12
Dynamic Core Frequency and Core Voltage Control
AMD PowerNow! Technology Platform Design Guide for Embedded Processors
24267A/0—December 2000
Preliminary Information
Voltage Identification (VID) Outputs
AMD-K6-2E+ and AMD-K6-IIIE+ low-power processors enabled
with AMD PowerNow! technology feature Voltage ID (VID)
outputs to support dynamic control of the core voltage. These
outputs should serve as inputs to a DC/DC regulator that
supplies the processor core voltage. Based on its VID[4:0]
inputs, the regulator outputs a corresponding voltage. (See
“Hardware Implementation” on page 18 for more detailed
information on using the VID outputs in embedded systems.)
For regulators that do not support VID inputs, the processor’s
VID[4:0] outputs must be used to manipulate the regulator’s
feedback voltage to vary the regulator output voltage.
It is not necessary to drive all of the processor VID[4:0] outputs
to the voltage select inputs of the DC/DC regulator. Any voltage
select inputs of the DC/DC regulator that are not driven by the
processor VID[4:0] outputs should be tied to ground.
All VID[4:0] Output
Pins Used
System implementations that incorporate all processor VID
outputs typically support a voltage range of 0.925 V to 2.0 V.
Table 6 on page 13 lists VID[4:0] codes that are typical for
DC/DC regulators.
Subset of VID[4:0]
Outputs Used
System implementations that use a subset of the processor VID
outputs will require external logic to translate the processor
VID pins into a full five-bit DC/DC regulator input code.
One solution that is recommended for a maximum BF[2:0] boot
strap option (see page 9) requires that regulator D[4] and D[0]
inputs be connected to GND while inputs D[3:1] are connected
to the processor VID[4], VID[2], and VID[0] outputs,
respectively, through external logic.
For a 2.1-V core voltage implementation, the available core
voltage is thereby limited to a range of 1.36 V to 2.1 V in
approximately 100-mV increments, but the rework and external
logic cost is minimal. Table 7 on page 13 shows the voltage
translation using the Max1711 DC/DC regulator.
Unused VID[4:0]
Outputs
System designs that do not use the dynamic core voltage control
feature provided in AMD PowerNow! technology should simply
leave the processor VID[4:0] outputs as no-connects (NC) on the
motherboard.