• General

• Supported Processors

• Supported Operating Systems

• Supported Languages

• Where is the VTune Web page?

• Who would want to use VTune?

• How much of an increase in speed can be expected from using VTune on an application?

• Will VTune give the clock counts of processor instructions?

• What are the technical "limits" of VTune, from the stand point of size of executables, size and number of source files or debug symbol files?

• I do not have any source for the binary file I want to examine. Can I use VTune when there is no source available?

• Which processors does VTune support ?

• Will it work with non-Intel processors?

• Does VTune work in a multiprocessor environment, such as a dual Pentium® II processor system?

• How would VTune collect valid statistics if codes are performed concurrently?

• Does VTune support MMX™ instructions? Does VTune disassemble the executables down to their MMX Technology origin ?

• Which Operating Systems does VTune support?

• Can I profile application which is multi-threaded using VTune?

• Which compilers does VTune work with?

• Does VTune work with 16-bit compilers? 32-bit compilers?

• Does VTune work with FORTRAN?

General

Where is the VTune Web page?
It is located at http://developer.intel.com/design/perftool/vtune

Who would want to use VTune ?
C/C++, Visual* Basic, Java* and Assembly programmers will find VTune useful. Developers of drivers, applications, libraries, and even operating systems code will benefit.. For latest information, please check the Case Studies and What People Say About VTune links: http://developer.intel.com/design/perftool/vtune

How much of an increase in speed can be expected from using VTune on an application?
It depends entirely upon a combination of the application, the processor it is running on, and your efforts in optimization. Some VTune users have seen up to 11x improvement.

Will VTune give the clock counts of processor instructions?
Yes, VTune's Static Analysis gives clock counts for the Pentium® processor and the Pentium processor with MMX™ technology. VTune cannot give clock counts for the Pentium Pro or Pentium II processors due to the optimized microarchitecture used in these processors. A future release of VTune will provide Dynamic Analysis for these processors which will give estimates of clock counts.

What are the technical "limits" of VTune, from the stand point of size of executables, size and number of source files or debug symbol files?
Each situation is different, but the primary limits are generally free memory and hard disk space.

I do not have any source for the binary file I want to examine. Can I use VTune when there is no source available?
Yes. VTune's unobtrusive sampling will detect most activity of a software module in the system. The Modules Report lists the name of the module. Any module (binary) may be disassembled whether there is debug information or source available as long as the user can identify where the module is located.

Supported Processors

Which processors does VTune support ?
VTune supports (can provide performance information for) the Intel486™ processor, Pentium processor, Pentium processor with MMX technology, Pentium Pro and Pentium II processors. Visit the web site: http://developer.intel.com/design/perftool/vtune/keyfeat2.htm for a detailed description of VTune's key features. Some of the advice is very specific to the Pentium processor but this is usually evident from the advice.

Will it work with non-Intel processors?
We have not tested any non-Intel processors but VTune's Time-Based Sampling mode should work. Most of the advice the C Coach gives is independent of processor since the code transformations recommended will likely improve the code generated by any compiler.

Does VTune work in a multiprocessor environment, such as a dual PentiumŪ II processor system?
Yes, VTune works in multiprocessor environments. Note that VTune's display of data in a multiprocessor system does not distinguish code executing on different processors. It appears as if only one processor was present, running at twice the actual clock speed of the processors.

How would VTune collect valid statistics if codes are performed concurrently?

Intel is considering the addition of a feature to VTune that would include the thread id as part of the sample data collected during a monitor session. During a monitor session, the VTune sampling VxD would capture the processor and thread id of the executing code. So if threads are executing the code concurrently, VTune will be able to distinguish them. But, this view is not available at this time.

Does VTune support MMX™ instructions? Does VTune disassemble the executables down to their MMX Technology origin ?
Yes. VTune disassembles all instructions for the processors it supports. Any MMX instructions in the code are disassembled. Also available is Dynamic Analysis (simulation) for the Pentium® processor with MMX technology.

Supported Operating Systems

Which Operating Systems does VTune support?
It supports both Windows* 95 (retail and OSR2) and Windows NT* 4.0. Support will be provided for future versions of Windows as they are released. There are no plans to support any of the UNIX operating systems.

Can I profile application which is multi-threaded using VTune?
You can profile an app that is multi-threaded, but the data will not be separated by the thread id. Currently what you see is only a "MODULE" view, not by process or by thread.

Supported Languages

Which compilers does VTune work with?
It has been tested with MS Visual C++*, MS PowerStation FORTRAN, Watcom* C++ 11.0, Borland* C++ 4.x and 5.0, Borland Delphi*, Symantec* C++, Microsoft Visual J++*, Symantec* Visual Cafe* 2.0, Microsoft Visual Basic* 5.0 - Natively compiled with debug version, Borland C++ Builder*2.x, and the Intel® C/C++ compiler plug-in.

For all practical purposes, VTune is language independent. As long as VTune's symbol processing understands the debug file format produced by a compiler and the natively compiled code for a language, VTune can analyze it. Please check the web site at: http://developer.intel.com/design/perftool/vtune/prod_rev.htm

Does VTune work with 16-bit compilers? 32-bit compilers?
Yes, it works with both 16-bit and 32-bit C compilers, as well as assembly code. It even reports the percentage of executed code which is 32-bit and 16-bit, and identifies which modules are 32-bit.

Does VTune work with FORTRAN?
All parts of VTune support FORTRAN programs. As long as the symbol information is available in one of the formats supported by VTune, the user will be able to sample and analyze/view any source. We do not support FORTRAN 90 extensions yet.