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Thread: A CPU mystery

  1. #1
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    Question A CPU mystery

    I'm having lots of difficulties determining what CPU my server has. It is an IBM xSeries 225 (with amazing specifications that tell you everything you need to know).
    All I know is that it is an "Intel Xeon 2.8GHz", but this does not tell me anything as there are hundreds of different Xeons.

    I have done all the research I could, with no luck. I will post all the disposable data here and hope that somebody could help me resolve this mystery.

    Obviously I started with /proc/cpuinfo:
    Code:
    processor	: 0
    vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
    cpu family	: 15
    model		: 2
    model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz
    stepping	: 9
    cpu MHz		: 2800.027
    cache size	: 512 KB
    physical id	: 0
    siblings	: 2
    core id		: 0
    cpu cores	: 1
    apicid		: 0
    initial apicid	: 0
    fdiv_bug	: no
    hlt_bug		: no
    f00f_bug	: no
    coma_bug	: no
    fpu		: yes
    fpu_exception	: yes
    cpuid level	: 2
    wp		: yes
    flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid xtpr
    bogomips	: 5600.05
    clflush size	: 64
    cache_alignment	: 128
    address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
    power management:
    
    processor	: 1
    vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
    cpu family	: 15
    model		: 2
    model name	: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz
    stepping	: 9
    cpu MHz		: 2800.027
    cache size	: 512 KB
    physical id	: 0
    siblings	: 2
    core id		: 0
    cpu cores	: 1
    apicid		: 1
    initial apicid	: 1
    fdiv_bug	: no
    hlt_bug		: no
    f00f_bug	: no
    coma_bug	: no
    fpu		: yes
    fpu_exception	: yes
    cpuid level	: 2
    wp		: yes
    flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid xtpr
    bogomips	: 5600.50
    clflush size	: 64
    cache_alignment	: 128
    address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
    power management:
    So the first thing we notice that this is a dual core Intel Xeon. But not really. The "physical id" and "core id" are the same in both "CPUs".
    What is different is the apicid (0 and 1). So what is APIC? A quick Google search reveals this.
    What does this mean? Does it indicate Hyper-Threading? The CPU clearly supports it (see: ht flag).

    Alright, so this didn't give me all the information I hoped for. Let's try dmidecode -t processor:

    Code:
    # dmidecode 2.9
    SMBIOS 2.2 present.
    
    Handle 0x0004, DMI type 4, 32 bytes
    Processor Information
    	Socket Designation: CPU1
    	Type: Central Processor
    	Family: Xeon
    	Manufacturer: Intel
    	ID: 29 0F 00 00 FF FB EB BF
    	Signature: Type 0, Family 15, Model 2, Stepping 9
    	Flags:
    		FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
    		VME (Virtual mode extension)
    		DE (Debugging extension)
    		PSE (Page size extension)
    		TSC (Time stamp counter)
    		MSR (Model specific registers)
    		PAE (Physical address extension)
    		MCE (Machine check exception)
    		CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
    		APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
    		SEP (Fast system call)
    		MTRR (Memory type range registers)
    		PGE (Page global enable)
    		MCA (Machine check architecture)
    		CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
    		PAT (Page attribute table)
    		PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
    		CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
    		DS (Debug store)
    		ACPI (ACPI supported)
    		MMX (MMX technology supported)
    		FXSR (Fast floating-point save and restore)
    		SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
    		SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
    		SS (Self-snoop)
    		HTT (Hyper-threading technology)
    		TM (Thermal monitor supported)
    		PBE (Pending break enabled)
    	Version: Intel Xeon(tm)
    	Voltage: 1.5 V
    	External Clock: 133 MHz
    	Max Speed: 3200 MHz
    	Current Speed: 2800 MHz
    	Status: Populated, Enabled
    	Upgrade: ZIF Socket
    	L1 Cache Handle: 0x000B
    	L2 Cache Handle: 0x000D
    	L3 Cache Handle: 0x000F
    
    Handle 0x0005, DMI type 4, 32 bytes
    Processor Information
    	Socket Designation: CPU2
    	Type: Central Processor
    	Family: Xeon
    	Manufacturer: Intel
    	ID: 29 0F 00 00 FF FB EB BF
    	Signature: Type 0, Family 15, Model 2, Stepping 9
    	Flags:
    		FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
    		VME (Virtual mode extension)
    		DE (Debugging extension)
    		PSE (Page size extension)
    		TSC (Time stamp counter)
    		MSR (Model specific registers)
    		PAE (Physical address extension)
    		MCE (Machine check exception)
    		CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
    		APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
    		SEP (Fast system call)
    		MTRR (Memory type range registers)
    		PGE (Page global enable)
    		MCA (Machine check architecture)
    		CMOV (Conditional move instruction supported)
    		PAT (Page attribute table)
    		PSE-36 (36-bit page size extension)
    		CLFSH (CLFLUSH instruction supported)
    		DS (Debug store)
    		ACPI (ACPI supported)
    		MMX (MMX technology supported)
    		FXSR (Fast floating-point save and restore)
    		SSE (Streaming SIMD extensions)
    		SSE2 (Streaming SIMD extensions 2)
    		SS (Self-snoop)
    		HTT (Hyper-threading technology)
    		TM (Thermal monitor supported)
    		PBE (Pending break enabled)
    	Version: Intel Xeon(tm)
    	Voltage: 1.5 V
    	External Clock: 133 MHz
    	Max Speed: 3200 MHz
    	Current Speed: Unknown
    	Status: Populated, Disabled By User
    	Upgrade: ZIF Socket
    	L1 Cache Handle: 0x000C
    	L2 Cache Handle: 0x000E
    	L3 Cache Handle: 0x0010
    Alright! There is an ID. Clearly I will be able to find out exactly which CPU this is right? Clearly Intel has a way to search for processors by their ID... Yeah right. Intel has never heard of their own product IDs. Their documentation website is less than useless.

    And what is this? The second CPU is showing "Status: Populated, Disabled By User". Disabled by user? How do I enable it? I never disabled anything! Are you telling me my box has two virtual or whatever CPUs, but is only using one?!?

    We need to dig deeper. Let's ask lshw -C cpu:

    Code:
      *-cpu:0                 
           description: CPU
           product: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz
           vendor: Intel Corp.
           physical id: 4
           bus info: cpu@0
           version: 15.2.9
           slot: CPU1
           size: 2800MHz
           capacity: 3200MHz
           width: 32 bits
           clock: 133MHz
           capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid xtpr
           configuration: id=0
         *-logicalcpu:0
              description: Logical CPU
              physical id: 0.1
              width: 32 bits
              capabilities: logical
         *-logicalcpu:1
              description: Logical CPU
              physical id: 0.2
              width: 32 bits
              capabilities: logical
      *-cpu:1 DISABLED
           description: CPU
           vendor: Intel
           physical id: 5
           bus info: cpu@1
           version: 15.2.9
           slot: CPU2
           size: 2800MHz
           capacity: 3200MHz
           clock: 133MHz
           capabilities: ht
           configuration: id=1
         *-logicalcpu:0
              description: Logical CPU
              physical id: 1.1
              capabilities: logical
         *-logicalcpu:1
              description: Logical CPU
              physical id: 1.2
              capabilities: logical
      *-processor UNCLAIMED
           description: SCSI Processor
           product: 02R0980a S320  1
           vendor: IBM
           physical id: 0.8.0
           bus info: scsi@4:0.8.0
           version: 1
           serial: 1
           configuration: ansiversion=2
    Alright, this is getting more and more confusing. So apparently now there are 2 CPUs and a "SCSI Processor" which is UNCLAIMED.
    And of those two CPUs each have 2 "logicalcpu"s. But the second CPU is, again, DISABLED. So instead of using 4 logical CPUs I'm using only 2. This is very irritating.

    Another thing we can try is x86info. Let's see what it tells us:

    Code:
    x86info v1.25.  Dave Jones 2001-2009
    Feedback to <davej@redhat.com>.
    
    Found 2 CPUs
    MP Table:
    #	APIC ID	Version	State		Family	Model	Step	Flags
    #	 0	 0x11	 BSP, usable	 15	 2	 9	 0xfbff
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CPU #1
    EFamily: 0 EModel: 0 Family: 15 Model: 2 Stepping: 9
    CPU Model: Pentium 4 (Northwood) [D1]
    Processor name string: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz
    Type: 0 (Original OEM)	Brand: 11 (Intel® Xeon processor)
    Pentium 4 specific MSRs:
    /dev/cpu/0/msr: No such file or directory
    
    Number of cores per physical package=1
    Number of logical processors per socket=2
    Number of logical processors per core=2
    APIC ID: 0x0	Package: 0  Core: 0   SMT ID 0
    eax in: 0x00000000, eax = 00000002 ebx = 756e6547 ecx = 6c65746e edx = 49656e69
    eax in: 0x00000001, eax = 00000f29 ebx = 0002080b ecx = 00004400 edx = bfebfbff
    eax in: 0x00000002, eax = 665b5001 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 007b7040
    
    eax in: 0x80000000, eax = 80000004 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 00000000
    eax in: 0x80000001, eax = 00000000 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 00000000
    eax in: 0x80000002, eax = 20202020 ebx = 20202020 ecx = 20202020 edx = 20202020
    eax in: 0x80000003, eax = 6e492020 ebx = 286c6574 ecx = 58202952 edx = 286e6f65
    eax in: 0x80000004, eax = 20294d54 ebx = 20555043 ecx = 30382e32 edx = 007a4847
    
    Cache info
     Instruction trace cache: 12K uOps, 8-way associative.
     L1 Data cache: 8KB, sectored, 4-way associative. 64 byte line size.
     L2 cache: 512KB, sectored, 8-way associative. 64 byte line size.
    TLB info
     Instruction TLB: 4K, 2MB or 4MB pages, fully associative, 64 entries.
     Data TLB: 4KB or 4MB pages, fully associative, 64 entries.
    Feature flags:
     fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflsh ds acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe
    Extended feature flags:
     cntx-id xTPR
    
    Connector type: Socket478 (PGA478 Socket)
    
    Datasheet: http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...s/24988703.pdf
    	http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...s/29864304.pdf
    Errata: http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...pdt/249199.htm
    2.80GHz processor (estimate).
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CPU #2
    EFamily: 0 EModel: 0 Family: 15 Model: 2 Stepping: 9
    CPU Model: Pentium 4 (Northwood) [D1]
    Processor name string: Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.80GHz
    Type: 0 (Original OEM)	Brand: 11 (Intel® Xeon processor)
    Pentium 4 specific MSRs:
    
    Number of cores per physical package=1
    Number of logical processors per socket=2
    Number of logical processors per core=2
    APIC ID: 0x1	Package: 0  Core: 0   SMT ID 1
    eax in: 0x00000000, eax = 00000002 ebx = 756e6547 ecx = 6c65746e edx = 49656e69
    eax in: 0x00000001, eax = 00000f29 ebx = 0102080b ecx = 00004400 edx = bfebfbff
    eax in: 0x00000002, eax = 665b5001 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 007b7040
    
    eax in: 0x80000000, eax = 80000004 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 00000000
    eax in: 0x80000001, eax = 00000000 ebx = 00000000 ecx = 00000000 edx = 00000000
    eax in: 0x80000002, eax = 20202020 ebx = 20202020 ecx = 20202020 edx = 20202020
    eax in: 0x80000003, eax = 6e492020 ebx = 286c6574 ecx = 58202952 edx = 286e6f65
    eax in: 0x80000004, eax = 20294d54 ebx = 20555043 ecx = 30382e32 edx = 007a4847
    
    Cache info
     Instruction trace cache: 12K uOps, 8-way associative.
     L1 Data cache: 8KB, sectored, 4-way associative. 64 byte line size.
     L2 cache: 512KB, sectored, 8-way associative. 64 byte line size.
    TLB info
     Instruction TLB: 4K, 2MB or 4MB pages, fully associative, 64 entries.
     Data TLB: 4KB or 4MB pages, fully associative, 64 entries.
    Feature flags:
     fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflsh ds acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe
    Extended feature flags:
     cntx-id xTPR
    
    Connector type: Socket478 (PGA478 Socket)
    
    Datasheet: http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...s/24988703.pdf
    	http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...s/29864304.pdf
    Errata: http://developer.intel.com/design/pe...pdt/249199.htm
    2.80GHz processor (estimate).
    
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Sweet! Datasheet links!
    Oh wait... Intel removed them. ("He he, that will show those annoying customers trying to look up our product information!")

    And apparently my Xeon has a 478 socket? WHAT? Xeons have 604 or LGA sockets!
    Now suddenly there is talk about "Pentium 4 Northwood"? What the hell? How did we come from Xeon to P4?
    What is this sorcery? What CPU is this?
    Since when do Xeons have 478 sockets?
    Do I have hyperthreading?
    How many CPUs do I really have and why are half of them disabled?
    What is going on in this machine?
    Last edited by unimatrix; June 30th, 2012 at 02:11 AM.

  2. #2
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    This might be helpful:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...icroprocessors

    Search for "2800 MHz" and you find two CPUs with a D1 stepping and a 512KB cache: SL6WA (400MHZ FSB) or SL6VN and SL6YQ (533MHZ FSB). But I also see this line in one of your outputs:

    clock: 133MHz

    which means it is SL6VN or SL6YQ (533MHZ FSB) - basically just slight variations of the same CPU.

    http://ark.intel.com/products/27275/...he-533-MHz-FSB

    http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL6VN.html

    I take it the socket 478 annotation is just a mistake.

  3. #3
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    Well it could be that one... or not.
    The first two CPUID words match (although they are reversed), but the FSB is wrong (which could just mean that it's running slower because of a poor chipset).
    Also it does not support HyperThreading, which mine clearly does.

    What if the 478 socket is not a mistake?
    I found Intel also made a Pentium 4 called "Xeon" with 478 sockets and HyperThreading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rocessors#Xeon

    What if it's this one:
    http://ark.intel.com/products/27495/...he-800-MHz-FSB
    Last edited by unimatrix; June 30th, 2012 at 03:09 AM.

  4. #4
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    Quote Originally Posted by unimatrix View Post
    Well it could be that one... or not.
    The first two CPUID words match (although they are reversed)
    Not reversed. Hex numbers are encoded LSB to MSB - the ID you show starts with 29 0F which is 0f29 as shown in one of the links.

    Quote Originally Posted by unimatrix View Post
    but the FSB is wrong (which could just mean that it's running slower because of a poor chipset).
    Your FSB is 533MHZ (133MHZ FSB clock x 4) which matches the CPU I posted.

    Quote Originally Posted by unimatrix View Post
    Also it does not support HyperThreading, which mine clearly does.
    You're right about that - maybe there's a mistake somewhere. The Wikipedia page also says that the Xeon 2.8B ( SL6VN or SL6YQ ) support HT. Maybe Intel's page is mistaken.


    Quote Originally Posted by unimatrix View Post
    What if the 478 socket is not a mistake?

    I found Intel also made a Pentium 4 called "Xeon" with 478 sockets and HyperThreading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rocessors#Xeon
    but that link also says "603 (OLGA 603)" not Socket 478

    Quote Originally Posted by unimatrix View Post
    That one has an 800MHZ FSB and yours is only 533MHZ.

  5. #5
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    Alright, so is there a way to turn on HyperThreading and test if it really works?

  6. #6
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    If the CPU has hyperthreading, it should be on by default in Ubuntu. I know whenever I've booted Ubuntu (a modern version, anyway, 10.04 LTS or newer) on a computer with hyperthreading that it simply shows a logical CPU for each thread. On a P4 with hyperthreading, I'd see two logical CPUs. That means Ubuntu is using hyperthreading.

  7. #7
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    Re: A CPU mystery

    Make sure HT is turned on in BIOS.

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