Merom (microprocessor)

Last updated

Merom
Acer Extensa 5220 - Columbia MB 06236-1N - Intel Celeron M 530 - SLA2G - in Socket 479-5029.jpg
Celeron M 530 - SLA2G - 1.73GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, 533 MT/s FSB
General information
Launched2006
Discontinued2009
Marketed byIntel
Designed byIntel
Common manufacturer(s)
  • Intel
CPUID code06Fx (Merom-L: 1066x)
Product code80537
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate 1.6 GHz to 2.6 GHz
FSB speeds533 MHz to 800 MHz
Cache
L1 cache 32 KB instruction, 32 KB data per core
L2 cacheMerom: 4 MB
Merom-2M: 2 MB
Merom-L: 1 MB
Architecture and classification
ApplicationMobile
Technology node 65 nm
Microarchitecture Core
Instruction set x86_64 (64-bit)
Physical specifications
Cores
  • 2 (Merom-L: 1)
Socket(s)
Products, models, variants
Brand name(s)
  • Mobile Celeron 5xx
  • Mobile Celeron Dual-Core E1xxx
  • Mobile Pentium Dual-Core T2xxx
  • Mobile Pentium Dual-Core T3xxx
  • Core 2 Duo T5xxx
  • Core 2 Duo T7xxx
  • Core 2 Duo L7xxx
  • Core 2 Duo U7xxx
  • Core 2 Solo U2xxx
History
Predecessor(s) Yonah
Successor(s) Penryn
Support status
Unsupported

Merom is the code name for various mobile Intel processors that are sold as Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Solo, Pentium Dual-Core and Celeron. It was the first mobile processor to be based on the Core microarchitecture, replacing the Enhanced Pentium M-based Yonah processor. Merom has the product code 80537, which is shared with Merom-2M and Merom-L that are very similar but have a smaller L2 cache. Merom-L has only one processor core and a different CPUID model. The desktop version of Merom is Conroe and the dual-socket server version is Woodcrest. Merom was manufactured in a 65 nanometer process, and was succeeded by Penryn, a 45 nm version of the Merom architecture. Together, Penryn and Merom represented the first 'tick-tock' in Intel's Tick-Tock manufacturing paradigm, in which Penryn was the 'tick' (new process) to Merom's 'tock' (new architecture).

Contents

Variants

ProcessorBrand nameModel (list)CoresL2 CacheSocketTDP
Merom-LMobile Core 2 Solo U2xxx 12 MiBBGA4795.5 W
Merom-2MMobile Core 2 Duo U7xxx 22 MiBBGA47910 W
Merom L7xxx 4 MiB17 W
Merom
Merom-2M
T5xxx
T7xxx
2-4 MiB Socket M
Socket P
BGA479
35 W
MeromMobile Core 2 Extreme X7xxx 24 MiBSocket P44 W
Merom Celeron M (Socket M) and Celeron (Socket P) 5x0 11024 KiBSocket M
Socket P
30 W
Merom-L 5x0 27 W
Merom-2M 5x5 1024 KiBSocket P31 W
Merom-L 5x3 512-1024 KiBBGA4795.5-10 W
Merom-2MCeleron Dual-Core T1xxx 2512-1024 KiBSocket P35 W
Merom-2M Pentium Dual-Core T2xxx
T3xxx
21 MiBSocket P35 W

Merom

Merom, the first mobile version of the Core 2, was officially released on July 27, 2006, but quietly began shipping to PC manufacturers in mid-July, alongside Conroe. [1] [2] Merom became Intel's premier line of mobile processors, with mostly the same features as Conroe, but with a greater emphasis on low power consumption to enhance notebook battery life. Merom-based Core 2 Duo provides a slight performance increase associated with 3D rendering and media-encoding tasks, [3] yet maintains the same battery life as the Yonah-based Core Duo. Merom is the first Intel mobile processor to feature Intel 64 architecture.

The first version of Merom is "drop-in" compatible with Napa platform for Core Duo, requiring at most a motherboard BIOS update. It has a similar thermal envelope of 34 W and the same 667 MT/s FSB rate. [4] The Merom die features 4 MB L2 cache, half of which is deactivated in the T5xx0 CPUs. A native 2 MB L2 version of the Merom core, called Merom-2M, was rolled out in early 2007 as a counterpart to Allendale. The Merom-2M core uses the steppings L2 and M0 and the ultra-low-voltage versions of the Core 2 Duo use this core.

A second wave of Merom processors featuring an 800 MT/s FSB and using the new Socket P was launched on May 9, 2007. [5] These chips are part of Santa Rosa platform. [6] Low voltage versions were also released on May 9, 2007.

Merom (מרום) is the Hebrew word for a higher plane of existence or a level of heaven; BaMerom (במרום) means "in the heavens". The name was chosen by the Intel team in Haifa, Israel, who designed this processor.

Merom XE

The Core 2 Extreme Mobile processor, based on the Merom XE core, is a mobile CPU designed for laptops. It was released in two models, the X7900 and the X7800. These feature an 800 MT/s FSB. The X7800, introduced on July 16, 2007, [7] is clocked at 2.6 GHz and costs around $851 for OEMs. The processor features a 44 W TDP and requires the new Intel Centrino (Santa Rosa) platform. The X7900, introduced on August 22, 2007, is clocked at 2.8 GHz.

The X7900 processor was used in the top-end iMacs released on August 7, 2007.

Merom-2M

The mobile version of the Allendale desktop processor is often called Merom-2M to identify the smaller L2 cache. Some T5xxx and T7xxx processors have come out with both Merom and Merom-2M dies, which can only be distinguished through their stepping number.

Merom-L

The Merom-L processor is based on the same model as Conroe-L but is used in mobile Socket M and Socket P systems as Celeron 5xx and Core 2 Solo U2xxx, some of which also use regular Merom and Merom-2M chips with one core disabled in contrast to the real Merom-L that only has 1 MB L2 cache and a single core. The CPUID is family 6 model 23 (10661h), which is between Merom and Penryn.

The first Core 2 Solo processors were launched in Q3 2007 and consisted of the U2100 and U2200, which run at 1.06 and 1.2 GHz, respectively. They both feature a 533 MT/s FSB and are part of Intel's ULV family, running at only 5 W. Like the rest of the Core 2 family, they are 64-bit compatible. They were released with compatibility for the Napa platform rather than the newer Santa Rosa platform due to power consumption concerns. [8]

Fixes

Microsoft has released a microcode update (KB2493989) for Windows 7 that addresses several stability issues on selected "Penryn" and "Merom" CPUs. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celeron</span> Line of semi-discontinued microprocessors made by Intel

Celeron is a semi-discontinued series of low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers, manufactured by Intel. The first Celeron-branded CPU was introduced on April 15, 1998, and was based on the Pentium II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentium 4</span> Brand by Intel

Pentium 4 is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. It was removed from the official price lists starting in 2010, being replaced by Pentium Dual-Core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentium III</span> Line of desktop and mobile microprocessors produced by Intel

The Pentium III brand refers to Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile CPUs based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 28, 1999. The brand's initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded processors. The most notable differences were the addition of the Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instruction set, and the introduction of a controversial serial number embedded in the chip during manufacturing. The Pentium III is also a single-core processor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentium M</span> Family of Intel microprocessors

The Pentium M is a family of mobile 32-bit single-core x86 microprocessors introduced in March 2003 and forming a part of the Intel Carmel notebook platform under the then new Centrino brand. The Pentium M processors had a maximum thermal design power (TDP) of 5–27 W depending on the model, and were intended for use in laptops. They evolved from the core of the last Pentium III–branded CPU by adding the front-side bus (FSB) interface of Pentium 4, an improved instruction decoding and issuing front end, improved branch prediction, SSE2 support, and a much larger cache. The first Pentium M–branded CPU, code-named Banias, was followed by Dothan. The Pentium M line was removed from the official price lists in July 2009, when the Pentium M-branded processors were succeeded by the Core-branded dual-core mobile Yonah CPU with a modified microarchitecture. It replaced the Pentium 4 M processor, which suffered from power consumption and heat problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xeon</span> Line of Intel server and workstation processors

Xeon is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same architecture as regular desktop-grade CPUs, but have advanced features such as support for ECC memory, higher core counts, more PCI Express lanes, support for larger amounts of RAM, larger cache memory and extra provision for enterprise-grade reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features responsible for handling hardware exceptions through the Machine Check Architecture. They are often capable of safely continuing execution where a normal processor cannot due to these extra RAS features, depending on the type and severity of the machine-check exception (MCE). Some also support multi-socket systems with two, four, or eight sockets through use of the Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) bus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P6 (microarchitecture)</span> Intel processor microarchitecture

The P6 microarchitecture is the sixth-generation Intel x86 microarchitecture, implemented by the Pentium Pro microprocessor that was introduced in November 1995. It is frequently referred to as i686. It was planned to be succeeded by the NetBurst microarchitecture used by the Pentium 4 in 2000, but was revived for the Pentium M line of microprocessors. The successor to the Pentium M variant of the P6 microarchitecture is the Core microarchitecture which in turn is also derived from P6.

The Intel Core microarchitecture is a multi-core processor microarchitecture launched by Intel in mid-2006. It is a major evolution over the Yonah, the previous iteration of the P6 microarchitecture series which started in 1995 with Pentium Pro. It also replaced the NetBurst microarchitecture, which suffered from high power consumption and heat intensity due to an inefficient pipeline designed for high clock rate. In early 2004 the new version of NetBurst (Prescott) needed very high power to reach the clocks it needed for competitive performance, making it unsuitable for the shift to dual/multi-core CPUs. On May 7, 2004 Intel confirmed the cancellation of the next NetBurst, Tejas and Jayhawk. Intel had been developing Merom, the 64-bit evolution of the Pentium M, since 2001, and decided to expand it to all market segments, replacing NetBurst in desktop computers and servers. It inherited from Pentium M the choice of a short and efficient pipeline, delivering superior performance despite not reaching the high clocks of NetBurst.

Yonah is the code name of Intel's first generation 65 nm process CPU cores, based on cores of the earlier Banias / Dothan Pentium M microarchitecture. Yonah CPU cores were used within Intel's Core Solo and Core Duo mobile microprocessor products. SIMD performance on Yonah improved through the addition of SSE3 instructions and improvements to SSE and SSE2 implementations; integer performance decreased slightly due to higher latency cache. Additionally, Yonah included support for the NX bit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentium</span> Brand of semi-discontinued microprocessors produced by Intel

Pentium is a semi-discontinued series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel. The original Pentium was first released on March 22, 1993. The name "Pentium" is originally derived from the Greek word pente (πεντε), meaning "five", a reference to the prior numeric naming convention of Intel's 80x86 processors (8086–80486), with the Latin ending -ium since the processor would otherwise have been named 80586 using that convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socket M</span> Intel CPU interface

Socket M (mPGA478MT) is a CPU interface introduced by Intel in 2006 for the Intel Core line of mobile processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentium Dual-Core</span> Line of CPUs by Intel

The Pentium Dual-Core brand was used for mainstream x86-architecture microprocessors from Intel from 2006 to 2009, when it was renamed to Pentium. The processors are based on either the 32-bit Yonah or 64-bit Merom-2M, Allendale, and Wolfdale-3M core, targeted at mobile or desktop computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conroe (microprocessor)</span> Code name for several Intel processors

Conroe is the code name for many Intel processors sold as Core 2 Duo, Xeon, Pentium Dual-Core and Celeron. It was the first desktop processor to be based on the Core microarchitecture, replacing the NetBurst microarchitecture based Cedar Mill processor. It has product code 80557, which is shared with Allendale and Conroe-L that are very similar but have a smaller L2 cache. Conroe-L has only one processor core and a new CPUID model. The mobile version of Conroe is Merom, the dual-socket server version is Woodcrest, and the quad-core desktop version is Kentsfield. Conroe was replaced by the 45 nm Wolfdale processor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penryn (microprocessor)</span>

Penryn is the code name of a processor from Intel that is sold in varying configurations as Core 2 Solo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium and Celeron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfdale (microprocessor)</span>

Wolfdale is the code name for a processor from Intel that is sold in varying configurations as Core 2 Duo, Celeron, Pentium and Xeon. In Intel's Tick-Tock cycle, the 2007/2008 "Tick" was Penryn microarchitecture, the shrink of the Core microarchitecture to 45 nanometers as CPUID model 23. This replaced the Conroe processor with Wolfdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkfield</span>

Yorkfield is the code name for some Intel processors sold as Core 2 Quad and Xeon. In Intel's Tick-Tock cycle, the 2007/2008 "Tick" was Penryn microarchitecture, the shrink of the Core microarchitecture to 45 nanometers as CPUID model 23, replacing Kentsfield, the previous model.

In Intel's Tick-Tock cycle, the 2007/2008 "Tick" was the shrink of the Core microarchitecture to 45 nanometers as CPUID model 23. In Core 2 processors, it is used with the code names Penryn, Wolfdale and Yorkfield, some of which are also sold as Celeron, Pentium and Xeon processors. In the Xeon brand, the Wolfdale-DP and Harpertown code names are used for LGA 771 based MCMs with two or four active Wolfdale cores.

References

  1. "Intel's Core 2 Duo chips arrive early". MacNN. July 21, 2006. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2006.
  2. "Intel second quarter 2006 earnings release; see page 3" (PDF). Intel. July 19, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 22, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2006.
  3. Shimpi, Anand Lal (August 3, 2006). "Mobile CPU Wars: Core 2 Duo vs. Core Duo". AnandTech. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  4. Shimpi, Anand Lal (March 7, 2006). "Spring IDF 2006: Merom and Ultra Mobile PCs". AnandTech. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
  5. Olsen, Sven (March 7, 2007). "Intel Forecasts "Santa Rosa" for May 2007". Computer Shopper. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
  6. Kubicki, Kristopher (May 26, 2006). "Intel 2006 Mobile CPU Roadmap Update". DailyTech. Archived from the original on May 28, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  7. "Intel Takes Popular Laptops to 'Extreme' with First-Ever Extreme Edition Mobile Processor; Adds New Desktop Chip". Intel News Release. July 16, 2007. Archived from the original on December 23, 2007. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
  8. "Intel Core 2 Solo ULV Processors Coming in Q3 2007". laptoping.com. December 21, 2006. Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2007.
  9. "Microcode update for Intel processors in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2" . Retrieved November 3, 2020.