Intel Ivy Bridge–based Xeon microprocessors (also known as Ivy Bridge-E ) is the follow-up to Sandy Bridge-E , using the same CPU core as the Ivy Bridge processor, but in LGA 2011 , LGA 1356 and LGA 2011-1 packages for workstations and servers.
8-481: There are five different families of Xeon processors that were based on Sandy Bridge architecture: The basic Ivy Bridge-E is a single-socket processor sold as Core i7-49xx and is only available in the six-core S1 stepping , with some versions limited to four active cores. There are in fact three die "flavors" for the Ivy Bridge-EP, meaning that they are manufactured and organized differently, according to
16-429: A different cache size or the addition of low-power modes. Most of these steppings are used across brands, typically involving features being disabled or clock frequencies being reduced on low-end chips. Steppings with a reduced cache size use a separate naming scheme, which means that CPU steppings are not necessarily released in alphabetic order of stepping. This microcomputer - or microprocessor -related article
24-430: Is analogous to the major/minor revision numbers in software versioning . Base layer revision changes are time consuming and more expensive for the manufacturer, but some fixes are difficult or impossible to accomplish with metal-only changes. The Intel Core microarchitecture uses a number of steppings, which unlike prior microarchitectures not only represent incremental improvements but also changes to features, such as
32-442: The stepping level or revision level is a version number that refers to the introduction or revision of one or more photolithographic photomasks within the set of photomasks that is used to pattern an integrated circuit. The term originated from the name of the equipment ( "steppers" ) that exposes the photoresist to light. Integrated circuits have two primary classes of mask sets: firstly, "base" layers that are used to build
40-551: The "bin splits" (i.e. create faster transistors and thus faster CPUs), has improved maneuverability to more easily identify marginal circuits, or has reduced the circuit testing time, which can in turn reduce the cost of testing. Many integrated circuits allow interrogation to reveal information about their features, including stepping level. For example, executing CPUID instruction with the EAX register set to '1' on x86 CPUs will result in values being placed in other registers that show
48-487: The CPU's stepping level. Stepping identifiers commonly comprise a letter followed by a number, for example B2 . Usually, the letter indicates the revision level of a CPU's base layers and the number indicates the revision level of the metal layers. A change of letter indicates a change to both the base layer mask revision and metal layers whereas a change in the number indicates a change in the metal layer mask revision only. This
56-466: The number of cores an Ivy Bridge-EP CPU includes: Ivy Bridge-EX has up to 15 cores and scales to 8 sockets. The 15-core die is organized into three columns of five cores, with three interconnect rings connecting two columns per ring; each five-core column has a separate L3 cache. (threads) memory date (USD) (threads) memory date (USD) E5 OEM (threads) memory (USD) E5 PCIe 3.0 Stepping level In integrated circuits ,
64-414: The structures, such as transistors, that comprise circuit logic and, secondly, "metal" layers that connect the circuit logic. Typically, when an integrated circuit manufacturer such as Intel or AMD produces a new stepping (i.e. a revision to the masks), it is because it has found bugs in the logic, has made improvements to the design that permit faster processing, has found a way to increase yield or improve
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