Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom)
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The Intel 2 Core is the successor of the Intel Core Duo (Yonah) processor. Unlike the Yonah, the Merom was designed specifically with mobile applications in mind. The Merom introduced various architectural additions such as EM64T, SSSE3 and improved the performance by up to 25 percent. The 667 MHz FSB versions are part of the "Napa" platform, while the 800MHz FSB versions are part of the "Santa Rosa" platform. The chip is also part of the hardware from both the Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro brands. Features
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Available Types and ThinkPads featuring them
Standard Voltage
| Nr. | Frequency (MHz) | L2 Cache | FSB (MHz) | VT | core Voltage (V) | TDP (W) | ThinkPad Models | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| max. | min. | high | low | high freq | low freq | |||||
| T7800 | 2600 | 1000 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.30 | ? | 35 | ? | T61p |
| T7700 | 2400 | 1000 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.30 | ? | 35 | ? | R61, T61, T61p |
| T7600 | 2333 | 1000 | 4MB | 667 | yes | 1.30 | 0.95 | 34 | 20 | T60, T60p |
| T7500 | 2200 | 1000 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.30 | ? | 35 | ? | R61, T61, X61 |
| T7400 | 2166 | 1000 | 4MB | 667 | yes | 1.30 | 0.95 | 34 | 20 | T60, Z61t |
| T7300 | 2000 | 1000 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.30 | 0.95 | 35 | ? | R61, T61, X61 |
| T7200 | 2000 | 1000 | 4MB | 667 | yes | 1.30 | 0.95 | 34 | 20 | R60, T60, X60, Z61m, Z61t |
| T7100 | 1800 | 1000 | 2MB | 800 | yes | ? | ? | 35 | ? | R61, T61 |
| T5600 | 1833 | 1000 | 2MB | 667 | yes | 1.30 | 0.95 | 34 | 20 | R60, T60, X60, Z61t |
| T5500 | 1666 | 1000 | 2MB | 667 | no | 1.30 | 0.95 | 34 | 20 | R60, T60, X60, Z61m, Z61t |
Low Voltage
| Nr. | Frequency (MHz) | L2 Cache | FSB (MHz) | VT | core Voltage (V) | TDP (W) | ThinkPad Models | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| max. | min. | high | low | high freq | low freq | |||||
| L7400 | 1500 | 1000 | 4MB | 667 | yes | 1.2 | 0.9 | 17 | ? | X60s, X60 Tablet |
| L7500 | 1600 | 800 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.1 | 0.9 | 17 | ? | X61s, X61 Tablet |
| L7700 | 1800 | 800 | 4MB | 800 | yes | 1.1 | 0.9 | 17 | ? | X61s, X61 Tablet |
Thermal Specifications
The maximum temperature for safe operation is 100°C.
The catastrophic thermal protection temperature is 125°C.
Idle temperature is typically around 30-50°C.
Temperature at full utilisation is around 60-70°C.
These latter two values will of course depend largely on cooling systems and available airflow.
GCC Optimization Flags
In addition to the architecture independent -O[0123s] option hierarchy, architecture dependent optimisations are controlled by the -march=<cpu-type> and -mtune=<cpu-type> options. The <cpu-type> argument (not surprisingly) describes the type of cpu for which to optimise the compiled code. The -mtune option will generate code that is optimised for the given cpu type which will nevertheless run on cpu types other than that specified as an argument. On the other hand, -march will attempt to optimise more aggressively at the expense of reducing portability to other cpu types. Optimisations implied by -mtune are a subset of -march optimisations, and thus it is only necessary to specify -march if the the maximum level of optimisation is desired.
With version of gcc before 4.3, 32-bit code should be compiled with the "prescott" as the cpu-type argument to -march or -mtune whereas 64-bit code should use the "nocona" argument. Gcc 4.3 however introduces "core2" as a valid argument to the -mtune and -march options which should be used. Alternatively, as of gcc 4.2, the "native" argument is supported. This will automatically determine the cpu-type on which compilation is taking place and apply optimisations specific to that cpu.
Intel Compiler Optimization Flags
For the SPEC CPU 2006 benchmarks, Intel used the shorthand -fast, which translates into -O3 -ipo -static -no-prec-div -xP. However, the compiler also provides the flag -xT, which activates the optimization for Core 2 Duo and SSSE3 (instead of SSE3 only with -xP).
Note on Hyper-Threading
Note that as opposed to Pentium 4/NetBurst, current Core 2 do not support hyper-threading, and therefore there is usually no option in the BIOS to activate it. Refer to Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology for a list of hyper-threading capable CPU.
