The Intel Core microarchitecture (previously known as the Intel Next-Generation Micro-Architecture, or NGMA) is a multi-core processor microarchitecture unveiled by Intel in Q1 2006. It is based around an updated version of the Yonah core and could be considered the latest iteration of the Intel P6 microarchitecture, which traces its history back to the 1995 Pentium Pro. The extreme power consumption of NetBurst-based processors and the resulting inability to effectively increase clock speed was the primary reason Intel abandoned the NetBurst architecture.

The Intel Core Microarchitecture was designed by the Intel Israel (IDC) team that previously designed the Pentium M mobile processor. The architecture features lower power usage than before and is competitive with AMD in heat production. It has multiple cores and hardware virtualization support (marketed as Intel VT), as well as Intel 64 and SSSE3.

The first processors that used this architecture were code-named Merom, Conroe, and Woodcrest; Merom is for mobile computing, Conroe is for desktop systems, and Woodcrest is for servers and workstations. While architecturally identical, the three processor lines differ in the socket used, bus speed, and power consumption. Mainstream Core-based processors are branded Pentium Dual Core and low end branded Celeron; server and workstation Core-based processors are branded Xeon, while desktop and mobile Core-based processors are branded as Core 2.

Despite their name, processors sold as Intel Core do not actually use the Core microarchitecture. The Intel Core Microarchitecture is designed from the ground up, but similar to the Pentium M microarchitecture in design philosophy. The pipeline is 14 stages long — less than half of Prescott's, a signature feature of wide order execution cores.

Core's execution unit is 4 issues wide, compared to the 3-issue cores of P6, P-M (Banias, Dothan, and Yonah), and NetBurst microarchitectures. The new architecture is a dual core design with linked L1 cache and shared L2 cache engineered for maximum performance per watt and improved scalability.

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