Cache Memory Description

Its of no doubt that the cache memory plays a vital role in a computer system. It is responsible for speed of the processor. Normally Cache memory is a special type of memory that is used by the microprocessor for speedy access of data. The cache memory is used to reduce the amount of time wasted by the microprocessor in waiting for fetching data. Cache memory may also be called as Random Access Memory(RAM). Cache memory are categorized into levels based on their associativity with the microprocessor. The Level 1 cache memory can also be called as L1 cache, these L1 cache memory is small and provides faster access to important and frequently used data. Normally the Leve1 cache memory will be on the same chip as the processor. The Level2 cache memory can also be called as L2 cache for short. It is slightly slower than L1 cache. These L2 cache memory chips are placed close to the processor to gain maximum speed. In addition to L1 and L2 cache memory the modern computer processors also use L3 cache for high performance.

AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor

The greatest Intel’s rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is trying to catch up the mobile processor market with its latest Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processors. The Turion X2 ultra processor family includes Turion Ultra ZM-80, Turion Ultra ZM-82, Turion Ultra ZM-84, Turion Ultra ZM-86 and Turion Ultra ZM-88 . The model ZM-80, ZM-82 and ZM-86 were released in June 4 2008 while the other model ZM-84 and ZM-88 is scheduled to be released in the third and fourth quarter 2008. All of the processors are based on 64-bit dual core architecture and 65nm production technology. These Dual Core Mobile processors are capable of running both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

Features
Direct Connect Architecture
The direct connection between the processor and the main memory, processor and I/O and between the Cores enables faster computing.

Multi-Core Processing
The presence of 2 cores within the same processor enables excellent
Multi-tasking experience with each Core’s having its own dedicated L! and L2 cache memory.

Multi-Cache
The presence of individual Cache memory for each Core eliminates the waiting time for Cache memory by the Core’s.

HyperTransport Technology 3.0
This enables faster transfer of data between the processor and other I/O devices connected to the system.

Digital Media XPress Technology
This provides support for SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and MMX instructions.

CoolCore Technology
This technology allows the unused parts of the processor to be switched to be switched off to promote less power consumption.

Processor	AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor
Model	ZM-80	ZM-82	ZM-86	ZM-84
Operating Mode 32 Bit	YES	YES	YES	YES
Operating Mode 64 Bit	YES	YES	YES	YES
Core Count	2	2	2	2
Core Speed (MHz)	2100	2200	2400	2300
System Bus Speed (MHz)	3600	3600	3600	3600
Wattage	32	35	35	35
L2 Cache Size (KB)	2000	2000	2000	2000
Process Technology	65nm SOI	65nm SOI	65nm SOI	65nm SOI

Intel core i7 processors

The worlds leading chip-maker Intel came with its fastest Core i7, processors on 17th November 2008. It is designed in such a way so as to consume less power and to compete with the multi tasking performance against its rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). This new chip is formerly named as Nehalem has four Core’s on a single silicon piece.

Core i7 chips with four Core’s can handle eight different processes at same time. These chips are especially good when it comes to gaming, video editing with less power consumption. Although it can be argued that these facilities offered by Intel are available in AMD’s Shanghai, AMD users must wait until it is released.

All the Intel Core i7 processors feature the following technology Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Intel Speed Step technology, Intel Virtualization technology and Intel 64-Bit architecture. The two available models as of now are i7-940 and i7-920 both of them are 45nm processors.

Core i7 processor specifications are as follows.

	Core i7 920	Core i7 940	Core i7 EE 965
Process	45nm	45nm	45nm
Codename	Bloomfield	Bloomfield	Bloomfield
Transistors	731 million	731 million	731 million
Socket	LGA1366	LGA1366	LGA1366
Core (Threads)	4 (8)	4 (8)	4 (8)
Clock Speed	2.66 GHz	2.93 GHz	3.2 GHz
L2 Cache	4x 256KB	4x 256KB	4x 256KB
L3 Cache	8 MB shared	8 MB shared	8 MB shared
QPI	4.8 GT/s	4.8 GT/s	6.4 GT/s
Memory Controller	DDR3-800/1066, Triple Ch	DDR3-800/1066, Triple Ch	DDR3-800/1066, Triple Ch
TDP	130W	130W	130W
Price (1000-unit)	$284~367	$562~720	$999~1412

AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Processor

The AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core Desktop Processor is empowered with the AMD’S dual core technology that means this processor has two cores on a single chip. These cores can run multi threading programs at a much faster than a single core processor. Running multiple applications also does not slow down the system. Since two processor works together simultaneously running a multimedia application is very fast and photo editing and video editing tasks are much simplified.

The major advantage in having the Athlon X2 Dual-Core processor is that it consumes less power so the processor is energy efficient. This processor uses 45W, 65W, 89W, or 125W for its operations. These processors have 164 to 243 million transistors and the number of transistor differs based on the cache size. AMD Athlon family processors with HyperTransport technology can transfer data up to 8GB per second and the memory bandwidth is up to 12GB per second. It also features an integrated memory controller. It has also got the Enhanced Virus Protection technology that prevents certain viruses but the operating systems should support these features. These processors belong to AMD64 family so it can run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. These processors support the following chipsets.

* NVIDIA: Nforce Series chipsets
* ATI: Radeon Xpress Series chipsets
* VIA: K8 Series chipsets
* SiS: 75x Series chipsets or greater

MODEL	FREQUENCY	CMOS	L2 CACHE	POWER
6000+	3.0GHz	90nm SOI	2MB	125W
5600+	2.9GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
5400+	2.8GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
5200+	2.7GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
5000+	2.6Ghz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
4800+	2.5GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
4600+	2.4GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	65W
4850e	2.5GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	45W
4450e	2.3GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	45W
4050e	2.1GHz	65nm SOI	1MB	45W

HP Pavilion dv5-1104ax Entertainment Notebook Series

The technical specification of HP Pavilion dv5-1104ax Notebook is given below.

* Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

* Processor

AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-70 2.0 GHz, Level 2 cache 1 MB.

* Front-Side Bus

Up to 4000 MT/s system bus running at AC/DC mode 35 watt .

* Memory Type

DDR2 800 MHz

* Hard Disk Drive

320 GB SATA Drive.

* Hard Disk Drive Speed

5400 rpm.

* Optical Drive

LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer Support.

* Display

15.4” Diagonal WXGA High-Definition Brightview Infinity Display with AG Panel.

* Display Resolution

1280×800

* Graphics Card

ATI Radeon HD 3450 Graphics

* Speakers and microphone

Altec Lansing speakers.

* Modem

High Speed 56K modem.

* I/O ports

4 USB 2.0 (4th shared with eSATA port), 1 HDMI connector, 1 eSATA Combo, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ45 ethernet connector, 2 headphones-out, 1 mic-in, 1 IEEE 1394, Expansion Port 3, Consumer IR, Integrated Fingerprint reader, AC Adapter and One ExpressCard/54 slot.

* Network Interface

Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN

* Video RAM

512 MB dedicated memory.

* Wireless Technology

802.11b/g WLAN.

* Weight

2.65Kg

* Battery Type

6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

* Power Supply

90 W AC Power Adapter.

HP Pavilion dv5-1102tu (FZ728PA) Entertainment Notebook Series

The technical specification of HP Pavilion dv5-1102tu Notebook is given below.

* Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit.

* Processor

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3200 2.0 GHz, Level 2 cache 1 MB.

* Front-Side Bus

667 MHz FSB.

* Memory Type

DDR2 800 MHz

* Hard Disk Drive

250 GB SATA Drive.

* Optical Drive

LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer Support.

* Display

15.4” Diagonal WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen Display.

* Display Resolution

1280×800

* Graphics Card

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

* Speakers and microphone

Altec Lansing speakers.

* Modem

High Speed 56K modem.

* I/O ports

4 USB 2.0 (4th shared with eSATA port), 1 HDMI connector, 1 eSATA Combo, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ45 ethernet connector, 2 headphones-out, 1 mic-in, Expansion Port 3, Consumer IR, Integrated Fingerprint reader, AC Adapter and One ExpressCard/54 slot.

* Video RAM

Not Included.

* Wireless Technology

802.11b/g WLAN.

* Weight

2.65Kg

* Battery Type

6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

* Power Supply

65 W AC Power Adapter

HP Pavilion dv5-1120tx Entertainment Notebook Series

The technical specification of HP Pavilion dv5-1120tx Notebook is given below.

* Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

* Processor

Intel Core™2 Duo Processor T5800 2.0 GHz, Level 2 cache 2 MB.

* Front-Side Bus

800 MHz FSB.

* Memory Type

DDR2 800 MHz

* Hard Disk Drive

320 GB SATA Drive.

* Hard Disk Drive Speed

5400 rpm.

* Optical Drive

Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer.

* Display

15.4” Diagonal WXGA High-Definition Brightview Infinity Display with AG Panel.

* Display Resolution

1280×800

* Graphics Card

NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT

* Speakers and microphone

Altec Lansing speakers.

* Modem

High Speed 56K modem.

* I/O ports

4 USB 2.0 (4th shared with eSATA port), 1 HDMI connector, 1 eSATA Combo, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ45 ethernet connector, 2 headphones-out, 1 mic-in, 1 IEEE 1394, Expansion Port 3, Consumer IR, Integrated Fingerprint reader, AC Adapter and One ExpressCard/54 slot.

* Network Interface

Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN



* Video RAM

512 MB dedicated memory.

* Wireless Technology

802.11a/b/g/n WLAN

* Weight

2.65Kg

* Battery Type

6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

* Power Supply

65 W AC Power Adapter.