Confused about Intel vPro/AMT technlogies

Question

I'm a bit confused about Intel vPro/AMT and processors/motherboards supporting these features.

If I install an Intel i3 processor - a CPU not vPro compatible - on a motherboard compatible with these technologies, the whole support will be fully and automatically disabled or I'll miss only the CPU-related diagnostics entries in AMT?

In other words, what sub-features of these technlogies I'll miss installing an i3 CPU instead of an i5/i7? All, some parts, ... ?

As vPro includes AMT, being not vPro compatible automatically means AMT will be disabled?

Thanks in advance.

PS: I'm asking this question here because vPro/AMT are primarily marketed for remote administration purposes and because a client (sysadmin) explicitly asked me about this "opportunity". If this question is OT, here are my apologies.

Answer 1

Intel vPro technology is a platform that requires specific ingredients - you need to have a vPro-capable processor and a vPro-capable motherboard. You can look up processors and boards on http://ark.intel.com and that site will tell you exactly which functionality is available on each component. One thing that I've learned about that site is that vPro capable processors are not called out.

For the 2010 platform, these processors are vPro-capable:

Core i5-650, 660, 670, 680 Core i7-860, 860s, 870, 870s, 880

Does that help? I'm the Community Manager at the Intel vPro Expert Center (www.intel.com/go/vproexpert). We have engineers on hand in our discussion forums to answer questions like these.

Thanks, Michele Gartner