Right Processor Family in Kernel configuration for Yonah

Bourlotieris · n00b Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 5

I am installing Gentoo at my laptop which has a Dual Core Pentium T2080 (Yonah) and I must say I am confused about which family I should choose at the kernel configuration. I've thoroughly searched this forum and the wiki but there seems to be a general disagreement about this subject. In make.conf I use the "-march=prescott" flag after what I've read. Right now I've compiled the kernel with the "Pentium M" family setting. From your experience is this the best setting or should I opt for Pentium 4 or something different?

Mad Merlin · Veteran Joined: 09 May 2005 Posts: 1155

Core 1 (Duo|Solo)* is essentially a Pentium-M, completely different from a Pentium 4. You definitely don't want -march=prescott, use -march=pentium-m.

For Core 2 Duos, there's not much concensus about pentium-m vs nocona (as the former is a more similar architecture, but the latter more closely matches the MMX/SSE and 64-bit abilities of Core 2), but GCC 4.3 now supports -march=core2, which should end the quibbling.

* Core 1 (Duo|Solo) is a disambiguation of Core (Duo|Solo), the distinction is quite important as Core 1 and Core 2 are actually not that similar... Core 2 is the first chip based on the Core microarchitecture (yeah, brilliant naming Intel), and there is no Core 2 Solo, only Core 2 Duo (and Quad, now). Also, Core 1 is 32-bit only, Core 2 supports 64-bit.
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Bourlotieris · n00b Joined: 24 May 2007 Posts: 5

The "Safe Flags" page of the wiki recommends -march=prescott though (it has a link to a reply from an Intel guy too). It has to do with the sse3 capabilities of Yonah. From what I've read I am keen to leave this as it is, what I want to know is which Processor Family I should choose in the Kernel configuration.