[geeks] p4 processor spec q

[Nate]

On Dec 15, 2009, at 7:56 PM, Nate wrote:

> On Dec 15, 2009, at 6:37 PM, Sandwich Maker wrote:
>
>> what does the 'e' mean on certain p4 processors?  eg. 3.2e/800.
>> poking through processorfinder doesn't show them having anything other
>> chips don't have, and a little time spent hunting p4 prescott docs at
>> intel turned up blanks too.
>
> When Intel introduced the Prescott based P4s, it was a fairly significant
> change to the P4 architecture (much longer pipeline, several other
changes).
> To distinguish it the older "Northwood" cores which Intel was still selling
at
> the same time, they added an "E" to the product name of the Prescott cores.
> At the same clock speed, Northwood is faster than Prescott, but Prescott
was
> eventually released in higher frequencies, and in dual-core configurations
> while Northwood was always single-core and retired sooner.

I forgot to mention the Prescott A and Northwood C, actually... so there were
four different P4 models at 2.8Ghz:

1) 2.8 - Northwood core with a 533MHz front-side bus
2) 2.8C - Northwood core with an 800MHz front-side bus
3) 2.8A - Prescott core with a 533MHz front-side bus
4) 2.8E - Prescott core with an 800MHz front-side bus