Recent from talks
UltraSPARC III
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
UltraSPARC III
The UltraSPARC III, code-named "Cheetah", is a microprocessor that implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Sun Microsystems and fabricated by Texas Instruments. It was introduced in 2001 and operates at 600 to 900 MHz. It was succeeded by the UltraSPARC IV in 2004. Gary Lauterbach was the chief architect.
When presented at the '97 Microprocessor Forum, the probable introduction date for the UltraSPARC III was 1999, and it would have competed with Digital Equipment Corporation's Alpha 21264 and Intel's Itanium (Merced). This was not to be the case as it was delayed until 2001. Despite being late, it was awarded the Analysts' Choice Award for Best Server/Workstation Processor of 2001 by Microprocessor Report for its multiprocessing features.
The UltraSPARC III is an in-order superscalar microprocessor. The UltraSPARC III was designed for shared memory multiprocessing performance, and it has several features that aid in achieving that goal: an integrated memory controller and a dedicated multiprocessing bus.
It fetches up to four instructions per cycle from the instruction cache. Decoded instructions are sent to a dispatch unit at up to six at a time. The dispatch unit issues the instructions to the appropriate execution units depending on operand and resource availability. The execution resources consisted of two arithmetic logic units (ALUs), a load and store unit and two floating-point units. One of the ALUs can only execute simple integer instructions and loads. The two floating point units are also not equal. One can only execute simple instructions such as adds while the other executes multiplies, divides and square roots.
The UltraSPARC III has split primary instruction and data caches. The instruction cache has a capacity of 32 KB. The data cache has a capacity of 64 KB and is four-way set-associative with a 32-byte cache line. The external L2 cache has a maximum capacity of 8 MB. It is accessed via a dedicated 256-bit bus operating at up 200 MHz for a peak bandwidth of 6.4 GB/s. The cache is built synchronous static random access memory clocked at frequencies up to 200 MHz. The L2 cache tags are located on-die to enable it be clocked at the microprocessor's clock frequency. This increases bandwidth for accessing the cache tags, enabling the UltraSPARC to scale to higher clock frequencies easily. Part of the increased bandwidth to the cache tags is used by cache coherency traffic, which is required in the multiprocessor systems the UltraSPARC III is designed to be used in. As the maximum capacity of L2 cache is 8 MB, the L2 cache tags is 90 KB in size.
The external interface consists of a 128-bit data bus and a 43-bit address bus operating at 150 MHz. The data bus is not used to access memory, but the memory of other microprocessors and the shared I/O devices.
The UltraSPARC has an integrated memory controller and implements a dedicated 128-bit bus operating at 150 MHz to access up to 4 GB of "local" memory. The integrated memory controller is used to reduce latency and thus improve performance, unlike some other UltraSPARC microprocessors that use the feature to reduce cost.
The UltraSPARC III consisted of 16 million transistors, of which 75% are contained in the caches and tags. It was initially fabricated by Texas Instruments in their C07a process, a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process with a 0.18 μm feature size and six-levels of aluminium interconnect. In 2001, it was fabricated in a 0.13 μm process with aluminium interconnects. This enabled it to operate at 750 to 900 MHz. The die is packaged using the Controlled Collapse Chip Connection method and is the first Sun microprocessor to do so. Unlike most other microprocessors bonded in such a way, the majority of the solder bumps are placed in a peripheral ring instead of being distributed across the die. It was packaged in a 1368-pad land grid array (LGA) package.
Hub AI
UltraSPARC III AI simulator
(@UltraSPARC III_simulator)
UltraSPARC III
The UltraSPARC III, code-named "Cheetah", is a microprocessor that implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Sun Microsystems and fabricated by Texas Instruments. It was introduced in 2001 and operates at 600 to 900 MHz. It was succeeded by the UltraSPARC IV in 2004. Gary Lauterbach was the chief architect.
When presented at the '97 Microprocessor Forum, the probable introduction date for the UltraSPARC III was 1999, and it would have competed with Digital Equipment Corporation's Alpha 21264 and Intel's Itanium (Merced). This was not to be the case as it was delayed until 2001. Despite being late, it was awarded the Analysts' Choice Award for Best Server/Workstation Processor of 2001 by Microprocessor Report for its multiprocessing features.
The UltraSPARC III is an in-order superscalar microprocessor. The UltraSPARC III was designed for shared memory multiprocessing performance, and it has several features that aid in achieving that goal: an integrated memory controller and a dedicated multiprocessing bus.
It fetches up to four instructions per cycle from the instruction cache. Decoded instructions are sent to a dispatch unit at up to six at a time. The dispatch unit issues the instructions to the appropriate execution units depending on operand and resource availability. The execution resources consisted of two arithmetic logic units (ALUs), a load and store unit and two floating-point units. One of the ALUs can only execute simple integer instructions and loads. The two floating point units are also not equal. One can only execute simple instructions such as adds while the other executes multiplies, divides and square roots.
The UltraSPARC III has split primary instruction and data caches. The instruction cache has a capacity of 32 KB. The data cache has a capacity of 64 KB and is four-way set-associative with a 32-byte cache line. The external L2 cache has a maximum capacity of 8 MB. It is accessed via a dedicated 256-bit bus operating at up 200 MHz for a peak bandwidth of 6.4 GB/s. The cache is built synchronous static random access memory clocked at frequencies up to 200 MHz. The L2 cache tags are located on-die to enable it be clocked at the microprocessor's clock frequency. This increases bandwidth for accessing the cache tags, enabling the UltraSPARC to scale to higher clock frequencies easily. Part of the increased bandwidth to the cache tags is used by cache coherency traffic, which is required in the multiprocessor systems the UltraSPARC III is designed to be used in. As the maximum capacity of L2 cache is 8 MB, the L2 cache tags is 90 KB in size.
The external interface consists of a 128-bit data bus and a 43-bit address bus operating at 150 MHz. The data bus is not used to access memory, but the memory of other microprocessors and the shared I/O devices.
The UltraSPARC has an integrated memory controller and implements a dedicated 128-bit bus operating at 150 MHz to access up to 4 GB of "local" memory. The integrated memory controller is used to reduce latency and thus improve performance, unlike some other UltraSPARC microprocessors that use the feature to reduce cost.
The UltraSPARC III consisted of 16 million transistors, of which 75% are contained in the caches and tags. It was initially fabricated by Texas Instruments in their C07a process, a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process with a 0.18 μm feature size and six-levels of aluminium interconnect. In 2001, it was fabricated in a 0.13 μm process with aluminium interconnects. This enabled it to operate at 750 to 900 MHz. The die is packaged using the Controlled Collapse Chip Connection method and is the first Sun microprocessor to do so. Unlike most other microprocessors bonded in such a way, the majority of the solder bumps are placed in a peripheral ring instead of being distributed across the die. It was packaged in a 1368-pad land grid array (LGA) package.
Recent media