Technical Product Specification

Table Of Contents
Functional Architecture Intel
®
Server Board S5400SF TPS
Revision 2.02
Intel order number: D92944-007
16
Intel
®
EM64T operating modes are not manually selectable. The system BIOS, hardware drivers,
operating system, and applications that are in use determine the operating mode in use.
In support of Intel
®
EM64T, the system BIOS does the following:
Detects whether the processor is Intel
®
Extended Memory 64 Technology capable
Initializes the SMBASE for each processor
Detects the appropriate SMRAM State Save Map used by the processor
Enables Intel
®
EM64T during memory initialization, if necessary
3.1.5 Execute Disable Bit Feature
The Execute Disable Bit feature (XD bit) is an enhancement to the Intel
®
IA-32 architecture. An
IA-32 processor that supports the Execute Disable Bit feature can prevent data pages from
being used by malicious software to execute code. An IA-32 processor with the Execute Disable
Bit feature can provide memory protection in either of the following modes:
Legacy protected mode if Physical Address Extension (PAE) is enabled.
IA-32e mode when 64-bit extension technology is enabled (Entering the IA-32e mode
requires enabling PAE).
The Execute Disable Bit does not introduce any new instructions. It requires operating systems
to operate in a PAE-enabled environment and establish a page-granular protection policy for
memory. The Execute Disable Bit can be enabled and disabled in the BIOS setup. The default
behavior is enabled.
3.1.6 Multi-Core Processor Support
The BIOS does the following:
Initializes all processor cores
Installs all NMI handlers for all dual-core processors
Leaves initialized AP in CLI/HLT loop
Initializes stack for all APs
The BIOS setup provides an option to selectively enable or disable multi-core processor support.
The default behavior is enabled.
The BIOS creates additional entries in the ACPI MP tables to describe the dual core processors.
The SMBIOS Type 4 structure shows only the physical processors installed. It does not
describe the virtual processors.
The BIOS creates entries in the Multi-Processor Specification, Version 1.4 tables to describe
dual-core processors.
3.1.7 Intel
®
Virtualization Technology
Intel
®
Virtualization Technology is designed to support multiple software environments sharing
the same hardware resources. Each software environment may consist of operating system and
applications. The Intel
®
Virtualization Technology can be enabled or disabled in the BIOS setup.
The default behavior is disabled.