EECS 298-11: CAD Seminar
Wednesday, April 9, 1997, 5pm
Cory Hall--Hogan Room

	Multiprocessor Validation of the Pentium(R) Pro Processor
		Debbie Marr (speaker), 
		Richard Zucker 
		Subramanian Natrajan
		Intel Corp., Oregon

Multiprocessor functionality and performance is a key feature of 
the Pentium(R) Pro processor.  The Pentium Pro processor was targeted
for the server market which requires the high performance levels 
enabled by multiprocessor systems.  This was also Intel's first 
introduction of glueless multiprocessor functionality in its initial 
high-volume ramp of a new Intel architecture processor generation.

We will describe the methodology used in validating the Pentium(R) Pro 
multiprocessor systems to meet the functionality and performance 
requirements of the server market.  Pre-silicon functional validation 
involved designing self-checking test templates and validating on both 
the processor and chipset RTL models.  This was followed by extensive 
post-silicon stress and platform-level testing.  The performance 
verification task was accomplished by pre-silicon analysis of 
microarchitecture features at the RTL-level and the development
of a high-level performance model, followed by early post-silicon 
performance verification and benchmarking.  The early and extensive 
functional and performance multiprocessor validation effort was crucial 
in identifying and fixing problems well before product introduction 
and was key to the successful Pentium Pro processor launch in just 
eleven months after first silicon.