Hammer is AMD's eighth generation CPU core, designed to deliver high performance through a balance of IPC and operating frequency. It is the first microprocessor to implement 64-bit extensions to the x86 architecture. The Hammer core forms the foundation for a portfolio of server (Opteron), workstation (Athlon 64) and high-end consumer processors (Athlon FX).
This talk will focus on design goals, the details of its microarchitecture and ongoing improvements.
Hammer is an aggressive, out of order, 3-way superscalar processor with large, on-die L1 and L2 caches. It can issue up to 11 operations from its 3 schedulers to its various execution units.
One of the key features of Hammer is its integrated DDR memory controller, contributing to low memory latency. The processor supports up to three HyperTransport links, which can directly connect to other Hammer processors enabling 'glueless' multiprocessor support.
About the speaker:
Kevin J. McGrath is a Fellow at AMD, CaliforniaMicroprocessor Division. He is thearchitect of AMDs 64-bit extensions and currentlymanages the Hammer architecture andRTL team. His work experience includes 20years in CPU design and verification, first forHewlett-Packard and later for ELXSI, eventuallyworking on the microarchitecture of theNx586, K6, and Athlon processors, leadingthe microcode team for those projects.McGrath has a BS in engineering technologyfrom California Polytechnic University, SanLuis Obispo.
Contact information:
Kevin J. McGrath
Advanced Micro Devices
1 AMD Place
Sunnyvale, CA
408 774 7677
kevin.mcgrath@amd.com