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Westmere (microarchitecture)

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January 7, 2010

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Westmere microarchitecture


Westmere (formerly Nehalem-C) is the name given to the 32 nm die shrink of Nehalem. The first Westmere-based processors were launched on January 7, 2010 by Intel Corporation. Westmere designs included 1st generation Intel Core processors, including Core i3, i5, and i7. The Core i5 and i7 had been available under Nehalem, but this was the first Core i3.

Contents

Technology

Westmere's feature improvements from Nehalem, as reported:

  • Native six-core (Gulftown) and ten-core (Westmere-EX) processors.
  • A new set of instructions that gives over 3x the encryption and decryption rate of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) processes compared to before.
  • Delivers seven new instructions (AES instruction set or AES-NI) that can be used by the AES algorithm. Also an instruction called PCLMULQDQ (see CLMUL instruction set) that will perform carry-less multiplication for use in cryptography and data compression.
  • Integrated graphics, added into the processor package (dual core Arrandale and Clarkdale only).
  • Improved virtualization latency.
  • New virtualization capability: "VMX Unrestricted mode support," which allows 16-bit guests to run (real mode and big real mode).
  • Support for "Huge Pages" of 1 GB in size.

    • Westmere CPUs

  • TDP includes the integrated GPU, if present.
  • Clarkdale processors feature 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes, which can be used in 1x16 or 2x8 configuration.
  • Clarkdale and Arrandale contain the 32 nm dual core processor Hillel and the 45 nm integrated graphics device Ironlake, and support switchable graphics.

    • Roadmap

    The successor to Nehalem and Westmere is Sandy Bridge.

    References

    Westmere (microarchitecture) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA