Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Advanced digital media boost
—Improves performance when executing Streaming
SIMD Extension (SSE) instructions by enabling 128-bit instructions to be executed at
a throughput rate of one per clock cycle. This effectively doubles the speed of execu-
tion for these instructions compared to previous generations.
The Core 2 family includes both dual-core and quad-core processors under four different
names:
•
Core 2 Duo
—Standard dual-core processors
•
Celeron
—Low-end single or dual-core processors
•
Core 2 Quad
—Standard quad-core processors
•
Core 2 Extreme
—High-end versions of either dual-core or quad-core processors
Figure 3.31
shows a cutaway view of a Core 2 Duo chip, revealing the single dual-core
die underneath the heat spreader.
Figure 3.31
Core 2 Duo cutaway view.
All Core 2 family processors support 64-bit extensions, as well as SSSE3 (Supplemental
SSE3),whichadds32newSIMDinstructionstoSSE3.TheseprocessorsalsosupportEn-
hanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST), and most provide support for hardware Virtu-
alization Technology.
Tables 3.17
and
3.18
detail the various processors in the Core 2 family.
