5. INTEL® QUICKPATH ARCHITECTURE
• Earlier, when a Memory Action is performed; control signals followed the
following path:
Memory Controllers Processor Memory Controllers Main Memory
• Small Architectural change which realized significant increase in Memory
Accessing Time, i.e.
Memory Controller + Processor
Intel® QuickPath Architecture features an Integrated Memory Controller and
High-Speed Interconnect Bus linking processors and other components to
deliver:
Dynamically scalable interconnect bandwidth
Outstanding memory performance and flexibility
Tightly integrated interconnect reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS)
Optimal balance of price, performance, and energy efficiency.
7. 8MB INTEL® SMART CACHE TECHNOLOGY
(3-LEVEL CACHE HIERARCHY)
• Shared L2 cache is not suited to a native quad-core architecture as
different cores can too frequently flush data needed by another core.
• Therefore in this NEHALAM architecture, each core is provided with a
Level 2 cache of its own. Since it’s dedicated to a single core and
relatively small (256 KB), enabled it to endow with very high
performance; latency.
• Then comes the enormous 8MB L3 cache for managing
communications between cores.
• ADVANTAGE OF CACHE HIERARCHY:
If a core tries to access a data item and it’s not present in the Level 3
cache, there’s no need to look in the other cores’ private caches—the
data item won’t be there either.
• DISADVANTAGE OF CACHE HIERARCHY:
Wasting part of the cache memory with data that is already in other
cache levels.
10. INTEL® HT TECHNOLOGY (HYPER
THREADING TECHNOLOGY)
• In Hyper-Threading Technology the computer has one physical
processor , but OS will see two logical processors and treat the
system as if there were actually two processors.
• Improves the performance under multi-tasking environments.
• Intel HT Technology provides hardware multi-threading
capability with a single physical package by using shared
execution resources in a processor core.
• Architecturally, a processor that supports Intel HT Technology
consists of two or more logical processors, each of which has
its own architectural state.
• Each logical processor consists of a full set of data registers,
segment registers, control registers, debug registers, and most
of the MSRs. Each also has its own Advanced Programmable
Interrupt Controller
11. Fig-5: Comparison of a Processor Supporting
Hyper-Threading Technology and a Traditional
Dual Processor System
13. Fig-7: Diagram Showing Resource Allocation
and Throughput in case of with and without HT
Technology
14. INTEL® TURBO BOOST TECHNOLOGY
• Activated when OS demands highest performance from the
processor by scaling the operating frequency of the processor
if it's operating below power, current, and temperature
specification limits.
• It’s design concept in referred to as Dynamic Clocking.
• When just one or two cores are being actively used; whatever
power the other two or three cores would have been
consumed is redirected to the active cores.
• Turbo Boost can increase the frequency of all four cores until
they're running as fast as they can for the current workload.
• The upper limit of Intel Turbo Boost Technology on a given
workload is set by:
(i) Number of active cores (ii) Estimated current consumption
(iii) Estimated power consumption (iv)Processor temperature
17. CONCLUSION
Today's processor are expected to provide
higher performance. That’s what is exactly
provided by the INTEL® i7 processors. Being
the first of its kind, the INTEL® i7 processor
has continuously got good rating from all kind
of users. All the new technologies
implemented in INTEL® i7 processors will
surely lead to a great computing experience.
