Intel SDSi, or software distributed processor upgrades

Patch Of course, it does not tell us what specific features the Intel Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) system or technology can offer us, and according to the Phoronix server, this should only apply to Xeon processors. And it is conceivable that SDSi will be a new feature of the Sapphire Rapids generation.-

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Phoronix also points out that already in the era of the first Core “Nehalem” processors, Intel tried to offer such a feature. At that time, it was an Intel Upgrade Service, and specifically, owners of weaker processors could increase their beats after paying a certain amount, unlock part of the deactivated cache, or turn on Hyper-threading.

Now it could theoretically be a higher number of cores, but we will see if it will be an opportunity to improve the basic specifications of processors, or it will be “just” instructions or perhaps something on the motives of Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel VROC), which uses the built-in Volume Management Device (VMD) hardware, which must be activated with a key.

And what if it’s something completely different? They should also use Sapphire Rapids FPGA from Altera, that is, a programmable chip, so in that case it is possible that Intel will distribute software upgrades via SDSi, which will be designed specifically for this chip. Then they can offer basically anything. However, the FPGA just photographed on the prototype Sapphire Rapids processor does not look exactly like a chip that could serve as a powerful accelerator. But what about an enhanced security system? But these are just our speculations. –

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What is certain, however, is that SDSi is designed to activate the additional capabilities of the processor itself and its silicon, through a purchased license, as stated directly in the description of the technology from Intel itself. The Authentication Key Certificate (AKC) is then written to NVRAM’s internal memory and used to create the required Capability Activation Payload (CAP) token, which already activates the function. From this description, it seems that it will not be a matter of programming a part of the processor, but rather really just activating the hardware with which it was already delivered.

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