Talk:List of Intel CPU microarchitectures
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[edit] Isn't Westmere just a shrink?
I thought Westmere was only a 32nm shrink of Nehalem, in the same way that Penryn is a 45nm shrink of Merom/Conroe/Woodcrest. If that is the case, then surely it's not a proper CPU microarchitecture?
--Masud 15:17, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
- I made them seperate entries because although Penryn is a 45nm shrink of Merom/Conroe/Woodcrest, there are several changes made. There is more cache, improved power management, faster divisor, etc. Westmere will probably be similar in changes, so I listed it as a sperate uarch. If you don't like how I have it, maybe we could indent those two lines to show that they are improved versions of Core and Nehalem. Imperator3733 19:23, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
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- I have two issues.
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- Firstly, assuming we keep Westmere on the list, Penryn should also feature on the list. This is because they are both shrinks.
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- Secondly, Intel's "tick-tock" strategy is about introducing a new μarch every two years, and moving to the next manufacturing process in between new architectures. Nehalem is very different from Core, with the QuickPath (formerly called CSI) technology, and interchangeable cores to feature on the same piece of silicon, and more, as I'm sure you know. Compare the difference between Nehalem and Core μarchs, and the difference between Penryn and Core. I can only assume that Westmere will feature incremental improvements to Nehalem in the same way that Penryn features incremental improvements to Core.
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- My recommendation would be to keep Westmere on this page, indent it as you described, but not call it a microarchitecture, but just a shrink. Also, we should add Penryn to this page, also indented, and also describe it as a shrink. Of course, if there is any Intel documentation that describes Westmere as a separate μarch from Nehalem, then we should keep it as you have done it.
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- --Masud 11:22, 26 September 2007 (UTC)