A 28-page article about Intel's NetBurst architecture, which started with the first Pentium 4 known as the Willamette, has been posted over at X-bit Labs. It's the first part of a trilogy covering all you want to know about the NetBurst architecture, which is used by all Pentium 4 processors since the first Willamette to the latest dual-core Pentium D. The NetBurst architecture will likely be replaced by a new architecture in the near future.

You probably wonder why we delayed this article for so long? Let me explain: a few things about the functioning of the Pentium 4 processor appeared far not that simple. Secondly, despite the same marketing “Pentium 4” name, the Northwood and Prescott cores are very different from one another in the way they behave. As a result, we very often had to investigate Prescott core and Northwood core separately. Thirdly, we wanted to offer you a thorough and well-constructed analysis of the micro-architecture details, so that those of you who are really into it could take their time and enjoy our discussion of a completely different level of technical details.



Link: X-bit Labs