Westmere (formerly Nehalem-C) is the code name given to the

32 nm The 32 nm node is the step following the 45 nm process in CMOS (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication. "32-nanometre" refers to the average half-pitch (i.e., half the distance between identical features) of a memory cell at this technology le ...

die shrink The term die shrink (sometimes optical shrink or process shrink) refers to the scaling of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. The act of shrinking a die is to create a somewhat identical circuit using a more advanced fabrication process, u ...

of '' Nehalem''. While sharing the same

CPU socket In computer hardware, a CPU socket or CPU slot contains one or more mechanical components providing mechanical and electrical connections between a microprocessor and a printed circuit board (PCB). This allows for placing and replacing the cen ...

s, Westmere included

Intel HD Graphics Intel Graphics Technology (GT) is the collective name for a series of integrated graphics processors (IGPs) produced by Intel that are manufactured on the same package or die as the central processing unit (CPU). It was first introduced in 20 ...

, while Nehalem did not. The first ''Westmere''-based processors were launched on January 7, 2010, by Intel Corporation. The Westmere architecture has been available under the Intel brands of

Core i3 Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber * Core, the central ...

, Core i5,

Core i7 The following is a list of Intel Core i7 brand microprocessors. Introduced in 2008, the Core i7 line of microprocessors are intended to be used by high-end users. Desktop processors Nehalem microarchitecture (1st generation) "Bloomfield" ...

Pentium Pentium is a brand used for a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel. The original Pentium processor from which the brand took its name was first released on March 22, 1993. After that, the Pentium II and P ...

Celeron Celeron is Intel's brand name for low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers. Celeron processors are compatible with IA-32 software. They typically offer less performance per clock speed co ...

and

Xeon Xeon ( ) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same ar ...

Technology

Westmere's feature improvements from Nehalem, as reported: * Native six-core (

Gulftown Gulftown or Westmere-EP is the codename of an up to six-core hyperthreaded Intel processor able to run up to 12 threads in parallel. It is based on Westmere microarchitecture, the 32 nm shrink of Nehalem. Originally rumored to be called the Int ...

) and ten-core (

Westmere-EX Xeon ( ) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same ar ...

) processors. * A new set of instructions that gives over 3x the encryption and decryption rate of

Advanced Encryption Standard The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael (), is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. AES is a variant ...

(AES) processes compared to before. ** Delivers seven new instructions ( AES instruction set or AES-NI), out of which six implement the AES algorithm, and PCLMULQDQ (see

CLMUL instruction set Carry-less Multiplication (CLMUL) is an extension to the x86 instruction set used by microprocessors from Intel and AMD which was proposed by Intel in March 2008 and made available in the Intel Westmere processors announced in early 2010. Mathema ...

) implements carry-less multiplication for use in

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adv ...

and

data compression In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressio ...

. * Integrated graphics, added into the processor package (dual core

Arrandale Arrandale is the code name for a family of mobile Intel processors, sold as mobile Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 as well as Celeron and Pentium. It is closely related to the desktop Clarkdale processor; both use dual-core dies based on the '' Westm ...

and Clarkdale only). * Improved virtualization latency. * New virtualization capability: "VMX Unrestricted mode support," which allows 16-bit guests to run (real mode and

big real mode In x86 computing, unreal mode, also big real mode, huge real mode, flat real mode, or voodoo mode is a variant of real mode, in which one or more segment descriptors has been loaded with non-standard values, like 32-bit limits allowing access t ...

). * Support for "Huge Pages" of 1 GB in size.

CPU variants

Westmere CPUs

* TDP includes the integrated GPU, if present. * Clarkdale processors feature 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes, which can be used in 1x16 or 2x8 configuration. * ''Clarkdale'' and ''Arrandale'' contain the 32 nm dual core processor ''Hillel'' and the 45 nm integrated graphics device ''Ironlake'', and support switchable graphics. * Only certain higher-end CPUs support AES-NI and 1GB Huge Pages.

Server / Desktop processors

Mobile processors

Roadmap

The successor to ''Nehalem'' and ''Westmere'' is '' Sandy Bridge''.

References

External links

Official Intel homepage for Westmere-EP

Official Intel homepage for Westmere-EX

Westmere-EX: A 20 thread server CPU
(PDF) {{Intel processor roadmap Intel microarchitectures