Intel Pentium Mobile 957 - AV8062700852600

Intel Sandy Bridge micro-architecture was launched in January 2011, and the first three mobile Pentium microprocessors, based on this technology, were introduced in June 2011. One of these processors was ultra-low voltage (ULV) Pentium 957, aimed at inexpensive thin-and-light notebooks. Main advantages of this model are very low power consumption, combined with solid processor performance, suitable for common office tasks and simple multitasking.

Unlike Westmere dual-core processors, that had different chip components implemented on two separate dies, the Pentium 957 packs everything on a single die, manufactured using 32nm process. The integrated components are:

• Two CPU cores. Each core incorporates dedicated 64 KB level 1 and 256 KB level 2 caches. The cores do not support HyperThreading technology, therefore each core can execute only one thread at once.
• 2 MB level 3 cache, shared between the cores and an integrated graphics controller.
• Memory controller, that supports two DDR3 memory channels with data rates up to 1333 MHz.
• Direct Media Interface (DMI) 2.0, used to communicate with peripheral devices. Compared to previous generation of Westmere mobile CPUs, the second generation DMI on Sandy Bridge CPUs provides twice as much bandwidth.
• Graphics processing unit (GPU) is HD-capable, although it doesn't include video technologies, like Quick Sync, InTru 3D and Clear Video HD. The GPU also lacks 3D acceleration functionality.

Intel 957 processor operates at 1.2 GHz, and supports the most fundamental technologies and instruction set extensions, such as Execute Disable bit and Intel 64, extensively used by modern operating systems. The CPU does not support AES and AVX instructions, that were introduced in the last couple of years. Also, the Pentium 957 lacks Turbo Boost and Vpro features, which are common for more expensive Core i5 and Core i7 families. At the same time, low-power features on this model are identical to more expensive Intel chips. This includes several low-power states, that are used when one or both cores are idle, and Enhanced SpeedStep technology, which reduces power consumption of active cores by reducing their frequency and operating voltage. Thermal Design Power of this microprocessor is 17 Watt.

The Pentium 957 is produced in a Ball Grid Array (BGA) package. Processors in BGA packages are usually soldered on a motherboard, and cannot be easily replaced or upgraded.