Intel ARCHITECTURE IA-32 User Manual

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Application Performance
Tools
Intel offers an array of application performance tools that are optimized
to take advantage of the Intel architecture (IA)-based processors. This
appendix introduces these tools and explains their capabilities for
developing the most efficient programs without having to write
assembly code.
The following performance tools are available:
• Intel C++ Compiler and Intel
®
Fortran Compiler
The Intel compilers generate highly optimized executable code and
provide high-level language support with unique features such as
profile-guided optimizations and other advanced optimizations.
This includes vectorization for MMX technology, the Streaming
SIMD Extensions (SSE), Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2),
and the Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (SSE3).
• Intel Debugger
The Intel Debugger (IDB) enables you to debug C++, Fortran or
mixed language programs. It allows you to view the XMM registers
in a variety of formats corresponding to the data types supported by
SSE and SSE2. These registers can also be viewed using the
debugger supplied with Microsoft Visual C++* .NET.
• VTune Performance Analyzer
The VTune analyzer collects, analyzes, and displays Intel
architecture-specific software performance data from the
system-wide view down to a specific line of code.

Intel ARCHITECTURE IA-32 Specifications

General

Instruction Set	x86
Instruction Set Type	CISC
Memory Segmentation	Supported
Operating Modes	Real mode, Protected mode, Virtual 8086 mode
Max Physical Address Size	36 bits (with PAE)
Max Virtual Address Size	32 bits
Architecture	IA-32 (Intel Architecture 32-bit)
Addressable Memory	4 GB (with Physical Address Extension up to 64 GB)
Floating Point Registers	8 x 80-bit
MMX Registers	8 x 64-bit
SSE Registers	8 x 128-bit
Registers	General-purpose registers (EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, ESI, EDI, ESP, EBP), Segment registers (CS, DS, SS, ES, FS, GS), Instruction pointer (EIP), Flags register (EFLAGS)
Floating Point Unit	Yes (x87)