Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developers Manual Volume 3A, System Programming Guide, Part 1

17-4 Vol. 3A
ARCHITECTURE COMPATIBILITY
17.7 STREAMING SIMD EXTENSIONS 2 (SSE2)
The Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) were introduced in the Pentium 4 and Intel
Xeon processors. They consist of a new set of instructions that operate on the XXM
and MXCSR registers and perform SIMD operations on double-precision floating-
point values and on integer values. Several of these new instructions also operate in
the MMX registers. SSE2 instructions and registers are described in Chapter 11,
“Programming with Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2),” in the Intel® 64 and
IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual, Volume 1, and in the Intel® 64
and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual, Volumes 2A & 2B.
17.8 STREAMING SIMD EXTENSIONS 3 (SSE3)
The Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3) were introduced in Pentium 4 processors
supporting Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel Xeon processors. SSE3 extensions
include 13 instructions. Ten of these 13 instructions support the single instruction
multiple data (SIMD) execution model used with SSE/SSE2 extensions. One SSE3
instruction accelerates x87 style programming for conversion to integer. The
remaining two instructions (MONITOR and MWAIT) accelerate synchronization of
threads. SSE3 instructions are described in Chapter 12, “Programming with SSE3
and Supplemental SSE3,” in the Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Devel-
oper’s Manual, Volume 1, and in the Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software
Developer’s Manual, Volumes 2A & 2B.
17.9 HYPER-THREADING TECHNOLOGY
Hyper-Threading Technology is an extension to IA-32 architecture. The feature
provides two logical processors that can execute two separate code streams (called
threads) concurrently by using shared resources in single processor core or in a
physical package.
This feature was introduced in the Intel Xeon processor MP and later steppings of the
Intel Xeon processor, and Pentium 4 processors supporting Hyper-Threading Tech-
nology. The feature is also found in the Pentium processor Extreme Edition. See also:
Section 7.8, “Intel
®
Hyper-Threading Technology Architecture.”
17.10 DUAL-CORE TECHNOLOGY
The Pentium D processor and Pentium processor Extreme Edition provide two
processor cores in each physical processor package. See also: Section 7.6, “Hyper-
Threading and Multi-Core Technology,” and Section 7.9, “Dual-Core Architecture.”