Intel Core 2

Resources

This article describes the setup of an Intel Core 2 Solo/Duo/Quad processor.

The Intel Core 2 line of processors supports both the 32-bit and 64-bit mode. The general pros and cons can be read about in the Wikipedia article. By now only very few applications do not support 64-bit mode or work in a 32-bit compatibility mode.

Installation

BIOS

If you have a dual-core or a quad-core Intel Core 2 CPU, you should first check if all cores are enabled:

user $cat /proc/cpuinfo

If not, enable options like APIC, MultiCore, etc. in the BIOS.

Kernel

Activate the following kernel options.

For a single-core processor:

KERNEL

Processor type and features  --->
    [ ] Symmetric multi-processing support
    Subarchitecture Type ()  --->
        (X) PC-compatible
    Processor family ()  --->
        (X) Core 2/newer Xeon

For a dual-core or a quad-core processor:

KERNEL

Processor type and features  --->
    [*] Symmetric multi-processing support
    Subarchitecture Type ()  --->
        (X) PC-compatible
    Processor family ()  --->
        (X) Core 2/newer Xeon

    dual-core
    (2) Maximum number of CPUs (2-256)

    quad-core
    (4) Maximum number of CPUs (2-256)

Software

FILE /etc/portage/make.conf

CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3"

FILE /etc/portage/make.confPenryn and newer

CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 sse4 sse4a sse4_1"

FILE /etc/portage/make.confCFLAGS

# Note: -fomit-frame-pointer only makes a difference on x86 since it is included in -O2 on amd64
CFLAGS="-march=native -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

FILE /etc/portage/make.confMAKEOPTS (Intel Core 2 Solo)

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

FILE /etc/portage/make.confMAKEOPTS (Intel Core 2 Duo)

MAKEOPTS="-j3"

FILE /etc/portage/make.confMAKEOPTS (Intel Core 2 Quad)

MAKEOPTS="-j5"

Temperature sensor

See the lm_sensors article and activate the kernel driver coretemp.

Virtualization

Most of these processors support Intel VT. Exceptions include:

Merom <T5600
Allendale E4xxx

See the Virtualization category.