it calls Intel NetBurst Micro-Architecture. In order for the processors to operate at frequencies of the order of several gigahertz, Intel increases the length of the Pentium 4 pipeline up to 20 steps (Hyper Pipelined Technology), due to which it was possible to achieve the processor operation at a frequency of 2 GHz even at 0.18 micron technological standards. However, due to such an increase in the length of the pipeline, the execution time of one instruction in processor cycles is also greatly increased. Therefore, the company has worked hard on transition prediction algorithms (Advanced Dynamic Execution).
The L1 cache in the processor has undergone significant changes. Unlike the Pentium 3, whose cache could store instructions and data, the Pentium 4 has only 8 KB of data cache. Commands are stored in the so-called Trace Cache. There they are stored already in decoded form, i.e. in the form of a sequence of micro-ops arriving for execution in the execution units of the processor. The capacity of this cache is 12,000 micro-ops.
Also, the new processor has expanded the instruction set - SSE2. In addition to the 70 SSE instructions, 144 new instructions were added. One of the many innovations was a completely new 100 MHz bus that transmits 4 data packets per clock - QPB (Quad Pumped Bus), which gives a resulting frequency of 400 MHz.
The first of the Pentium 4 line was the Willamette 423 processor.
Having appeared on November 20, 2000 with frequencies of 1.4 and 1.5 GHz, these processors, manufactured using the 0.18 micron process technology, have reached a frequency of 2 GHz. The processor was installed in a new Socket 423 socket and was produced in the FC-PGA 2 design. It consisted of 42 million transistors.
The L2 cache remains the same size - 256 KB. The L2 cache bus width is 256 bits, but the cache latency has been halved, which made it possible to achieve a cache bandwidth of 48 GB at 1.5 GHz.
Since the architecture of the new processor was focused primarily on increasing the frequency, it is not surprising that the first Pentium 4 processors show extremely low performance. In most tasks, the 1.4 GHz processor was inferior to the Pentium !!! Coppermine, clocked at 1000 MHz.
Later, on August 27, 2001, Willamette processors appeared, intended for installation in a new socket - Socket 478. The processor repeated all the characteristics of its ancestor, except for the construct - mPGA and Socket 478.
The previous Socket 423 form factor was "transitional" and Intel is not going to support it in the future. The size of the processor has decreased due to the fact that now the conclusions are drawn directly below the processor core. This processor, like its predecessor, worked at frequencies from 1.4 to 2.0 GHz.
Northwood is the name of the next core, on which Pentium 4 processors are still being produced.
Go to 0.13 microns. The technical process allowed to increase the clock frequency even more, and to increase the L2 cache to 512 KB. The number of transistors that make up the processor has also increased - now there are 55 million of them. Naturally, there is still support for the MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction sets.
The first processors based on the Northwood core appeared on August 7, 2001 with a frequency of 2.0 GHz and a system bus frequency of 400 MHz (4 * 100 MHz). Today, Northwood processors operate at frequencies from 1.6 to 3.2 GHz. To avoid confusion with processors operating at the same frequencies, but with a different core, Intel again uses letter marking. For example, Pentium 1.8A, where the letter A indicates a new core and an increased L2 cache.
On May 6, 2002, Intel releases a processor based on the Northwood core with a 533 MHz (4 * 133 MHz) FSB and a 2.26 GHz clock speed. Since the models with a bus frequency of 400 MHz were produced with frequencies up to 2.6 GHz, then letter marking was used here too. Just like in Pentium processors !!! the presence of a 133 MHz bus was indicated by the letter B. For example, Pentium 4 2.4B.
But Intel does not stop there, and on April 14, 2003, it releases a processor based on the same Northwood core, but already with a system bus frequency of 800 MHz (4 * 200 MHz) and a clock frequency of 3.0 GHz. Later, processors with 800 MHz system bus began to be released with lower frequencies - from 2.4 GHz. The letter C appears in the processor marking to indicate the new bus. For example, Pentium 4 2.4C. (Thus, there are three modifications of the 2.4 GHz processor with different bus frequencies, differing by 2 times!)
All 800 MHz FSB processors support the new HT technology, which stands for Hyper-Threading.
Pentium 4 HT
On November 14, 2002, a Pentium 4 processor with a frequency of 3.06 GHz and a system bus frequency of 533 MHz was released with support for the new Hyper-Threading technology.
One physical processor with Hyper-Threading is seen by the system as two, which allows to optimize the utilization of its resources and increase performance. The principle of Hyper-Threading is based on the fact that at any given time, only a portion of the processor's resources are used while executing program code. Unused resources can also be loaded with work - for example, they can be used for parallel execution of another application (or another thread of the same application).
HT is not true multiprocessing, because the number of blocks directly executing commands has not changed. Only the efficiency of their use has increased. Therefore, the better a particular program is optimized for HT, the higher the performance gain will be. According to Intel, the advantage of HT can be up to 30%, while the blocks implementing it occupy less than 5% of the total die area of the Pentium 4. However, even ideally optimized applications can, for example, access data that is not in the cache -processor memory, causing it to idle. If the NetBurst architecture itself was designed to increase the number of megahertz, then Hyper-Threading, on the contrary, is designed to increase the work performed per cycle.
One of the reasons for the rather late introduction of Hyper-Threading in Pentium 4 (support exists not only in the Northwood core, but even in the Willamette, but it was blocked) was the relatively low prevalence of Windows XP - the only Windows operating system that fully supports the new technology. Also, the technology must be supported by the chipset and BIOS of the motherboard.
Hyper-Threading Technology currently supports the Pentium 4 3.06 GHz processor with 533 MHz system bus, as well as all processors with the 800 MHz system bus.
Celeron
After the release of Pentium 4 Willamette for Socket 478, with the aim of ousting Socket 370 processors from the market, and also wishing to occupy the niche of budget processors (where Celeron Tualatin was before), Intel releases Celeron based on the Willamette 128 core.
The Willamette 128 core is architecturally no different from the Pentium 4 Willamette core. The organization of the cache and its algorithms have not changed, the only difference is in the size - 128 KB of L2 cache instead of 256 KB in the original Pentium 4 Willamette.
Naturally, the Socket 478 form factor has also been preserved, which Intel is going to use for a long time. Thus, Intel is transferring its processors to one platform, so that with a subsequent upgrade, you will not need to change the motherboard along with the processor.
On May 15, 2002, the first processor named Celeron, built on the basis of Pentium 4, with a frequency of 1.7 GHz, appears. Later, on June 12, 2002, a 1.8 GHz version appears.
The new Celeron, as before, uses a 100 MHz system bus, though now with 4 signals per clock cycle. The quadruple 100 MHz FSB finally solves the old Celeron problem - lack of FSB bandwidth.
Like the Pentium 4 Willamette, the new Celeron is made using 0.18 microns. technical process. Consists of 42 million transistors. Available in 1.7 and 1.8 GHz frequencies.
The next and last core of the Celeron processor is Northwood (of course, with the L2 cache cut down to 128 KB). The first processor on this core was the Celeron 2.0 GHz, which was released on September 18, 2002. It, like the Celeron Willamette 128, completely repeats the characteristics of the older brother Pentium 4 Northwood, except for the bus designed exclusively for 400 MHz (4 * 100 MHz) and the L2 cache of 128 KB.
Application 0.13 microns. the technical process gives the advantage in the form of good overclocking.
XEON
Intel, May 21, 2001, continuing its course on processor segmentation, announces the next generation Xeon processor, which is based on the Pentium 4 Willamette core. The processor is called in the old way, Intel Xeon, and is available in three versions: 1.4 GHz, 1.5 GHz and 1.7 GHz. The processor core is almost completely identical to the regular (desktop) version of Pentium 4, with the exception of minor details. This means that the new Xeon has everything that is in the Pentium 4 - both the advantages of the new architecture and its disadvantages.
The first Xeon models were produced using 0.18 micron. technical process, with a core that almost completely repeated the Pentium 4 Willamette and bore the codename Foster. The processor was released with clock speeds up to 2.0 GHz. Consisted of 42 million transistors.
The cache memory of the first level, like all processors of the Pentium 4 line, with the NetBurst architecture, 8 KB data cache. L2 cache - 256 KB with improved data transfer (256 KB Advanced Transfer Cache). Just like in the Pentium 4 Willamette, the new Xeon uses a 400 MHz system bus (4 * 100 MHz), which synchronously operates with two memory channels at a frequency of 400 MHz.
Historically, the line of Intel Xeon processors (i.e. Pentium II Xeon, Pentium III Xeon) have always used a different construct from the usual processor versions. While the Pentium II and Pentium III processors came in the 242-pin Slot1 variant, their Xeon versions used the 330-pin Slot-2 connector. Most of the add-on legs were used to supply additional power to the chip. With two megabytes of L2 cache, the Pentium III Xeon consumed more power than its 256 kilobyte counterpart. A similar situation happened with the new Xeon. While the first Pentium 4 Willamette processors used a 423-pin connector, the Xeon uses a 603-pin interface designed for use in the Socket 603 connector. The processor can only operate in single or dual-processor configurations.
On January 9, 2002, Xeon processors appeared, made on the basis of the Northwood core with the use of 0.13 microns. technical process, and equipped with 512 KB cache of the second level. The kernel is codenamed Prestonia. It differs from its predecessor, Xeon Foster, only in increased cache and more perfect technical process. The processors operate at frequencies from 1.8 GHz to 3.0 GHz. Consist of 55 million transistors. For the first time, Hyper-Threading support appeared in processors with the Prestonia core.
March 12, 2002 Xeon MP processor released. Manufactured using 0.18 micron. and is equipped with 256KB L2 cache. The main difference from Xeon Foster processors is the ability to work in multiprocessor systems. Operate at frequencies from 1.4 to 1.6 GHz. Also, these processors support Hyper-Threading technology.
On November 4, 2002, the Xeon MP processors, manufactured using 0.13 microns, appear. technical process. These processors operating at frequencies of 1.5 GHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.0 GHz differ from their fellow Xeon Prestonia, not only in the ability to work in multiprocessor configurations, but also in the presence of an integrated L3 cache of 1 or 2 MB. Thanks to this, the number of transistors that make up the processor has increased to 108 million.
On November 18, 2002, Xeon processors appeared, operating on the 533 MHz (4 * 133 MHz) system bus. These processors are made on the Prestonia core, using 0.13 microns. technical process and consist of 108 million transistors. L2 cache - 512 KB. The third level cache is 1 MB. Xeon processors on the 533 MHz bus are available with clock speeds from 2.0 GHz to 3.06 GHz (released March 10, 2003).
