# core 2 duo conroe E6600

## slackeast

I'm currently building a new pc that will use the new intel core 2 duo processor.

is it reasonable to expect to get gentoo working on the machine once I get the computer up?   I was thinking there might be issues because its a new processor.   I also noticed that there is separate downloads for amd64 architecture, does gentoo expect to do the same for intel 64 bit?  

thanks.

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## ercxy

 *slackeast wrote:*   

> I'm currently building a new pc that will use the new intel core 2 duo processor.
> 
> is it reasonable to expect to get gentoo working on the machine once I get the computer up?   I was thinking there might be issues because its a new processor.   I also noticed that there is separate downloads for amd64 architecture, does gentoo expect to do the same for intel 64 bit?  
> 
> thanks.

 

I don't think the new cpu will be a problem. You may not get specific optimizations right away but i686 should work. However the new cpu will come with new chipset, so you might have problems with your motherboard.

core2 duo will have EMT64 instructions so amd64/emt64 are AFAIK same thing, different names due to different brands.

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## ercxy

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=512&num=1

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Unfortunately, we do not have our Intel Core 2 Duo Conroe Linux numbers to share for this midnight primer, but we intend to have up some performance numbers in the very near future. When it comes to the GNU/Linux compatibility with these new Core 2 Duo components, there really should not be anything out of the ordinary. The NVIDIA nForce 500 AMD series run fine with the needed open-source modules under Linux on recent kernels, and the NVIDIA nForce 500 Intel Chipsets should offer the same compatibility. More on the compatibility information will come once we have completed all of our testing.
> 
> 

 

So there should be no problem.

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## slackeast

so when downloading an architechure tar.gz file, i should grab the amd64 not the x86?  the amd64 should work for EM64T.

thanks.

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## kernelOfTruth

Hi there,

in about one week I'll get my new Conroe-based system. I've some questions concerning kernel + gcc-optimizations:

CFLAGS: 

is -march=nocona OK when running gentoo in 32bit-version?

which setting should I choose when installing a 64bit-gentoo?

also -march=nocona ?!

KERNEL:

will the ENHANCED SPEEDSTEP functionality be supported just by running >=2.6.18 and enabling 

[*]Enhanced Speedstep and  

[*]Use ACPI tables to decode valid frequency/voltage pairs   ? 

or will I have to wait until some patches appear on the horizon?

=> is there a chance that the CPU will be damaged when running it on a kernel without specific patches for it ? (<== this question is very important to me since I haven't got that much money and can't afford to buy another if the cpu is fried ...)

Thanks in Advance   :Very Happy: 

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## brot

Some people at the Xtremesystems Forums are runing these under debian/knoppix already and they say that the core duo 2 is really a beast  :Wink: 

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## Pogue Mahone

Hello all

I just got my new system today. Core 2 duo E6600 and an Asus P5B motherboard.

I am still struggling to find out:

- what safe flags to use

- which processer architecture to download install files for (x86 or AMD64)

- which stage tarballs would be the best in my situation

- any other applicable info (like if there are features in certain kernels that supports conroe better etc.)

Thx in advance. I'll post my finding once I get it up and running. Don't expect too much tho - I'm no expert  :Smile: .

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## brot

As the core duo2 supports 64bit you have to use amd64 stages. I would use stage 3 as the other stages are unsupported since 2005.

A really good question is what -march setting you have to use. maybe someone here knows it already, but i am not sure if "nocona" is the right arch.

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## pieman

You don't need to use the 64bit though. You can still use X86 if you want. You can use either 64 or 32bit.

But the processor its self should work no matter what, just like stated above, you may run into trouble with the chipset for somethings.

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## Paapaa

Now that we start to see people installing Gentoo on their Core 2 Duo machines it would be nice to have a definite FAQ about how to install a 64-bit system.

1. What CFLAGS to use? Especially is -march=nocona the correct one?

2. What CHOST to use? Is "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" the one?

3. Which stage3 tarball is the correct? i686 or AMD64? If AMD64, then the stage and keywords should be immediately renamed as they don't reflect the reality.

PS. This might belong to "Installing Gentoo" so please move it if this is the case.

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## fangorn

to 3.

actually the name is reflecting reality as Intel copied a design from AMD and gave it a new name to cover up its shame  :Twisted Evil: 

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## Paapaa

Please, let's not make this a fanboy thread. Copying has been done so many times (by both sides) that this shouldn't make any difference. Gentoo shouldn't favor AMD over Intel or Intel over AMD and this is why I asked. Especially:

4. Is there anything AMD specific in AMD64 stage3 or does is also work with EM64T?

5. Is there anything AMD specific in the keyword amd64 or do the packages also work with EM64T?

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## fangorn

maybe I should attach <cynism> </cynism> tags next time

AFAIK besides the processor type in kernel there are no architecture specific settings in the arch. But I am not a developer and have never tested it on an Intel as I have not bought a machine in the last half a year.

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## Archangel1

 *Paapaa wrote:*   

> Please, let's not make this a fanboy thread. Copying has been done so many times (by both sides) that this shouldn't make any difference. Gentoo shouldn't favor AMD over Intel or Intel over AMD and this is why I asked. Especially:
> 
> 4. Is there anything AMD specific in AMD64 stage3 or does is also work with EM64T?
> 
> 5. Is there anything AMD specific in the keyword amd64 or do the packages also work with EM64T?

 

No, I believe AMD64 and EM64T are compatible. So you should be using amd64 stages on a 64-bit Core 2.

As far as I know the name 'amd64' was chosen because AMD brought out a 64-bit superset of x86, and at the time there weren't any Intel chips using it. It had to be called something, and amd64 is less awkward to type than x86_64  :Smile: 

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## PaveQ

 *Archangel1 wrote:*   

>  *Paapaa wrote:*   Please, let's not make this a fanboy thread. Copying has been done so many times (by both sides) that this shouldn't make any difference. Gentoo shouldn't favor AMD over Intel or Intel over AMD and this is why I asked. Especially:
> 
> 4. Is there anything AMD specific in AMD64 stage3 or does is also work with EM64T?
> 
> 5. Is there anything AMD specific in the keyword amd64 or do the packages also work with EM64T? 
> ...

 

As far as I remember amd64 and EM64T are not fully compatible, there's few instructions that differ. But gentoo's stages should work with both. But if you then change generic 64 cflag to opteron64 example, then it won't work with EM64T.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM64T#Differences_between_AMD64_and_EM64T

That's what you'r looking for. Cflag -march=nocona is for EM64T, and -march=athlon64 for AMD64.   :Wink: 

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## Genone

 *Paapaa wrote:*   

> 2. What CHOST to use? Is "x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" the one?

 

For a 64 bit system, yes. For a 32 bit system it would be i686-pc-linux-gnu

 *Quote:*   

> 3. Which stage3 tarball is the correct? i686 or AMD64?

 

See above.

 *Quote:*   

> If AMD64, then the stage and keywords should be immediately renamed as they don't reflect the reality.

 

They won't be renamed. There is no benefit in doing that, but it would cause an enormous amount of trouble.Last edited by Genone on Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## tkdfighter

AMD64 and EM64T are compatible with each other. The only reason why you should use -march=nocona on a Core 2 is because -march=[k8,opteron,amd64,...] sets the 3Dnow! Cflag, which Intel does not support. See the GCC i386 and x86_64 options manual for more details.

I also hope for all you Core 2 owners that the GCC devs will make a Core2 option, because Nocona is a Pentium 4, which is based on the Netburst architecture.

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## nonotme

 *tkdfighter wrote:*   

> AMD64 and EM64T are compatible with each other. The only reason why you should use -march=nocona on a Core 2 is because -march=[k8,opteron,amd64,...] sets the 3Dnow! Cflag, which Intel does not support. See the GCC i386 and x86_64 options manual for more details.
> 
> I also hope for all you Core 2 owners that the GCC devs will make a Core2 option, because Nocona is a Pentium 4, which is based on the Netburst architecture.

 

I'm considering a Pentium D 805, which supports EM64T. If the 3Dnow! extensions are the only difference, would it be possible to set "-march=athlon64 -mno-3dnow"? And if so, is it worth doing? Or am I completely off base here?

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## agent_jdh

 *nonotme wrote:*   

> I'm considering a Pentium D 805, which supports EM64T. If the 3Dnow! extensions are the only difference, would it be possible to set "-march=athlon64 -mno-3dnow"? And if so, is it worth doing? Or am I completely off base here?

 

Is the Pentium D not a Nocona core?  Why not just use that instead of athlon64?

Anyways, Core 2 Duo is where it's at now, save up your pennies and get one of them!

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## Monkeh

 *nonotme wrote:*   

>  *tkdfighter wrote:*   AMD64 and EM64T are compatible with each other. The only reason why you should use -march=nocona on a Core 2 is because -march=[k8,opteron,amd64,...] sets the 3Dnow! Cflag, which Intel does not support. See the GCC i386 and x86_64 options manual for more details.
> 
> I also hope for all you Core 2 owners that the GCC devs will make a Core2 option, because Nocona is a Pentium 4, which is based on the Netburst architecture. 
> 
> I'm considering a Pentium D 805, which supports EM64T. If the 3Dnow! extensions are the only difference, would it be possible to set "-march=athlon64 -mno-3dnow"? And if so, is it worth doing? Or am I completely off base here?

 

Why would you want to? Pentium D's use nocona.

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## nonotme

 *Monkeh wrote:*   

> Why would you want to? Pentium D's use nocona.

 

Okay. I had been reading alot of posts about it, which just left me rather confused.  :Smile: 

Thanks for the info.

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## Naib

I am planning a major system upgrade towards the end of the year and I am looking into the Core2 CPU as well as the northbridge being intel's 975X or P965 chipsets

does the present liveCD (I guess 2006.1) kernel support these (mainly the southbridge chips) 

ie would I be able to boot and start the install?

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## FcukThisGame

By the end of the year I'm almost positive that the core2/chipsets will be seamless... There are people in these forums with core 2's that are working fine...

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## Naib

Sweet!! my concern really isn't with the actual Core2 CPU (that I beleive is supported) but more with the "glue-chips" it needs ie the northbridge and such which are comming out on Core2 mobo's

As long as there is some method to install I will get it installed, even it if means using a Ubuntu liveCD (to do hte Gentoo install) if they have a new release by the time I decide to upgrade

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## nixnut

Merged two threads from Gentoo Chat here.

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## CompNerd

Most of the hardware works, though beware that if your motherboard has a JMicron IDE controller, then you will not be able to boot the livecd off of it.  In order to get that to work you will need to pass the all-generic-ide parameter to the kernel when booting.

Also, you will want to use the 2.6.18 kernel to ensure that the scheduler is able to use both cores.

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## kernelOfTruth

You could also try out either my:

 "stable" 

or  "experimental" 

livecds with JMicron-Support

then later, if your system's up you can try out 2.6.18-rc4-mm1 or 2.6.18-rc4-mm2 [are they officially supported by gentoo ?] (those two should work fine with Jmicron)

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## Edward Nigma

Right now i´m also building a new system with a E6600 but i´m not sure wich motherboard i will buy.

What about SATA DVD-Roms with Linux. Are they supportet?

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## agent_jdh

 *kernelOfTruth wrote:*   

> then later, if your system's up you can try out 2.6.18-rc4-mm1 or 2.6.18-rc4-mm2 [are they officially supported by gentoo ?] (those two should work fine with Jmicron)

 

There are certainly mm-sources ebuilds (2.6.18-rc6-mm2 for ~arch now), don't know how official they are - I guess as official as any other kernel that's in the vanilla portage tree.

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## firesox

Hi all,

I want to build a k8 system inside a nocona installation. As I read both archs are nearly the same, except that in k8 the 3dnow flag is set. So, if it is set: can a nocona system handle that inside a chroot installation on this nocona installation?

tia

Edit: Is there any generic arch like i686, but for 64 bit systems?

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