QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. What is the size of the level 1 cache in the Pentium II microprocessor?
2. What sizes are available for the level 2 cache in the Pentium II microprocessor? (List all versions.)
3. What is the difference between the level 2 cache on the Pentium-based system and the Pentium II-based system?
4. What is the difference between the level 2 cache in the Pentium Pro and the Pentium II?
5. The speed of the Pentium II Xeon level 2 cache is times faster than the cache in the Pentium II (excluding the Celeron).
6. How much memory can be addressed by the Pentium II?
7. Is the Pentium II available in integrated circuit form?
8. How many pin connections are found on the Pentium II cartridge?
9. What is the purpose of the PICD control signals?
10. What happened to the read and write pins on the Pentium II?
11. At what bus speeds does the Pentium II operate?
12. How fast is the SDRAM connected to the Pentium II system for a 100 MHz bus speed version?
13. How wide is the Pentium II memory if ECC is employed?
14. What new model-specific registers (MSR) have been added to the Pentium II microprocessor?
15. What new CPUID identification information has been added to the Pentium II micro- processor?
16. How is a model-specific register addressed and what instruction is used to read it?
17. Write software that stores 12H into model-specific register 175H.
18. Write a short procedure that determines whether the microprocessor contains the SYSEN- TER and SYSEXIT instructions. Your procedure must return carry set if the instructions are present, and return carry cleared if not present.
19. How is the return address transferred to the system when using the SYSENTER instruction?
20. How is the return address retrieved when using the SYSEXIT instruction to return to the application?
21. The SYSENTER instruction transfers control to software at what privilege level?
22. The SYSEXIT instruction transfers control to software at what privilege level?
23. What is the difference between the FSAVE and the FXSAVE instructions?
24. The Pentium III is an extension of the architecture.
25. What new instructions appear in the Pentium III microprocessor that do not appear in the Pentium Pro microprocessor?
26. What changes to the power supply does the Pentium 4 or Core2 microprocessor require?
27. Write a short program that reads and displays the serial number of the Pentium III micro- processor on the video screen.
28. Develop a short C++ function that returns a bool value of true if the Pentium 4 supports hyper-threaded technology and false if it does not support it.
29. Develop a short C++ function that returns a bool value of true if the Pentium 4 or Core2 sup- port SSE, SSE2, and SSE3 extensions.
30. Compare, in your own words, hyper-threading to dual processing. Postulate on the possibility of including additional processors beyond four.
31. What is a Core2 processor?