6
PC7457/47 [Preliminary]
5345B–HIREL–02/04
Performs alignment, normalization, and precision conversion for floating-
point data
Executes cache control and TLB instructions
Performs alignment, zero padding, and sign extension for integer data
Supports hits under misses (multiple outstanding misses)
Supports both big- and little-endian modes, including misaligned little-endian
accesses
Three issue queues FIQ, VIQ, and GIQ can accept as many as one, two, and three
instructions, respectively, in a cycle. Instruction dispatch requires the following:
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Instructions can be dispatched only from the three lowest IQ entries – IQ0,
IQ1, and IQ2
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A maximum of three instructions can be dispatched to the issue queues per
clock cycle
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Space must be available in the CQ for an instruction to dispatch (this
includes instructions that are assigned a space in the CQ but not in an issue
queue)
Rename buffers
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16 GPR rename buffers
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16 FPR rename buffers
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16 VR rename buffers
Dispatch unit
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Decode/dispatch stage fully decodes each instruction
Completion unit
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The completion unit retires an instruction from the 16-entry completion
queue (CQ) when all instructions ahead of it have been completed, the
instruction has finished execution, and no exceptions are pending
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Guarantees sequential programming model (precise exception model)
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Monitors all dispatched instructions and retires them in order
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Tracks unresolved branches and flushes instructions after a mispredicted
branch
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Retires as many as three instructions per clock cycle
Separate on-chip L1 Instruction and data caches (Harvard Architecture)
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32 Kbyte, eight-way set-associative instruction and data caches
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Pseudo least-recently-used (PLRU) replacement algorithm
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32-byte (eight-word) L1 cache block
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Physically indexed/physical tags
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Cache write-back or write-through operation programmable on a per-page or
per-block basis
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Instruction cache can provide four instructions per clock cycle; data cache
can provide four words per clock cycle
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Caches can be disabled in software
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Caches can be locked in software