Bobcat (microarchitecture)

Bobcat
Produced From early 2011 to present
Common manufacturer(s)
  • AMD
Min. feature size 40 nm
Instruction set AMD64
Socket(s)
Successor Jaguar
Core name(s)
  • AMD APU

Bobcat is a microarchitecture created by AMD aimed at low-power/low-cost market.

It was revealed during a speech from AMD executive vice-president Henri Richard in Computex 2007 and was put into production Q1 2011.[1] One of the major supporters was executive vice-president Mario A. Rivas who felt it was difficult to compete in the x86 market with a single core optimized for the 10-100 Watts range and actively promoted the development of the simpler core with a target range of 1-10 Watts. In addition, it was believed that the core could migrate into the hand-held space if the power consumption can be reduced to less than 1 W.

Bobcat cores are used together with GPU cores in accelerated processing units (APUs) under the "Fusion" brand.[2][3] A simplified architecture diagram was released at AMD's Analyst Day in November 2009. This is similar in concept with earlier AMD research in 2003,[4] detailing the specifications and advantages of extending x86 "everywhere".

Design

The Bobcat x86 CPU core design has since been completed and implemented in AMD APU processor products with a TDP of 18 W or less. The core is targeted at low-power markets like netbooks/nettops, ultra-portable laptops, consumer electronics and the embedded market. Since its launch, Bobcat-based CPUs have also been used by OEMs on larger laptops. Architecture specifics:[5]

In February 2013, AMD detailed plans for a successor to Bobcat codenamed Jaguar.

Feature overview

The entire AMD Accelerated Processing Unit lines and some of their features
Brand Brazos
(low power) 		Llano Trinity Richland Kabini & Temash
(low power) 		Kaveri Beema & Mullins
(low power) 		Carrizo Carrizo-L
(low power)
Released Jan 2011 Aug 2011 Oct 2012 2013 May 2013 Jan 2014 Q2 2014 2015 2015
Fab (nm) TSMC 40 nm GlobalFoundries 32 nm SOI 28 28 28 28 28
APU Socket FT1 FM1
FS1 		FM2
FS1+
FP2 		AM1
FT3 		FM2+
FP3 		FT3b TBA TBA
CPU cores Bobcat AMD 10h Piledriver Jaguar Steamroller Puma Excavator Puma+[6]
3D engine1 80:8:4 400:20:8 384:24:6 384:24:6 128:8:4 512:32:8 128:8:4 TBA TBA
TeraScale 2 (VLIW5) TeraScale 3 (VLIW4) Graphics Core Next (Mantle, HSA)
IOMMUv1 IOMMUv2 IOMMUv1[7] TBA TBA
Unified Video Decoder UVD 3 UVD 4 UVD 4.2 TBA TBA
Video Codec Engine N/A VCE 1.0 VCE 2.0 TBA TBA
TrueAudio N/A Yes[8] N/A[7] TBA TBA
Max. № of displays2 2 2–3 2–4 2 2–4 2 TBA TBA
Direct Rendering Manager/
Mesa 3D driver[9][10]		 Yes[10] WiP[11] WiP[12]

Available processors

See also: List of AMD Accelerated Processing Unit microprocessors and List of AMD mobile microprocessors

In January 2011 AMD introduced several processors that have implemented the Bobcat core. This core is in the following AMD Accelerated Processors:[5][14][15]

Series ^ Model CPU clock
(MHz) 		CPU
cores 		TDP
(W) 		L2 cache
(KiB) 		Radeon
cores 		GPU clock
(MHz) 		DirectX
version 		UVD DDR3 speed
C-Series C-30 1000 1 9 512 80 277 11 UVD 3 1066
C-Series C-50 1000 2 9 2*512 80 276 11 UVD 3 1066
C-Series C-60 1000/1333 (turbo) 2 9 2*512 80 276/400 (turbo) 11 UVD 3 1066
C-Series C-70 1000/1333 (turbo) 2 9 2*512 80 276/400 (turbo) 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E-240 1500 1 18 512 80 500 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E-300 1300 2 18 2*512 80 500 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E-350 1600 2 18 2*512 80 492 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E-450 1650 2 18 2*512 80 508/600 (turbo) 11 UVD 3 1333[16]
E-Series E1-1200 1400 2 18 2*512 80 500 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E1-1500[17] 1480 2 18 2*512 80 529 11 UVD 3 1066
E-Series E2-1800 1700 2 18 2*512 80 523/680 11 UVD 3 1333
E-Series E2-2000[17] 1750 2 18 2*512 80 538/700 11 UVD 3 1333
G-Series T-24L 800 1 5 512 80 ? ? ? 1066
G-Series T-30L 1400 1 18 512 80 ? ? ? 1333
G-Series T-40N 1000 2 9 2*512 80 276 11 UVD 3 1066
G-Series T-44R 1200 1 9 512 80 276 11 UVD 3 1066
G-Series T-48L 1400 2 18 2*512 80 ? ? ? 1066
G-Series T-48N 1400 2 18 2*512 80 492 11 UVD 3 1066
G-Series T-52R 1500 1 18 512 80 492 11 UVD 3 1066
G-Series T-56N 1600 2 18 2*512 80 492 11 UVD 3 1066
Z-Series Z-01 1000 2 5.9 2*512 80 276 11 UVD 3 1066
Z-Series Z-60[18] 1000 2 4.5 2*512 80 275 11 UVD 3 1066

^ E-Series & C-Series are standard parts, G-Series are embedded parts

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hruska, Joel (July 16, 2010). "AMD Flip-Flops: Llano Later, Bobcat Bounding Forward". HotHardware.
  2. ↑ Gunning for Mobilty: Intel and AMD Bet on a Mobile Internet, Dailytech.com, 2007-06-13, retrieved 2012-01-27
  3. ↑ "Analyst Day 2009 Presentations". AMD. November 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. ↑ AMD 2003 Microprocessor Forum Slides: Slide 11 and Slide 22
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 AMD Embedded G-Series Platform (PDF), AMD, retrieved 2012-01-27
  6. ↑ "AMD Mobile “Carrizo” Family of APUs Designed to Deliver Significant Leap in Performance, Energy Efficiency in 2015" (Press release). 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Thomas De Maesschalck (2013-11-14). "AMD teases Mullins and Beema tablet/convertibles APU". Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  8. ↑ "A technical look at AMD’s Kaveri architecture". Semi Accurate. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  9. ↑ Airlie, David (2009-11-26). "DisplayPort supported by KMS driver mainlined into Linux kernel 2.6.33". Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Radeon feature matrix". freedesktop.org. Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  11. ↑ "AMDKFD Driver Does More Prepping For Carrizo / VI APUs". 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  12. ↑ "AMDKFD Driver Does More Prepping For Carrizo / VI APUs". 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  13. ↑ "How do I connect three or More Monitors to an AMD Radeon™ HD 5000, HD 6000, and HD 7000 Series Graphics Card?". AMD. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
  14. ↑ AMD Accelerated Processors for Mainstream Notebooks, AMD, 2012-01-17, retrieved 2012-01-27
  15. ↑ All-In-One Desktops With AMD Accelerated Processors, AMD, retrieved 2012-07-02
  16. ↑ The Brazos Update: AMD's E-450, Anandtech.com, 2011-06-01, retrieved 2012-01-27
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/pages/consumer-notebooks.aspx#7
  18. ↑ http://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/tablets/Pages/tablets.aspx#3

External links