Pentium 4 Gets 64-bit And Another Core

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In 2005, Intel improved its Pentium 4 twice. First, with the Prescott-2M, and then with Smithfield. The former was a 64-bit processor, based on the Prescott design, and the latter was a dual-core processor. They are fairly similar and have the same problems as other Pentium 4s: low instructions per cycle (IPC) throughput and difficulty in increasing the clock frequency due to current losses. These two processors, intended to limit losses while awaiting the Core 2 Duo, are not among Intel’s most highly regarded. And while the Pentium D (the commercial name of the Smithfield) does have two cores, in reality it’s an assembly of two Prescott dies in the same package.

Intel Pentium 4
Code name Prescott-2M Smithfield
Date released 2005 2005
Architecture 64 bits 64 bits
Data bus 64 bits 64 bits
Address bus 64 (actual 36) bits 64 (actual 36) bits
Maximum memory 64 GB 64 GB
L1 cache 16 KB + 12 Kµops 2 x 16 KB + 12 Kµops
L2 cache 2,048 KB 2 x 1,024 KB
Clock frequency 3–3.6 GHz 2.8–3.2 GHz
FSB 800 MHz 800 MHz
SIMD MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
SMT/SMP Hyper-Threading dual cores (Hyper-Threading on certain models)
Fabrication process 90 nm 90 nm
Number of transistors 169 million 230 million
TDP 84-115 W 95-130 W
Voltage 1.2 V 1.2 V
Die surface area 135 mm² 206 mm²
Connector LGA775 LGA775

An interesting point is that whereas the Pentium 4 processors intended for the consumer market did not use the PAE technology (which enables 36-bit, as opposed to 32-bit memory management) and were therefore limited to 4 GB of RAM, these models can go beyond that limit. In practice, the address bus is still limited to 36 bits (40 bits on the Xeon), but PAE (management in 4 GB pages) is now ancient history—a 64-bit program is capable of making full use of the available memory.

Hyper-Threading, an Intel SMT technology, was available on certain models (Xeon and Extreme Edition). Finally, a 65 nm version (the 9x0 series) of the Pentium 4 was released later, but made no major improvements.


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Talkback
harwooda 04/08/2008 10:15
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harwooda

Wasn’t one of the key features of the Pentium Pro line of processors the increase in IRQs to 256 rather than the 16 of the previous generations?

In the days of virtual IRQs assigned by windows it's easy to forget the headache of trying to install multiple interface cards without running out of resources.

blind_arrow 05/08/2008 04:27
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blind_arrow

am I mistaken? or the Maximum memory figures are wrong? 4096MB or is it KB on 386, 486 and Pentium MMX class CPU's. and 64MB on P-II and so on.

JDocs 05/08/2008 09:39
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JDocs

Modern Intel CPU: P1-> P3 -> P4M -> C2D -> C2Q
Modern AMD CPU: P1(Intel) -> P3(Intel) -> K8 -> K10
Next gen CPU: Modified P1

The Pentium 1 & 3 are possibly the most widely base processor in modern computing. Even AMD's chips are based on them.

Anonymous 06/08/2008 01:22
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Hmm....
Interesting...AMD chips based on P3... EHEHEHEHHEHEHE

I think you need a...khhmmm...LIFE

:D

cheers

Wikkus 14/08/2008 12:57
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Wikkus

Nice article that made me a little bit misty-eyed and nostalgic (being of the original 8086 generation) :D

Did a bit of a clear-out of my parts boxes not so long ago and found a couple of PPro's, a 486DX2/66, a 386SX and a 386DX. Threw them out but perhaps should have built a little shrine? ;p

Cheers.

evolucion888 19/08/2008 04:44
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evolucion888

There are some errors in the article, Pentium M Dothan had a 2.26GHz model which is not mentioned there, they had a VCore of 1.356V and a TDP of 27W, not 36W like stated here, also it's die size is 88mm2, not 87mm2, it also came as a socket 478 which was incompatible with the Pentium 4 socket 478 due to it's electrical differences.

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



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