Low Voltage Intel
®
Xeon
™
Processor at 1.60 GHz, 2.0 GHz and 2.4 GHz
Datasheet 9
1.0 Introduction
The Low Voltage Intel
®
Xeon
™
processor is based on the Intel
®
NetBurst
™
micro-architecture,
which operates at significantly higher clock speeds and delivers performance levels that are
significantly higher than previous generations of IA-32 processors. While based on the Intel
NetBurst micro-architecture, it maintains the tradition of compatibility with IA-32 software.
The Intel
NetBurst micro-architecture features begin with innovative techniques that enhance
processor execution such as Hyper Pipelined Technology, a Rapid Execution Engine, Advanced
Dynamic Execution, enhanced Floating Point and Multimedia unit, and Streaming SIMD
Extensions 2 (SSE2). The Hyper Pipelined Technology doubles the pipeline depth in the processor,
allowing the processor to reach much higher core frequencies. The Rapid Execution Engine allows
the two integer ALUs in the processor to run at twice the core frequency, which allows many
integer instructions to execute in one half of the internal core clock period. The Advanced Dynamic
Execution improves speculative execution and branch prediction internal to the processor. The
floating point and multi-media units have been improved by making the registers 128 bits wide and
adding a separate register for data movement. Finally, SSE2 adds 144 new instructions for
double-precision floating point, SIMD integer, and memory management for improvements in
video/multimedia processing, secure transactions, and visual internet applications.
Also part of the Intel NetBurst micro-architecture, the system bus and caches on the Low Voltage
Intel Xeon processor provide tremendous throughput for embedded applications. The 400/533
MHz system bus provides a high-bandwidth pipeline to the system memory and I/O. It is a quad-
pumped bus running off a 100/133
MHz system bus clock making 3.2/4.3 Gigabytes per second
(3,200/4,300 Megabytes per second) data transfer rates possible. The Execution Trace Cache is a
level 1 cache that stores approximately twelve thousand decoded micro-operations, which removes
the decoder latency from the main execution path and increases performance. The Advanced
Transfer Cache is a 512
KB on-die level 2 cache running at the speed of the processor core
providing increased bandwidth over previous micro-architectures.
In addition to the Intel NetBurst micro-architecture, the Low Voltage Intel Xeon processor includes
a ground breaking new technology called Hyper-Threading technology, which enables
multi-threaded software to execute tasks in parallel within the processor resulting in a more
efficient, simultaneous use of processor resources. Embedded applications may realize increased
performance from Hyper-Threading technology today through software and processor evolution.
The combination of Intel NetBurst micro-architecture and Hyper-Threading technology delivers
outstanding performance, throughput, and headroom for peak software workloads resulting in
faster response times and improved scalability.
The Low Voltage Intel Xeon processor is intended for high performance embedded systems with
up to two processors on a single bus. The processor supports both uni- and dual-processor designs
and includes manageability features.
The Low Voltage Intel Xeon processor is packaged in a 604-pin Flip Chip Micro-Pin Grid Array
(FC-µPGA2) package, and utilizes a surface mount ZIF socket with 604 pins. Mechanical
components used for attaching thermal solutions to the baseboard should have a high degree of
commonality with the thermal solution components enabled for the Low Voltage Intel Xeon
processor. Heatsinks and retention mechanisms have been designed with manufacturability as a
high priority. Hence, mechanical assembly may be completed from the top of the baseboard.
The Low Voltage Intel Xeon processor uses a scalable system bus protocol referred to as the
“system bus” in this document. The processor system bus utilizes a split-transaction, deferred reply
protocol similar to that introduced by the Intel
®
Pentium
®
Pro processor system bus, but is not