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Intel Core i7 Processor Intel Core microarchitecture (Penryn) family of processors have delivered unprec edented capabilities to computer

users. Now a new microarchitecture called Nehal em builds on the earlier microarchitecture marvels, improving the processor's sc alability, preformance and energy efficiency. Intel Core i7 processor was the first brand name of many families of desktop and laptop processors to use Nehalem microarchitecture. The Intel Core i7 processor is brilliantly fast with faster, intelligent, multi-core technology that applie s processing power where it's needed most. The Intel Core i7 processor has the f ollowing features: Intel Hyper-Threading technology, What is Hyper-Threading? It s when the processor splits itself into two virtual processors in order to share the workload it s being asked to run. With the i7 you get 4 cores, each one HyperThreaded splits into 2 virtual CPUs. The result is 8-cores of unprecedented comp uter power, making multi tasking even easier and very large business that operat e multiple applications at the same time can take advantage of this feature. Its Intel Turbo Boost Technology is one of the best features that come with the generation of the Intel microarchitecture codename Nehalem. It allows the proces sor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it s operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits. The Intel Turbo Boost Tech nology kicks in when the Operating system requests the highest processor perform ance. Its maximum frequency is dependent on the number of cores that will be act ive. The workload will determine the amount of time the processor spends in the Intel Turbo Boost Technology. The following can set the upper limits if the Inte l Turbo Boost Technology on a given load, number of active cores, estimated curr ent consumption, estimated power consumption and processor temperature. This fea ture makes it easier for people who use applications that require a lot of syste m resources. Other key performance improvement features include Intel Smart Cache Enhancement s this is an addition of a shared L3 cache memory. It is shared across all cores improving performance while reducing traffic, Instructions per Cycle Improvemen ts run more and more instruction per cycle made tasks complete sooner. Intel was able to achieve this by the use of greater parallelism, efficient algorithms, a nd faster synchronization primitives. There more feature that make this Intel Co re i7 processor the best available and why it has certainly changed the technolo gy these days. This chip (Intel Core i7 processor) has the most transistors than all the other previous processors and yet it still is smaller and more power full than them. S ince the release of the Intel Core i7 processor family we have seen business and people upgrade to this processor for its performance. This has also made prices of the less powerful processors to drop. To a greater extend i think the releas e of the Intel Core i7 processors benefited the technology industry. Its vast am ount of processing power and efficiency is playing a big role in the world of co mputing nowadays. Phase 2 Hyper Threading in Tablets If Hyper Treading technology is applied in Tablets it will boost the performance of the devices dramatically. Current and upcoming tablets are generally based a round the same system-on-chip processors found in smartphones. The use of multicore processors in these devices will bring new features that will accelerate th e performance of the device. Threading, or simultaneous multi-threading (SMT), in a computer environment, ref ers to multitasking or multiprocessing of instructions from a single program, th at is, more than one stream of information being processed at the same time. Thi

s can only happen with applications that are designed to operate in this type of environment. Now Hyper-Threading technology will enables a single CPU to act li ke multiple CPU's. Hyper threading is one of the design concepts that will be brought to the table by these processors. This design concept comes with functions that are not in pr evious tablets creating a wider and variety purposes for the device. Features su ch as 3D touchscreen user interfaces will be zippy, the resolution of the device will benefit largely from a faster graphics processor producing HD quality vide os making the devices a favourite for gamers as they will be able carry a potabl e gaming device. Running applications on the device will be like never before this high-scale tra nsaction-oriented computing, financial, engineering and scientific digital media , gaming, and special effects applications can be run on the device. Hyper Threa ding will not offer noticeable performance gains, however, for non-computational ly intensive applications, such as spreadsheets, word processing, or e-mails, wh ich represent the vast majority of applications used by the average consumer. Me aning applications will not see performance gains until the Hyper Threading proc essor is pushed hard and the application in use employs multiple threads. Phase 3 Brand Image Intel s brand image was developed over time through advertising campaigns with a c onsistent theme. Typically, a brand image is designed to be appealing to the pub lic, so that the company can spark an interest among consumers, create share of mind, generate brand equity, and thus facilitate product sales. Intel has achiev ed this not solely by itself as a company but also by other contributors include news media this plays an important role in the presenting of Intel s products thr ough newspapers, magazines broadcast media , and increasingly Internet-based med ia, trade unions, environmental organizations and other non-governmental organiz ation. The Core i7 processor has certainly made a big difference in Intel s image since i ts release with its design playing a very big role towards its success. Design and performance scalability for server, workstation, PC, and mobile deman ds with support for 2-8+ cores and up to 16+ threads with simultaneous multi-thr eading (SMT),makes it suitable for different industries for different purposes. Simultaneous multi-threading brings high-performance applications into mainstrea m computing with 1-16+ threads optimized for new generation multi-core processor architecture. Its Multi-level shared cache improves performance and efficiency by reducing latency to frequently used data. Now this design has certainly attra cted different companies and industries that use microprocessor to use this chip . This design has made the target audience wider due the technological advancement s nowadays. The image takes on an even greater importance because the company's raw material, machinery, designs, inventory and product all rolled into one. The refore even employees (if any) comprise the company's image. Customers don t just like products because it s the latest or it s the most talked about, they look at th e reputation of the company, the image of the company, how reliable it is, the f eatures that makes it worth more than others of the type. It is clear now that I ntel is moving from Computer Company to compute-in-the-company. This means it wi ll continue computing, from hi-end servers all the way down to desktop PCs, note books, netbooks, tablets, smart phones, and all embedded devices.They have a lot of growth in the PC business and the design of this processor will cause the em erging markets to drive that growth. Intel has also seen different producers, ma nufacturers etc approach them with new compelling ideas based on design. Therefo re is design has definitely improved their business to a greater extend.

Sales Revenue Sales revenue is the total amount of money that the firm has earned from the sal e of all its goods and services during a given time period. Intel as one of the world s largest semiconductor maker does not always release its Profit and Revenue forecast. Bloomberg has release some of Intel s forecasts revenue that may exceed estimates on October 13, 2010. Revenue will range from $11 billion to $11.8 bil lion, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said in a statement. That compares wit h the average analyst projection of $11.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On the 13TH October 2009 Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., report ed third-quarter revenue of $9.4 billion, well ahead of the analysts consensus of $9 billion, as compiled by Thomson Reuters. These figures show how the Sales Re venue projection and actual Sale Revenue has increase since last year when the I ntel Core i7 processor family was released. Intel Core microarchitecture (Penryn ) family has many version based on the Nehalem microarchitecture meaning that th ere different products on the market. Intel s recovery has been most robust in fast-growing, developing economies like C hina. With mature economies like United States and Western Europe are showing si gns of real improvement. The personal computer market is one of the markets that are recovering decisively; figures show that consumers are doing most on the bu ying than companies. Most computers nowadays come with pre-installed i7 processo rs, which show how the product is contributing to the company s revenue. Intel, ac cording to some analysts, are having a demand in ordered chips to build machines equipped with Microsoft s new operating system, Windows 7, (including the i7 beca use of its unprecedented capabilities to computer users) from major PC makers. S o the i7 design has ultimately attracted consumers thereby increasing the sales revenue of the business. Social behaviour / attitude of the customers. The Intel Core i7 was a boom to most of the customers since its one of the bigge st changes in the way that a PC works in quite a while. The customer will have g reat influence over the way a product is designed and develops. As a product is designed it is normal for potential customers to be questioned about the type of product or design that they prefer. I this potential customers that could be as ked are game developers, gamers, people who use software that require more proce ssor power etc. The general public have since more powerful and efficient deskto p and laptop computers doorsteps, they can now go and buy them from any PC retai ler with pre-installed i7 processors. This has brought a different kind of compu ting to general users as they are also able to make use of the design features o n the chips. To gamers and other developers this has been exciting for because t hey could use the best graphical setting available and best performance. On the other hand it has its disadvantage to those who want upgrade their system to the new processor because this means new motherboards, new chipsets and new LGA 136 8 processor socket and a host of other new technologies to go with the platform. The cost of the technology is worth its capabilities but not everyone can affor d them. The fashion of the time influences the design of products because people want to buy up to date items not ones based on 'last year s look. Many people (po tential customers) are concerned about their environment and the damage to it ca used by industrial production. Intel used some materials that can be recycled an d manufactured from a certain proportion of recycled material. Therefore this de sign of the i7 has more to provide to its customers. tel has finally lifted the embargo on the yet-to-be-launched Intel Core i7 proce ssors and the Intel X58 Express chipset. Intel strongly believes that this new platform will be the must have work horse for digital media & gaming enthusiasts for many months to come. With so much to talk about this new platform we made t he decision to focus just on processor performance for this article and then tak e a deeper dive at other features in the weeks to come. This should work out ni cely as the processors won't be available to purchase until later this month and many companies are just now getting us production grade triple channel memory k

its and video card drivers for this new platform. The Intel Core i7 Processor (known as Nehalem internally) has some very big arch itecture changes as you can tell from the picture above. The new Core i7 proces sor has 1366 pins and as a result the size of the processor, socket and heat sin k mounting brackets are all larger than LGA 775 based processors that have been out now for a couple of years. The die size of Core i7 processors is 263 mm2 and the transistor count is 731 Million. aking a look at the die of the Core i7 processor we see a first for Intel proces sors -- the integrated memory controller. This on-die, triple channel, DDR3 memo ry controller is unique in the fact that it allows consumers to run three memory modules together for optimal performance. By moving to an integrated memory con troller and triple channel memory the platform has over 25GB/s of throughput bet ween the processor and DDR3 memory modules! For those that follow processor architecture you will notice a brand new cache s tructure on the Core i7 diagram shown above. All Intel Core i7 processors featur e L1, L2, and shared L3 caches. Before, Intel Core 2 Duo and Quad processors had just an L1 and L2 cache. The break down on the cache is as follows: there is a 64K L1 cache (32K Instruction, 32K Data) per core, 1MB of total L2 cache, and an impressive 8MB chunk of L3 cache that is shared across all the cores. That mean s that all Intel Core i7 processors have over 9MB of memory right there on the 4 5nm processor! Can it get any better than this? Of course it can! The new Core i7 processor has a huge list of improvements that have been made to it. New SSE4.2 Instructions Improved Lock Support Additional Caching Hierarchy Deeper Buffers Improved Loop Streaming Simultaneous Multi-Threading Faster Virtualization Better Branch Prediction Intel always told us that Hyper-Threading was not dead and they were right as th e technology has surfaced again and is enabled on all of the Core i7 processors. With Hyper-Threading enabled on quad-core Core i7's processors the operating sy stem sees eight virtual cores that can be used. Intel has told Legit Reviews tha t when Hyper-Threading originally came out the idea was solid, but that the Pent ium 4 processor might not have been the best processor to bring it to market. T he Core i7 series should highlight all the strong points of Hyper-Threading as t hey are calling it Hyper-Threading "done right" now. If you want a deeper look at the Intel Core i7 architecture take a look at this presentation that was give n at the Spring 2008 IDF and this one that was given at the Fall IDF. Intel will be releasing three Core i7 processors and all have a TDP of 130W and an on-die shared L3 cache of 8MB. All current Core i7 processors are not intende d for multi-processor motherboards, so it has only one Quick Path Interconnect ( QPI). Core i7 s QuickPath Core i7 erconnect Core i7 erconnect 965 Extreme Edition - 3.2GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x6.4GT/ interconnect - $999 940 - 2.93GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x4.8GT/s QuickPath int $562 920 - 2.66GHz with 8MB Shared L3 cache and a 1x4.8GT/s QuickPath int $284

Now that we know what the general processor improvements are let's take a closer

look at the chipset changes. We've come to know Intel as a conservative company, generally unwilling to take precarious risks on unproven technology. Yet, just last month, Intel unveiled i ts first true flagship platform since the i850E, complete with an 800MHz front s ide bus and two channels of 64-bit DDR400 memory. We certainly can understand t he importance of an 800MHz front side bus. Not only does the faster bus establi sh a performance advantage over AMD's best effort (which incidentally also recen tly saw an increase in front side bus speed), but it also lays the foundation fo r the upcoming 'Prescott' core that will also launch on an 800MHz bus. Similarl y, the rationale behind DDR400 is also clear. In order to avoid incurring the p erformance penalty associated with clock synchronization, Intel needed the memor y bus to run at a derivative of the system bus. NVIDIA encountered the same iss ue with its nForce2 platform, which is why we saw Athlon XP processors running f aster with synchronous memory, even though NVIDIA boasted DDR400 capabilities. As Intel's luck would have it, DDR400 memory is more available now than when nFo rce2 launched. But why does DDR400 still sound so risqu? Well, we haven't found memory modules from any two manufacturers that behave in exactly the same way. Although we'd expect the D865GBF to run properly with aggressively tuned memory settings, the board has to be manually de-tuned a bit to operate properly. Even still, Intel looks to have built a platform worthy of succeeding the RDRAM-equi pped i850E. Keep in mind that the 865G board on the bench today represents one chipset from a family of three other "mainstream" platforms. The "G" denotes that the silico n includes an integrated graphics controller. Its brother, 865P, is the entry-le vel solution with 400/533MHz front side bus support and DDR266/333 memory suppor t. Finally, the 865PE features a 533/800MHz FSB and the same dual-channel DDR40 0 memory bus as the 865G we're looking at today. Qualcomm renames existing ARM-based Snapdragon mobile application processors and provides future roadmap Posted on August 3, 2011 Several articles on the Web today are discussing some new name changes to the Qu alcomm line of Snapdragon mobile application processors to clarify the differenc es in the choices and to show a bit of the family s future roadmap. Qualcomm now g roups the Snapdragon line into four classes, with each class having different CP U cores, different clock rates, and different sets of peripheral subsystems. The first three classes (s1 through s3) are in production. Members of the s4 class, manufactured in a 28nm process, are said to be sampling now. Each class contain s several members of the Snapdragon family. The following chart shows how Qualcomm is now classifying its Snapdragon applica tion processors. Most of the members of the s1, s2, and s3 classes incorporate one or more CPUs b ased on Qualcomm s proprietary microarchitectural implementation of the ARM v7 ins truction set. The resulting Qualcomm-specific processor core named Scorpion is said to resemble the ARM Cortex-A8 processor core. (Note: the four MSM7xxx members of the s1 class appear to be based on an ARM 1136ES-J CPU core that implements the ARM v6 instruction set and run at clock rates to 1GHz. See http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/MSM7000.) Members of the Qualcomm Snapdragon s1 class are manufactured with a 65nm process technology and are designed for less demanding applications. These mobile appli cation processors have one CPU core operating at clock rates of several hundred MHz to 1GHz, may have an Adreno 200 GPU, and support stereo sound and 3G wireles s telephony. The Adreno 200 GPU is based on the Imageon GPU technology Qualcomm obtained from AMD in 2008. Members of the Qualcomm Snapdragon s2 class are manufactured with a 45nm process

technology and therefore deliver more performance. They each have one 1.4GHz Sc orpion CPU and a more powerful Adreno 205 GPU. In addition, they include a video display subsystem capable of decoding 720p HDTV streams and a Dolby 5.1 audio d ecoder. Each click of the manufacturing dial allows Qualcomm to add more and mor e powerful IP subsystems to the Snapdragon mix. Members of the Qualcomm Snapdragon s3 class are also manufactured with a 45nm pr ocess technology but are taken from the right side of the process curve so that their dual Scorpion CPUs run at 1.5GHz and the HD video decoder can handle 1080p video. There s also an even more capable GPU. Qualcomm is reportedly sampling single-core members of its next-generation Snapd ragon s4 parts that are/will be even more capable than preceding members. Member s of the Snapdragon s4 class incorporate one or more copies of a next-generation version of the Scorpion processor called Krait. All of these mobile application processors are terrific examples of SoCs designe d with the concepts of System Realization and SoC Realization well in mind. Qual comm s Snapdragon series is based on the company s implementation of the ARM v7 inst ruction set using an IP processor core named Scorpion that Qualcomm developed or with the next-generation version, Krait. The GPUs for these parts are based on IP that Qualcomm acquired from AMD, which got the IP when it acquired ATI in 200 6. You can be sure that there are other standard IP blocks shared across these p arts as well. Applications processors like the Snapdragon family are the 21st-century equivale nt of microcontrollers. They lack the inclusive memory aspect of early microcont rollers because the tasks and large operating systems being assigned to the 32-b it CPU cores need more bulk memory (DRAM and NAND Flash) than earlier embedded d esigns that used 4-, 8-, and 16-bit microcontrollers. The I/O peripherals have a lso gotten much larger and more complex. We re not driving simple LEDs or vacuum-f luorescent 1- and 2-line alpha displays any more. We re driving large graphical LC Ds and electronic ink displays with integrated touch screens instead. Similarly, simple parallel ports and UARTs have given way to USB and Ethernet ports and th eir significant software driver stacks and middleware. Nevertheless, these appli cations processors fill the same sorts of niches as microcontrollers of the past , but for more ambitious embedded end products. Note: This blog entry is based on several Web resources including the following articles: Qualcomm renames SoCs, quad-core on track by Rick Merritt at EETimes.com Qualcomm renames Snapdragon, gears up for quad-core showdown with NVIDIA by Andr ew Kameka at Androica.com Qualcomm s Updated Brand: Introducing Snapdragon S1, S2, S3 & S4 Processors by Ana nd Lal Shimpi at Anandtech.com Tip of the hat to Denny George for additional info on low-end s1 devices.

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