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CPUID and CPU-Z

CPUID is the company that supplies the utility CPU-Z and CPUID is also the name the Intel give their own CPU identifying software utility
Version for 64 bit operating systems

Here are a few screen-shots of the Intel P7350 (Thanks to Jim D.....) - The P7350 was a "Mystery" processor from Intel for the longest time. No specifications were to be found on the Intel website and I had pages on this website that highlighted this fact. Since that time I have removed them and focused more on Vitrualization techniques - however, there are still those on the Intel Users forum that are harping on about the fact that Intel have not been up-front and straight with their customers (see Q and A below)

The Intel Processor Ident Utility Tab2 - this shows the fact that VT is NOT enabled on this processor (at the Chip level)

We can see that the L2 Cache is 3M and the System bus IS 1066MHz - TF can't find any 880MHz System Bus P series (45nm) processors)

We can also see that the P7350 does NOT support VT (Virtualization Technology) (nor does the P7450) - this is supposedly needed for Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 - Even if it is not turned off in system BIOS

This is particularly the case of computer equipment produced for the "business" segment, such as the Dell Vostro series, some of which have OEM processors such as the T5670 - which does not have VT capability. These customers should be using MED-V not XP-Mode

The second tab shows the Streaming SIMD Extension scheme - the P7350 has SSE4

Below you used to be able see that the notebook these shots were taken had EDB (Execution Disable Bit) enabled.

CPU-Z

Here is a shot of the AMD - see also memory timing

AMD Phenom II 550

Some quotes found on forums:

David Ott, maybe your getting confused with MSR 3Ah as the CPUID VMX flag is not affected by the BIOS.

The point is although the Intel documentation states the Intel P7350 supports VMX (VT) it has been shown that at least some P7350s do not support VMX, perhaps all P7350s do not support VMX. Even if Hasse wanted to enable P7350 VT through the BIOS they probably could not since the CPU in question does NOT appear to support it. What if the OP wishes to use an Open BIOS or even perhaps write his own which would include VT? He has bought this computer expecting the CPU to have VT support and it seems it doesn't.

Here is a link (this page) showing Intel's own Processor Identification Utility reporting that a P7350 does not support VT. Please take a look for yourself.

Other postings on the thread (60686) seem to be particularly venomous against Intel, some even suggesting a class action suite against them! While this is carrying things a bit far Intel are culpable with regard to the "under-hand" way that they present some of their marketing information. In particular that regarding features such as VT-x and VT-d.

My bone of contention was that Intel DID NOT TELL their customers ANYTHING about the P7350 processor when it was being sold in laptops around the world. This made it impossible for customers to make an informed choice when deciding on the equipment they would purchase. The fact that Intel "Left out a Fuse" in their chip design and manufacture is just a marketing decision on their part.

The seemingly endless quest that some Internet posters have in trying to get their equipment to perform in ways that were never intended is a continuing amusement to me! Things like unlocking System BIOS to enable VT on computers with processors that don't support it!

Links