Processor Technologies - Compaq 6000 Supplementary Manual

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(cont' d)
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Diagram 4: Multiprocessing Support
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R O C E S S O R
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The Compaq Professional Workstation 6000 uses Intel's Pentium II processor, which incorporate
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Dynamic Execution and the Dual Independent Bus architecture technologies to provide the
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highest performance next generation processors.
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Dynamic Execution
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. . The Pentium II processor design is based on Intel's Dynamic Execution technology that
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combines three advanced processing techniques to increase the performance. The three
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techniques are multiple branch prediction, dataflow analysis and speculative execution.
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Multiple branch prediction means that the processor looks ahead several steps in the software
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and predicts which groups of instructions are likely to be processed next. This increases the
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amount of work delivered to the processor, improving how efficiently the processor is used and
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ultimately, system performance.
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Dataflow analysis analyzes which instructions are dependent on each other's results, or data.
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This technique allows an optimized schedule of instructions to be created so they can be
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processed in the most efficient order.
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Speculative Execution means that the instructions are then carried out based on the schedule
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created by the dataflow analysis. Thus, the entire processor's superscalar processing power is
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kept busy, boosting overall software performance.
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. . This combination of new technology enables the Pentium II processor to deliver the processing
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performance workstation applications requires.
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Dual Independent Bus Architecture
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The Pentium II uses Intel's Dual Independent Bus architecture providing two (dual) independent
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buses versus the single bus architecture of the Pentium processor. The dual buses are the L2-
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cache-to-processor bus and the processor-to-main-memory system bus. This design delivers up to
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three times the bandwidth of a single bus architecture processor because the buses can work
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independently which essentially doubles the throughput. This technology will enable the
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evolution of today's 66MHz system memory bus to the faster 100MHz system memory bus later
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this year.
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E C H N O L O G I E S
Compaq Workstations - Key Technologies
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