The Second Generation Intel® Core™: A highly integrated high performance multi IA-core and processor graphics chip

This paper describes the Second Generation Intel® Core™ processor, a 32nm monolithic die integrating four IA cores, a processor graphics and a memory controller. The die was designed for high performance but without compromising the part power consumption or the part and system cost. To achieve these targets a modular design methodology was devised, this methodology allows fast configuration of the die to achieve the optimal performance/cost/power point for a specific market segment. In this paper some of the techniques used to control the die and package cost are described. Special attention is given to debug-ability hooks that considerably reduce the system time-to-market of this kind of highly integrated processors.