Technical Reference Guide
Compaq Deskpro 4000 and 6000 Personal Computers
featuring the Pentium II Processor
First Edition - October 1997
3-3
3.2.1 PENTIUM II PROCESSOR
The Pentium II processor is packaged in a Single Edge Connector (SEC) cartridge that contains
the microprocessor and secondary (L2) cache (Figure 3-2). The cartridge installs into a specific
processor slot on the system board, allowing easy replacing/upgrading of the processor/cache
memory complex.
Figure 3–2.
Pentium II Processor Internal Architecture
The microprocessor of the Pentium II is backward compatible with software written for the
Pentium Pro, Pentium MMX, Pentium, and earlier generation x86 microprocessors. The
microprocessor includes a dual-ALU CPU, branch prediction logic, dual-pipeline math
coprocessor, and a 32-KB primary (L1) cache that is split into two 16-KB 4-way, set-associative
caches for handling code and data separately. Out-of-order instruction processing first supported
by the Pentium Pro is retained and multi-byte processing enhancements have been added.
The Pentium II SEC cartridge includes 512 kilobytes of SRAM for the secondary (L2) cache.
Accesses with the L2 cache occur at Host bus speed, although the close proximity of the cache
provides higher efficiency than caches located on the system board.
(Mounted in Edge Connector)
Microprocessor
Dual-ALU
CPU w/MMX
Branch
Prediction
Dual Pipeline
Math Coproc.
32-KB
L1 Cache
512-KB
L2 Cache
Pentium II SEC Cartridge
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