Vol. 3A 1-1
CHAPTER 1
ABOUT THIS MANUAL
The IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s Manual, Volume 3A: System Programming
Guide, Part 1 (order number 253668) and the IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s
Manual, Volume 3B: System Programming Guide, Part 2 (order number 253669) are part of a
set that describes the architecture and programming environment of all IA-32 Intel Architecture
processors. The other volumes in this set are:
• IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s Manual, Volume 1: Basic Architecture
(order number 253665).
• IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s Manual, Volumes 2A & 2B: Instruction
Set Reference (order numbers 253666 and 253667).
The IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software Developer’s Manual, Volume 1, describes the basic
architecture and programming environment of an IA-32 processor. The IA-32 Intel® Architec-
ture Software Developer’s Manual, Volumes 2A & 2B, describe the instruction set of the
processor and the opcode structure. These volumes apply to application programmers and to
programmers who write operating systems or executives. The IA-32 Intel® Architecture Soft-
ware Developer’s Manual, Volumes 3A & 3B, describe the operating-system support environ-
ment of an IA-32 processor and IA-32 processor compatibility information. These volumes
target operating-system and BIOS designers. In addition, IA-32 Intel® Architecture Software
Developer’s Manual, Volume 3B, addresses the programming environment for classes of soft-
ware that host operating systems.
1.1 IA-32 PROCESSORS COVERED IN THIS MANUAL
This manual includes information pertaining primarily to the most recent IA-32 processors,
which include the Pentium
®
processors, the P6 family processors, the Pentium 4 processors, the
Intel
®
Xeon
®
processors, the Pentium M processors, the Pentium D processors, and the Pentium
processor Extreme Edition. The P6 family processors are those IA-32 processors based on the
P6 family microarchitecture, which include the Pentium Pro, Pentium II, and Pentium III proces-
sors. The Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, Pentium D processors, and Pentium processor Extreme
Editions are based on the Intel NetBurst
®
microarchitecture.
