Thursday, March 14, 2013

/proc/cpuinfo, what cpu flags mean?

I alwas keep forgetting what CPU flags mean in Linux and what CPU architecture I have.

http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Gentoo:/proc/cpuinfo

Intel flags (This table is currently identical with /usr/include/asm/cpufeature.h. Hopefully some hardware god will share his wisdom and expand this table. )
FlagDescriptionCommon in processor types
fpuOnboard (x87) Floating Point Unit
vmeVirtual Mode Extension
deDebugging Extensions
psePage Size Extensions
tscTime Stamp Counter: support for RDTSC and WRTSC instructions
msrModel-Specific Registers
paePhysical Address Extensions: ability to access 64GB of memory; only 4GB can be accessed at a time though
mceMachine Check Architecture
cx8CMPXCHG8 instruction
apicOnboard Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
sepSysenter/Sysexit Instructions; SYSENTER is used for jumps to kernel memory during system calls, and SYSEXIT is used for jumps back to the user code
mtrrMemory Type Range Registers
pgePage Global Enable
mcaMachine Check Architecture
cmovCMOV instruction
patPage Attribute Table
pse3636-bit Page Size Extensions: allows to map 4 MB pages into the first 64GB RAM, used with PSE.
pnProcessor Serial-Number; only available on Pentium 3
clflushCLFLUSH instruction
dtesDebug Trace Store
acpiACPI via MSR
mmxMultiMedia Extension
fxsrFXSAVE and FXSTOR instructions
sseStreaming SIMD Extensions. Single instruction multiple data. Lets you do a bunch of the same operation on different pieces of input in a single clock tick.
sse2Streaming SIMD Extensions-2. More of the same.
selfsnoopCPU self snoop
accAutomatic Clock Control
IA64IA-64 processor Itanium.
htHyperThreading. Introduces an imaginary second processor that doesn't do much but lets you run threads in the same process a bit quicker.
nxNo Execute bit. Prevents arbitrary code running via buffer overflows.
pniPrescott New Instructions aka. SSE3
vmxIntel Vanderpool hardware virtualization technology
svmAMD "Pacifica" hardware virtualization technology
lm"Long Mode," which means the chip supports the AMD64 instruction set
tm"Thermal Monitor" Thermal throttling with IDLE instructions. Usually hardware controlled in response to CPU temperature.
tm2"Thermal Monitor 2" Decrease speed by reducing multipler and vcore.
est"Enhanced SpeedStep"



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