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News Haswell bug leads Intel to disable TSX

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 13 Aug 2014.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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  2. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    With Haswell over two years old I'm surprised a bug has been discovered after all this time in the market, with Broadwell just around the corner I'm also surprised they are planning of fixing it versus just leaving TSX disabled. It does raise the question that if the bug has only just been discovered has it also crept into Broadwell ?
     
  3. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    So how do Intel disable all the TSX Haswell chips out there already? Is it just disabled by driver updates?
     
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Microcode updates. They'll be built into motherboards from now on, shipped as BIOS updates to existing motherboards, and through operating system updates like Windows Update.
     
  5. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Normally the microcode is updated when the BIOS is flashed, AFAIK.

    Darn Mr G beat me to it :thumb: And with a more correct answer to boot.
     
  6. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Well, that's embarrassing... But with the insane complexity of today's CPUs not entirely surprising.
     
  7. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    For a minute I imagined Intel having a secret backdoor to all the processors out there.
     
  8. iggy

    iggy Minimodder

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    Product not working as intended? sounds like cause for refunds all round then.
     
  9. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    So, now this "major feature" is no more, will they be dropping the price of Haswell?

    Thought not.
     
  10. faugusztin

    faugusztin I *am* the guy with two left hands

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    Feature not used means bugs in it are not found. The fact that it was found after nearly 2 years is simply because no one really used them so far.
     
  11. r3loaded

    r3loaded Minimodder

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    While it's too late for Intel to fix TSX support in Haswell, Haswell-E and Haswell-EP, it'll be a consolation to know that TSX will be fixed for Haswell-EX. Though to be fair, a Haswell-EX user would be the type most likely to benefit from TSX.

    Also, this is why E/EP arrives a year after the desktop/mobile chips and EX takes another year. Server customers need all the extra testing and validation that goes into them to catch really awkward bugs like these. Logic design is hard (speaking from personal experience!)
     

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