Written for computer hardware and software engineers, this book details the internal architecture of the processor, providing insight into how it translates legacy x86 code into RISC instructions, executes them out-of-order, and then reassembles the result to match the original program flow. In detailing the processor's internal operations, the book reveals why the processor generates various transaction types, and how it watches bus traffic generated by other entities to ensure cache consistency. The bus protocol is described in detail in a logical, building-block manner.