Intel denies Core i7 glitch
Bug rumors greatly exaggerated
2nd December 2008 21:51 GMT
Intel was tilting at the internet rumor mill this morning as word circulated that its newly-launched Core i7 chips suffer from a technical glitch similar to the one that previously dogged AMD's Phenom and Opteron cores.
A recent Core i7 software programmer's manual update seems to indicate the chips have some Translation Lookaside Buffer-related issues. But Intel says it isn't so.
From the document in question:
In rare instances, improper TLB invalidation may result in unpredictable system behavior, such as system hangs or incorrect data. Developers of operating systems should take this documentation into account when designing TLB invalidation algorithms. For the processors affected, Intel has provided a recommended update to system and BIOS vendors to incorporate into their BIOS to resolve this issue.
Several months earlier, TLB bugs soured AMD's launch of its four-core Opteron chips despite the company's shouts it wouldn't manifest in real world conditions.
With inklings of similar Core i7 problems, cue jokes about Intel copying AMD's chip design so faithfully, they took the errors along too.
Intel spokesman George Alfs tells El Reg the incriminating paragraph relates to a Core 2 Duo issue which was fixed via a BIOS update before the launch of the Core i7. The programmer's manual was first written in April 2007 and hasn't been properly pruned.
Chipzilla said the original reporter didn't contact the company before reporting the alleged problem. ®
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Intel Core i7 I7-920 Quad Core Processor (2.66GHz, 4x256kB, 4.8GT/s QPI, LGA 1336 Socket B)
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor (3.4GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 4x512KB L2 Cache, 2000 MHz Bus, Socket AM3)
Intel Core i5 750 Qaud Core Processor (2.66GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 2.5 GT/s Bus, Socket H LGA1156)
Asus P7P55D Motherboard (Intel Socket H LGA1156, P55 Express, ATX, 16GB DDR3)
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO AMD 785G/SB710 Socket AM3 ATX Motherboard
