Today's Hotness: The Core 2 Duo
In 2006, Intel released a processor that quickly became a best-seller: the Core 2 Duo. Derived from work done on the Pentium M, this processor uses a new Core architecture. Before, Intel had two lines of processors—the Pentium 4 for desktops, Pentium M for mobiles, and both lines for servers. In contrast, Intel now has a single micro-architecture on which all of its product lines draw. The 64-bit Core 2 Duo is represented from the low end to the high end, for desktop computers, portables and servers.
There are many versions of the architecture, resulting in configurations with a different number of cores (one to four, yielding everything from Solos to Quads), cache memory (512 KB to 12 MB), and the FSB (between 400 and 1600 MHz). The model shown here is the original Core 2 Duo, but faster versions (at 45 nm) exist.
| Code name | Conroe |
| Date released | 2006 |
| Architecture | 64 bits |
| Data bus | 64 bits |
| Address bus | 64 (actual 36) bits |
| Maximum memory | 64 GB |
| L1 cache | 32 KB + 32 KB |
| L2 cache | 2,048 KB shared |
| Clock frequency | 1.8-3 GHz |
| FSB | 800-1066-1333 MHz |
| SIMD | MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3 |
| SMT/SMP | Dual core |
| Fabrication process | 65 nm |
| Number of transistors | 291 million |
| TDP | 65 W |
| Voltage | 1.5 V |
| Die surface area | 143 mm² |
| Connector | LGA 775 |
The mobile versions (Merom) are basically identical (but not as fast, with a slower FSB) whereas the Extreme Edition versions are faster. The Core 2 Duo also exists in a four-core version, which was, in fact, two Conroes in the same package. The 45 nm version of the Core 2 Duo (Penryn) has a larger cache and generates less heat, but is still fundamentally similar to this model.
