Unit 5 - Pentium microprocessors

● Introduction To Pentium Microprocessors

● The Memory system
● Cache Memory
● Primary Memory
● Secondary Memory
● Pentium Registers
● Pentium Memory Management
● Pentium Pro Microprocessor
● Pentium Pro Architecture
● The Pentium 4
● Intel Core 2
● Intel Core i3/i5/i7
Introduction To Pentium Microprocessors
● The architectural representation of the Pentium processor is considered to be an
advancement of 80386 and 80486 microprocessors.
● Basically, Pentium has included modifications related to cache structure, the width of
the data bus, numeric coprocessor with faster speed along with providing dual integer
processor.
● In the case of a Pentium processor, there are two caches, one for caching data while
another for caching information and each one is of 8K size.
● By using a dual integer processor, two instructions can be executed in each clock cycle.
The data bus width in Pentium is 64-bit which was 32-bit in 80386 and the numeric
coprocessor exhibits quite a faster speed than that of 80486.
The Memory system
● A memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instructions. Computer
memory is the storage space in the computer, where data is to be processed and
instructions required for processing are stored.
● Memory is primarily of three types −
○ Cache Memory
○ Primary Memory/Main Memory
○ Secondary Memory
Cache Memory
● Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up the
CPU.
● It acts as a buffer between the CPU and the main memory.
● The parts of data and programs are transferred from the disk to cache memory by the
operating system, from where the CPU can access them.
Characteristics
● Cache memory is faster than main memory.
● It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.
● It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.
● It stores data for temporary use.
● Cache memory has limited capacity.
● It is very expensive.
Primary Memory
● Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which the computer is currently
working. It has a limited capacity and data is lost when power is switched off. The data and
instruction required to be processed resides in the main memory. It is divided into two
subcategories RAM and ROM.
● These are semiconductor memories.
● It is known as the main memory.
● Usually volatile memory.
● Data is lost in case power is switched off.
● It is the working memory of the computer.
● Faster than secondary memories.
● A computer cannot run without the primary memory.
Secondary Memory
● This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. It is slower than the main memory.
● These are used for storing data/information permanently. CPU directly does not access these memories,
instead they are accessed via input-output routines.
● The contents of secondary memories are first transferred to the main memory, and then the CPU can
access it. For example, disk, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.
● It is known as the backup memory.
● It is a non-volatile memory.
● Data is permanently stored even if power is switched off.
● It is used for storage of data in a computer.
● Computer may run without the secondary memory.
● Slower than primary memories.
Pentium Registers
● A processor register is a quickly accessible location available to a computer's processor. Registers usually consist
of a small amount of fast storage, although some registers have specific hardware functions, and may be read-only
or write-only. In computer architecture, registers are typically addressed by mechanisms other than main memory,
but may in some cases be assigned a memory address
● Almost all computers, whether load/store architecture or not, load data from a larger memory into registers where it
is used for arithmetic operations and is manipulated or tested by machine instructions. Manipulated data is then
often stored back to main memory, either by the same instruction or by a subsequent one. Modern processors use
either static or dynamic RAM as main memory, with the latter usually accessed via one or more cache levels.
● Processor registers are normally at the top of the memory hierarchy, and provide the fastest way to access data.
The term normally refers only to the group of registers that are directly encoded as part of an instruction, as defined
by the instruction set.
● However, modern high-performance CPUs often have duplicates of these "architectural registers" in order to
improve performance via register renaming, allowing parallel and speculative execution.
Pentium Memory Management
● The memory system for Pentium microprocessor is 4G bytes in size just as in 80386DX
and 80486 microprocessors. Pentium uses a 64-bit data bus to address memory
organized in eight banks that each contains 512M bytes of data.
● Most microprocessors including Pentium also supports virtual memory concept with the
help of memory management unit. Virtual memory is used to manage the resource of
physical memory.
● It gives an application the illusion of a very large amount of memory, typically much larger
than what is actually available. It supports the execution of processes partially resident in
memory. Only the most recently used portions of a process’s address space actually
occupy physical memory-the rest of the address space is stored on disk until needed.
● The Intel Pentium microprocessor supports both segmentation and segmentation with
paging.
Pentium Memory Management.... cont’d
● Another important feature supported by Pentium processors is the memory protection.
● This mechanism helps in limiting access to certain segments or pages based on privilege levels
and thus protect critical data if kept in a privilege level with highest priority from different attacks.
● Intel’s Pentium processor also supports cache, translation look aside buffers, (TLBs), and a store
buffer for temporary on-chip (and external) storage of instructions and data.
● Another major issue resolved by MMU is the fragmentation of memory. Sometimes, the size of
largest contiguous free memory is much smaller than the total available memory because of the
fragmentation issue.
● With virtual memory, a contiguous range of virtual addresses can be mapped to several non-
contiguous blocks of physical memory.
Pentium Pro Microprocessor
●The Pentium Pro microprocessor belongs to the CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computers)
machines. Processor of Pentium Pro family are mostly present in majority of personal computers.
The term ‘Pentium processor’ refers to an Intel x86 family of microprocessors that share a common
architecture and instruction set.
●Features of Pentium Pro Architecture:
○64 bit data bus
○8 bytes of data information can be transferred to and from memory in a single bus cycle
○Supports burst read and burst write back cycles
○Supports pipelining
○Instruction cache
Pentium Pro Architecture
1. Memory: Pentium Pro microprocessor have 8-bit byte memory. Two consecutive bytes form a
word, four consecutive bytes form a double word. All the address in the memory are of byte
formats. Programmers usually view Pentium Pro (x86) memory as a collection of segments.

2. Register: There are 8 general-purpose registers present in the Pentium Pro architecture. Each
register is 32-bit long. First four register are used for data manipulation and next four register are
used to hold address. There are some special-purpose registers in the x86 architecture such as
Segment register, FLAGS register and EIP register.

3. Data Formats:
a. Integers are stored as 8-, 16-, 32-bit Binary numbers.
b. Characters are represented using 8-bit ASCII codes.
c. Floating points are represented using three different formats namely single-precision format,
double-precision format, extended-precision format.
Pentium Pro Architecture.. cont’d
4. Instruction Formats:
All the Pentium Pro instruction uses basic format.
The basic format for Pentium Pro Instructions is:

● Prefix: A Prefix specifies the operation of an instruction.

● Suffix: A Suffix specifies the data type of the operands.
● Modifier: A modifier specifies the number of operand involved.

The Opcode is the only element that is present in every instruction. Other elements may or may not present or may
be of different lengths depending on the operations of instructions.
Pentium Pro Architecture.. cont’d
5. Addressing Modes:
Pentium Pro Architecture have a very large number of Addressing modes. Operands
value is specified either by using Immediate mode or by using register mode. Operands
stored in memory are specified using variation of the Target address (TA) calculation:
TA = (base register) + (index register) * (scale factor) + displacement
Base register: Any general-purpose register may be used as a base register.
Index register: Any general-purpose register except ESP can be used as an index
register.
Scale Factor: Scale factor may have values 1, 2, 4 or 8.
Displacement: Displacement may have 8-, 18-, or 32-bit values.
Pentium Pro Architecture.. cont’d
6. Instruction Set:

Pentium Pro Architecture has a large and complex instruction set having more than 400 different machine
instructions. An instruction may have zero, one, two, or three operands. There are Register-to-Register
instructions, Register-to-Memory instructions and Memory-to-Memory instructions. In Pentium Pro
Architecture there are some special-purpose registers to perform operations required in the high-level
programming languages.

7. Input and Output:

Input instruction transfer one byte, word or doubleword at a time from an I/O port into register EAX.
Output instruction transfer one byte, word or doubleword from EAX to an I/O port. Entire string can be
transferred using single operation.
The Pentium 4

●Pentium is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-

level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from
November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. The production of Netburst
processors was active from 2000 until May 21, 2010.

●All Pentium 4 CPUs are based on the NetBurst microarchitecture. The Pentium
4 Willamette (180 nm) introduced SSE2, while the Prescott (90 nm) introduced
SSE3. Later versions introduced Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT).
The Pentium 4.. cont’d
● The first Pentium 4-branded processor to implement 64-bit was the Prescott (90 nm)
(February 2004), but this feature was not enabled. Intel subsequently began selling 64-bit
Pentium 4s using the "E0" revision of the Prescotts, being sold on the OEM market as the
Pentium 4, model F. The E0 revision also adds eXecute Disable (XD) (Intel's name for the
NX bit) to Intel 64. Intel's official launch of Intel 64 (under the name EM64T at that time) in
mainstream desktop processors was the N0 stepping Prescott-2M.

● Intel also marketed a version of their low-end Celeron processors based on the NetBurst
microarchitecture (often referred to as Celeron 4), and a high-end derivative, Xeon, intended
for multi-socket servers and workstations. In 2005, the Pentium 4 was complemented by the
dual-core-brands Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition.
Intel Core 2

● Intel Core 2 is the processor family encompassing a range of Intel's consumer 64-bit x86-64
single-, dual-, and quad-core microprocessors based on the Core microarchitecture.
● The single- and dual-core models are single-die, whereas the quad-core models comprise two dies,
each containing two cores, packaged in a multi-chip module.
● The Core 2 range was the last flagship range of Intel desktop processors to use a front-side bus.
● The introduction of Core 2 relegated the Pentium brand to the mid-range market, and reunified
laptop and desktop CPU lines for marketing purposes under the same product name, which were
formerly divided into the Pentium 4, Pentium D, and Pentium M brands.
Intel Core 2… cont’d

● The Core 2 processor line was introduced on July 27, 2006, comprising the Duo (dual-core) and
Extreme (dual- or quad-core CPUs for enthusiasts), and in 2007, the Quad (quad-core) and Solo
(single-core) sub-brands.
● Intel Core 2 processors with vPro technology (designed for businesses) include the dual-core
and quad-core branches.
● Although Woodcrest processors are also based on the Core architecture, they are available
under the Xeon brand.
● From December 2006, all Core 2 Duo processors were manufactured from 300 millimeter plates
at Fab 12 factory in Arizona and at Fab 24-2 in County Kildare, Ireland.
Intel Pentium vs Intel Core

Despite being based on an older architecture, the Core 2 Duos are still far ahead of the
Pentiums in terms of performance due to having two cores and being optimized to take
advantage of those two cores. Summary:

● Pentium is a line of microprocessors that followed the 486 line while Core 2 is the
successor to the Core line.
● Pentiums are either single core or dual core while Core 2 Duo are dual core processors
● Core 2 Duos have a lower clock speed than the fastest Pentiums
● Core 2 Duos and Pentiums do not share the same architecture
● Core 2 Duos provide significant performance advantage over Pentiums
Intel Core i3

● Developed and manufactured by Intel, and first introduced and released in 2010, the
Core i3 is a dual-core computer processor, available for use in both desktop and
laptop computers. It is one of three types of processors in the "i" series (also called
the Intel Core family of processors).
● The Core i3 processor is available in multiple speeds, ranging from 1.30 GHz up to
3.50 GHz, and features either 3 MB or 4 MB of cache. It utilizes either the LGA 1150
or LGA 1155 socket on a motherboard.
● Core i3 processors are most often found as dual-core, having two cores. However, a
select few high-end Core i3 processors are quad-core, featuring four cores.
Intel Core i3.. cont’d

● The most common type of RAM used with a Core i3 processor is DDR3 1333 or DDR3
1600.
● Power usage varies for the Core i3 processors:
● Slower speeds (1.30 GHz to 1.80 GHz) use 11.5 W, 15 W or 25 W of power
● Medium speeds (2.00 GHz to 2.50 GHz) use 28 W, 35 W or 37 W of power
● Faster speeds (2.90 GHz to 3.50 GHz) use 35 W, 37 W or 54 W of power
● Core i3 processors are often used in laptop computers, due to their lower heat generation
and conservative battery usage. Some laptops can be used for up to five or six hours on a
single battery charge when running a Core i3 processor.
Intel Core i5

● Developed and manufactured by Intel, the Core i5 is a computer processor, available as dual-
core or quad-core. It can be used in both desktop and laptop computers, and is one of four types
of processors in the "i" (Intel Core family) series. The first i5 processor was released in
September 2009 and new generations of the i5 continue to be released (2020).
● The Core i5 processor is available in multiple speeds, ranging from 1.90 GHz up to 3.80 GHz, and it
features 3 MB, 4 MB or 6 MB of cache. It utilizes either the LGA 1150 or LGA 1155 socket on a
motherboard.
● Core i5 processors are most often found as quad-core, having four cores. However, a select few high-
end Core i5 processors feature six cores.
Intel Core i5.. Cont’d

● The most common type of RAM used with a Core i5 processor is DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600.
However, higher performance RAM can be used as well if it's supported by the motherboard.
● Power usage varies for the Core i5 processors:
● Slower speeds (1.90 GHz to 2.30 GHz) use 11.5 W of power
● Medium speeds (2.60 GHz to 3.10 GHz) use 15 W, 25 W, 28 W or 37 W of power
● Faster speeds (3.20 GHz to 3.80 GHz) use 35 W, 37 W, 45 W, 47 W, 65 W or 84 W of power
● Core i5 processors are commonly found in desktop computers for most everyday use and some
higher performance needs.
Intel Core i7

● Intel Core i7 is a line of Intel CPUs which span eight generations of Intel chipsets. They feature
either four or six cores, with stock frequencies between 2.6 and 3.7 GHz.
● The first i7 processors were released in November 2008 and new generations of the i7 continue to
be released (2020).
● Variations of the i7 processor are manufactured for a variety of personal computing devices. Some
high-performance i7 processors for desktop computers, such as the i7-8700K, are unlocked for
overclocking.
● High-efficiency i7 processors (which conserve energy as much as possible, at the expense of some
performance) are manufactured for desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices.
Intel Core i7.. Cont’d

● The i7 processor is marketed primarily to gaming enthusiasts, and digital artists such as filmmakers
and animators.
● In June 2018, Intel announced a limited edition i7 processor, the i7-8086K, to commemorate the
40th anniversary of the 8086 CPU.
● Only 8086 of these processors were produced. It is the first Intel processor to reach speeds of 5
GHz without overclocking (using Intel Turbo Boost technology).