Dual-Core Intel
®
Xeon
®
Processor 7000 Series Datasheet 11
1 Introduction
The Dual-Core Intel
®
Xeon
®
processor 7000 series is Intel’s first dual core product for
multi-processor servers, utilizing two physical Intel NetBurst
®
microarchitecture cores in one
package. It maintains the tradition of compatibility with IA-32 software and includes features
found in the Intel
®
Xeon
®
processor such as hyper pipelined technology, a Rapid Execution
Engine, and an Execution Trace Cache. Hyper pipelined technology includes a multi-stage
pipeline, allowing the processor to reach much higher core frequencies. The processor features a
choice of two system bus speeds. The 667 MHz front side bus (FSB) is a quad-pumped bus running
off a 166 MHz system clock making 5.3 GB per second data transfer rates possible. The Execution
Trace Cache is a level 1 (L1) cache that stores decoded micro-operations, which removes the
decoder from the main execution path, thereby increasing performance. In addition, the Dual-Core
Intel Xeon processor 7000 series includes Intel
®
64 architecture, providing additional addressing
capability.
Enhanced thermal and power management capabilities are implemented including Thermal
Monitor and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep
®
Technology. Thermal Monitor provides efficient and
effective cooling in high temperature situations. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology allows
trade-offs to be made between performance and power consumption. This may lower average
power consumption (in conjunction with OS support).
The Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7000 series supports Hyper-Threading Technology
(HT Technology). This feature allows a single, physical processor to function as two logical
processors. While some execution resources such as caches, execution units, and buses are shared,
each logical processor has its own architectural state with its own set of general-purpose registers,
control registers to provide increased system responsiveness in multitasking environments, and
headroom for next generation multi-threaded applications. More information on HT Technology
can be found at http://www.intel.com/technology/hyperthread.
Support for Intel's Execute Disable Bit functionality has been added which can prevent certain
classes of malicious “buffer overflow” attacks when combined with a supporting operating system.
Execute Disable Bit allows the processor to classify areas in memory by where application code
can execute and where it cannot. When a malicious worm attempts to insert code in the buffer, the
processor disables code execution, preventing damage or worm propagation.
Other features within the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture include Advanced Dynamic Execution,
Advanced Transfer Cache, enhanced floating point and multi-media unit, Streaming SIMD
Extensions 2 (SSE2) and Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3). Advanced Dynamic Execution
improves speculative execution and branch prediction internal to the processor. The Advanced
Transfer Cache is a 2 MB or 1 MB per core, on-die, level 2 (L2) cache with increased bandwidth.
The floating point and multi-media units include 128-bit wide registers and a separate register for
data movement. Streaming SIMD2 (SSE2) instructions provide highly efficient double-precision
floating point, SIMD integer, and memory management operations. In addition, (SSE3)
instructions have been added to further extend the capabilities of Intel processor technology. Other
processor enhancements include core frequency improvements and microarchitectural
improvements.
Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7000 series are intended for high performance multi-processor
server systems with support for up to two processors on a 667 MHz FSB. All versions of the
Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 7000 series will include manageability features. Components of
the manageability features include an OEM writable EEPROM and Processor Information ROM