Piledriver (microarchitecture) explained

Piledriver - Family 15h (2nd-gen)
Size-From:	32 nm SOI GF
Manuf1:	AMD
Core1:	AMD APU
Core2:	AMD FX
Core3:	Opteron
Predecessor:	Bulldozer - Family 15h
Successor:	Steamroller - Family 15h (3rd-gen)
Sock1:	Socket AM3+
Sock2:	Socket FM2
Sock3:	Socket FS1
Sock4:	Socket FP2 (μBGA-827)
Arch:	AMD64 (x86-64)
Support Status:	iGPU unsupported

AMD Piledriver Family 15h is a microarchitecture developed by AMD as the second-generation successor to Bulldozer. It targets desktop, mobile and server markets. It is used for the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (formerly Fusion), AMD FX, and the Opteron line of processors.

The changes over Bulldozer are incremental. Piledriver uses the same "module" design. Its main improvements are to branch prediction and FPU/integer scheduling, along with a switch to hard-edge flip-flops to improve power consumption. This resulted in clock speed gains of 8–10% and a performance increase of around 15% with similar power characteristics.^[1] FX-9590 is around 40% faster than Bulldozer-based FX-8150, mostly because of higher clock speed.

Products based on Piledriver were first released on 15 May 2012 with the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), code-named Trinity, series of mobile products.^[2] APUs aimed at desktops followed in early October 2012 with Piledriver-based FX-series CPUs released later in the month.^{[3] [4]} Opteron server processors based upon Piledriver were announced in early December 2012.^[5]

Design

Piledriver includes improvements over the original Bulldozer microarchitecture:^{[6] [7]}

• Clustered Multi-Thread
• Higher clock rates
• Instructions per clock (IPC) improvements
• Lower power consumption and temperatures
• Turbo Core 3.0
• Faster integrated memory controller (IMC)
• Fixed hardware divider
• Improved branch prediction and prefetching
• Perceptron branch predictor^[8]
• Improved floating-point and integer scheduling
• Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) 1.1,^{[9] [10]} FMA3, BMI1 and TBM
• Larger L1 translation lookaside buffers (TLB) and L2 efficiency improvements
• Switch to hard-edge flip-flops, allowing a decrease in power consumption
• Cyclos resonant clock mesh (RCM) technology^[11]
• 17–220 W thermal design power (TDP)

Features

APUs

APU features table

Processors

See main article: List of AMD FX processors, List of AMD processors with 3D graphics and Opteron.

Desktop

Model	CPU					GPU			TDP (W)	DDR3 Memory	Turbo Core 3.0	Socket
	[Modules/[[Floating-point unit|FPUs]]] Cores/threads	Freq. (GHz)		Cache		Model	Config	Freq. (MHz)
		Base	Turbo	L2	L3
FX-9590	[4]8	4.7	5.0	4× 2MB	8MB	220	1866	Yes	AM3+
FX-9370		4.4	4.7
FX-8370		4.0	4.3			125
FX-8370E		3.3				95
FX-8350		4.0	4.2			125
FX-8320		3.5	4.0
FX-8320E		3.2				95
FX-8310		3.4	4.3			95
FX-8300		3.3	4.2			95
FX-6350	[3]6	3.9	4.2	3× 2MB		125
FX-6300		3.5	4.1			95
FX-4350	[2]4	4.2	4.3	2× 2MB		125
FX-4320		4.0	4.2		4MB	95
FX-4300		3.8	4.0
A10-6800K		4.1	4.4		HD 8670D	384:24:8	844		100	2133	FM2
A10-6700		3.7	4.3		65				1866
A10-5800K		3.8	4.2		HD 7660D		800			100
A10-5700		3.4	4.0				760			65
A8-6600K		3.9	4.2		HD 8570D	256:16:8	844			100
A8-6500		3.5	4.1				800			65
A8-5600K		3.6	3.9		HD 7560D		760			100
A8-5500		3.2	3.7							65
A6-6400K	[1]2	3.9	4.1	1MB	HD 8470D	192:12:4	800
A6-5400K		3.6	3.8		HD 7540D		760
A4-5300		3.4	3.6		HD 7480D	128:8:4	723		1600
A4-4000		3.0	3.2						1333

The K suffix denotes an unlocked A-series processor. All FX-series processors are unlocked unless otherwise specified.

Mobile

Model	CPU				GPU				TDP(W)	DDR3Memory	Socket
	[Modules/[[Floating-point unit|FPUs]]]Cores/threads	Freq.(GHz)		L2Cache (MB)	Model	Config	Freq.(GHz)
		Base	Turbo				Base	Turbo
A10-5750M	[2]4	2.5	3.5	2×2MB	HD 8650G	384:24:8	533	720	35	1866	FS1r2
A10-4600M		2.3	3.2		HD 7660G		496	685
A8-5550M		2.1	3.1		HD 8550G	256:16:8	554	720
A8-4500M		1.9	2.8		HD 7640G		496	685
A6-5350M	[1]2	2.9	3.5	1	HD 8450G	192:12:4	533	720		1600
A6-4400M		2.7	3.2		HD 7520G		496	685
A4-5150M			3.3		HD 8350G	128:8:4	514	720
A4-4300M		2.5	3.0		HD 7420G		480	655
A10-5757M	[2]4	2.5	3.5	2×2MB	HD 8650G	384:24:8	533	720	35	1600	FP2(BGA)
A10-5745M		2.1	2.9		HD 8610G			626	25	1333
A10-4655M		2.0	2.8		HD 7620G		360	496
A8-5557M		2.1	3.1		HD 8550G		515	720	35	1600
A8-5545M		1.7	2.7		HD 8510G		450	554	19	1333
A8-4555M		1.6	2.4		HD 7600G		320	424
A6-5357M	[1]2	2.9	3.5	1	HD 8450G	192:12:4	533	720	35	1600
A6-5345M		2.2	2.8		HD 8410G		450	600	17	1333
A6-4455M		2.1	2.6		HD 7500G	256:16:8	327	424
A4-5145M		2.0			HD 8310G	192:12:4	424	544
A4-4355M		1.9	2.4		HD 7400G		327	424

Server

Some Opteron 32 nm processors.

History

Komodo platform

Leaked roadmaps showed Piledriver CPUs featuring up to ten cores as part of the Komodo platform. Komodo was to launch in 2012 on the FM2 socket, but this never happened. AMD kept the AM3+ socket for the FX series and put the Piledriver-based APUs on FM2.^[12]

FX-series, Athlon and Opteron

In 2010 AMD revealed that the 2nd generation was scheduled for 2012; AMD referred to this generation as Enhanced Bulldozer. This later generation of Bulldozer core was codenamed Piledriver.

• Vishera FX-series CPU – Desktop Performance market (Volan platform): This FX-series aimed at 95–220 W TDP features 4, 6 and 8 Piledriver core CPU models; with Turbo Core 3.0 while using the existing Socket AM3+ format and 900 series motherboard chipsets of the 1st generation FX-series Zambezi processor. The 2nd generation FX-series was released on 23 October 2012 with the FX-8350, FX-8320, FX-6300 and FX-4300 CPU models. The FX-8350 featured slightly improved power consumption and was found to be approximately 15% more powerful than the fastest Bulldozer CPU. The 2nd generation FX-series was praised for its affordability. The FX 8320 was recognized as a price/performance winner, often matching Intel's i7 2600 at half the cost.^{[13] [14]} The Vishera CPUs competed well when compared to similarly priced Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs in multi-core-aware applications and somewhat underperform in overall efficiency and in tasks where most CPU cores were not fully utilized such as single-threaded applications and a number of games.^{[15] [16]}

On June 11, 2013, AMD announced two additional FX-series eight Piledriver core CPUs, the FX-9590 and FX-9370, running at a maximum turbo speed of 5.0 GHz and 4.7 GHz respectively, making AMD the first company to ever release a 5 GHz CPU commercially.^[17] AMD specify that the 9xxx series processors require "robust liquid cooling" due to their high Thermal Design Power (TDP)^[18]

• Trinity & Richland Athlon series CPU – Desktop Budget market: Socket FM2 Athlon X4 730, 740, 750K and 760k CPU models feature the four Piledriver core Trinity microarchitecture but lack on-chip integrated graphics. Athlon X2 340 is dual core model.^{[19] [20] [21]} Socket FM2 Richland based Athlon X4 760K and Athlon X2 370K CPUs, both with no GPU and four and dual cores respectively were expected.^{[22] [23]}

For the server market, three versions were stated to be under development:^[24]

• Web serving, Web hosting, and Microserver platform (1 CPU) market: Opteron 3200-series (Zurich; 4 or 8 cores) was to be replaced by Delhi (4 or 8 cores) using the Socket AM3+ format from the Desktop FX-series line. The memory controller was to support dual-channel DDR3 memory configuration.
• Cost/energy efficient server (1 to 2 CPUs) market: Opteron 4200-series (Valencia; 6 or 8 cores) was to be replaced by Seoul (6 or 8 cores). Seoul would continue to use the Socket C32 format. The memory controller would support dual-channel DDR3 memory configuration.
• Enterprise/mainstream server (2 to 4 CPUs) market: Opteron 6200-series (Interlagos; 4, 8, 12, and 16 cores) was to be replaced by Abu Dhabi (4, 8, 12, and 16 cores)). Abu Dhabi will continue to use the Socket G34. The memory controller would support quad-channel DDR3 memory configuration.

APU lines

• Trinity A-series APU – Desktop Budget and Mainstream market (Virgo platform):^[25] The Stars-based Llano Socket FM1 APU line replacements are the 2 and 4 Piledriver core Socket FM2 Trinity Fusion APUs. The A10-5800K, A10-5700, A8-5600K, A8-5500, A6-5400K and A4-5300 APU models were released on 2 October 2012.^[26] Trinity processor model numbers ending with the letter "K" denote processors with an unlocked CPU multiplier. The Trinity APU line was praised for its superior integrated graphics performance but underperformed comparable Intel CPU models in most computationally intensive tasks.^[27]
• Trinity A-series APU – Notebook Mainstream and Performance market (Comal platform): Notebook computers featuring Trinity APUs shipped as early as June 2012.^[28] The mobile Trinity series features four APUs: A10-4600M, A8-4500M, A6-4400M and A4-4300M. In March 2013, AMD announced two more mobile models: A8-4557M and A10-4657M.^[29]

In January 2013, AMD officially introduced a new series of APUs codenamed Richland.^[30] The series features six new APUs in total. The fastest model, the A10-6800K, featured two Piledriver modules operating at 4.1 GHz and 4.4 GHz in turbo mode and an integrated HD 8670D GPU with 384 stream processors operating at 844 MHz.^{[31] [32]} Only the A10-6800K has official DDR3-2133 memory support.^[33] The A10-6800K offered approximately 5% performance improvements in performance applications and 3D games over its A10-5800K Trinity based predecessor, largely due to Richland's higher clock speeds and higher overclocking potential than Trinity. On March 12, 2013, AMD officially introduced four Richland mobile APUs.^[34] On June 4, 2013, AMD officially announced six Richland desktop APUs.^{[35] [36]}

Performance

In January 2012, Microsoft released two hotfixes (2646060 and 2645594) for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 that significantly improved the performance of Clustered Multi-Thread based AMD CPUs by improving thread scheduling.

Windows 8 supports CMT-based CPUs out of the box by addressing each core as logical cores and modules as physical cores.

See also

• Steamroller (microarchitecture)
• List of AMD CPU microarchitectures
• AMD Accelerated Processing Unit
• List of AMD accelerated processing unit microprocessors
• List of AMD FX microprocessors
• Opteron

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hruska . Joel . AMD's FX-8350 analyzed: Does Piledriver deliver where Bulldozer fell short? . ExtremeTech . 23 March 2013.
2. Web site: AMD launches widely anticipated "Trinity" APU . 15 May 2012 . Press release . AMD . 16 January 2014.
3. Web site: New AMD A-Series Processors Bring Faster Speeds, High Core Count and AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics to Do-It-Yourself PC Enthusiasts and Gamers . AMD . 22 March 2013.
4. Web site: New AMD FX Line-Up Brings Faster Speeds and Higher Performance Core over Previous Generation to PC Enthusiasts and Gamers . AMD . 22 March 2013.
5. Web site: New AMD Opteron 4300 and 3300 Series Processors Deliver Ideal Performance, Power and Price for Cloud Applications . 4 December 2012 . Press release . AMD . 16 January 2014.
6. Web site: Hruska . Joel . AMD detonates Trinity: Behold Bulldozer's second coming . ExtremeTech . 22 March 2013.
7. Web site: Walton . Jarred . The AMD Trinity Review (A10-4600M): A New Hope . AnandTech . 22 March 2013.
8. Web site: The AMD Trinity Review (A10-4600M): A New Hope.
9. Web site: AMD Trinity Architectural Preview - Part II . Softpedia . 30 April 2012 . Constantin Murariu . 6 January 2014.
10. Web site: Charlie Demerjian . Trinity is more than the sum of its parts . SemiAccurate . 2012-05-25 . 2013-10-23.
11. Web site: AMD packs Cyclos clock tech into Piledriver . Gareth Halfacree . 21 February 2012 . 21 September 2013.
12. Web site: AMD's 10 core Piledriver chips revealed | Tech, Tech News . PC Gamer . 2011-07-26 . 2013-10-23.
13. Web site: PassMark – Intel Core i7-2600 @ 3.40GHz – Price performance comparison . cpubenchmark.net . 11 March 2015.
14. Web site: PassMark - AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core - Price performance comparison. cpubenchmark.net . 11 March 2015.
15. Web site: AMD FX-8350 Processor Review: Tuned-Up Bulldozer . Ilya Gavrichenkov . 22 October 2012 . 7 January 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140107103501/http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-fx-8350.html . 7 January 2014 . dead .
16. Web site: AMD FX-8350 – "Piledriver" for AMD Socket AM3+ . 23 October 2012 . 21 September 2013.
17. Web site: AMD wins race to 5GHz CPU clock speed, in which it was the sole participant . Sharif Sakr . 11 June 2013 . 21 September 2013.
18. Web site: AMD FX Processors . 10 February 2018.
19. Web site: AMD Athlon X4 750K - AD750KWOA44HJ / AD750KWOHJBOX. cpu-world.com. 11 March 2015.
20. Web site: AMD Athlon X2 340 - AD340XOKA23HJ / AD340XOKHJBOX . Cpu-world.com . 2013-10-23.
21. Web site: AMD Lists Athlon II X4 700-Series Trinity Processors. Sebastian Pop. 4 October 2012. softpedia. 11 March 2015.
22. Web site: AMD Athlon X2 370K - AD370KOKA23HL / AD370KOKHLBOX . Cpu-world.com . 2013-10-23.
23. Web site: AMD Athlon X4 760K - AD760KWOA44HL / AD760KWOHLBOX . Cpu-world.com . 2013-10-23.
24. Web site: Consumerization, Cloud, Convergence. . Lisa . Su . 2012-02-02 . AMD 2012 Financial Analyst Day . Advanced Micro Devices . Sunnyvale, California . 25 . PDF . 2012-02-04.
25. Web site: AMD Trinity core. cpu-world.com. 11 March 2015.
26. Web site: AMD Newsroom. amd.com. 11 March 2015.
27. Web site: AMD Trinity for Desktops. Part 2: Socket FM2 Platform and AMD A10-5800K Processor Review - X-bit labs . 2013-03-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130402195438/http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-a10-5800k.html . 2013-04-02 . dead.
28. Web site: AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked!. Chris Angelini. Tom's Hardware. 11 March 2015.
29. Web site: AMD lists two new Trinity based mobile APUs. Fudzilla staff. fudzilla.com. 11 March 2015.
30. Web site: AMD Newsroom. amd.com. 11 March 2015.
31. Web site: AMD A10-Series A10-6800K - AD680KWOA44HL / AD680KWOHLBOX. cpu-world.com. 11 March 2015.
32. Web site: More Richland details leak, six parts confirmed . Peter Scott . fudzilla.com . 11 March 2015.
33. Web site: Top Richland 28nm APU is A10 6800K . Fuad Abazovic . fudzilla.com . 11 March 2015.
34. Web site: AMD intros 35W Richland mobile APUs . techreport.com . 11 March 2015.
35. Web site: AMD A-SERIES APUs: Made for Combat. Ready for War . Sites.amd.com . 2013-10-06 . 2013-10-23.
36. Web site: Specifications of upcoming AMD Richland APUs . Cpu-world.com . 2013-10-23.