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ALPHA 21164PC

ALPHA 21164PC. Alpha 21164PC. High-performance alternative to a Windows NT Personal Computer. 21164 Alpha Chip. One of the highest performing microprocessor speeds topping one billion instructions per second quad-issue and superscalar in architecture. Advantages. speed factor

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ALPHA 21164PC

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  1. ALPHA 21164PC

  2. Alpha 21164PC High-performance alternative to a Windows NT Personal Computer

  3. 21164 Alpha Chip • One of the highest performing microprocessor • speeds topping one billion instructions per second • quad-issue and superscalar in architecture

  4. Advantages • speed factor • manufacturing systems with greater simplicity • manufacturing systems with lower cost • run at a low voltage rate of 3.3 volts • runs on various platforms such as both UNIX and windows

  5. Advanced Structure • virtual instruction caching • seven-bit address space numbers • on chip dual read ported data cache out of order instruction completion • on chip three way set instruction completion • third level cache parameters

  6. Some Design Goals • reduced cost • higher performance • reduced power • time to market

  7. Reduction Factors • Required two elements • die size reduction • remove processing steps

  8. Layout conversion strategy • Thirty percent linear shrink was not feasible • to compensate 25% linear shrinkage was used

  9. Speed How fast do you want to go today? 400Mhz, 466mhz, or 533Mhz

  10. Speed Design • based upon a single-wire two phase clocking plan • 14 gates per cycle including the latches • single global clock grid (global clock skew<90ps, local clock skew<25ps)

  11. Initial Conversion Problems • most programs had to be converted before they could be run on an alpha system • This was because the alpha processor was designed as a 64bit system when it came out, and all of the other systems on the market were still 32bit • This caused a problem with running the ‘standard’ 32bit programs on a 64bit processor

  12. Conversion Solution • had to come up with software that could covert a 32bit program to run on a 64bit machine. • used a program called FX!32

  13. The Chip • 0.5 micrometer CMOS process • Operation frequency of 300MHz • 5 functional units • 3 cache memory • 9.3 Million transistors • VLSI - Very Large Scale Integration

  14. Registers • Standard Registers • Program Counter • Stack Pointer • Process Status • Unique to the alpha 21164 • floating point point register

  15. The Cache Memory on the Chip

  16. Cache Memory • Instruction Cache • 8KB of first level cache • Data Cache • 8KB of first level cache • Set-Associative Cache • 96KB of second level cache • holds both instructions and data

  17. The Five Functional Units on the Chip:

  18. The Instruction Unit • Contains an 8KB, direct-mapped instruction cache, an instruction prefetcher and associated refill buffer, branch prediction logic, and an instruction translation buffer (ITB). • The instructional unit retrieves commands from the cache, distributes them to the appropriate functional units, after resolving any conflicts. • It controls all program flow, interrupt handling, and controls all data bypasses and register file writes. • The cache consists of 32 byte blocks that contain virtual address information.

  19. Integer Unit • Used to execute all of the operation instructions that are to be performed on integers. • They receive their instructions from the instruction unit and direct their information to the appropriate pipelines.

  20. The Floating-Point Unit • Used to execute all of the operation instructions that are to be performed on floating-point numbers. • They also receive all of their instructions from the instruction unit and send the correct information to the appropriate pipelines.

  21. The Memory Unit • Contains a fully associative 64-entry, data translation buffer, a direct mapped primary cache, the miss address file, and a write buffer. • Allows the system to store and access information

  22. The Bus Interface Unit • This unit contains and manages the second level set-associative cache. • Allows the system interface to access the I/O and the memory.

  23. Alpha 21164PC 64-bit Processor RISC

  24. Alpha 21164PC Superpipelined Superscalar

  25. Alpha 21164PC Other Technologies

  26. ALPHA 21164PC

  27. Why Businesses Use Alpha Systems • Exceptional internet services • high-performance technical applications • accomplish more work in less time • greatly reduce their costs in man hours

  28. Role in the Market Place Compaq Windows NT 5.0 Outperforms TWO Pentium II’s Costs Less

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