AMD-K6 Datasheet, PDF (27/346 Pages) Advanced Micro Devices – AMD-K6 Processor

20695H/0—March 1998
Preliminary Information
AMD-K6^® Processor Data Sheet
Chapter 2
Short and long decodes are processed completely within the
decoders. Vector decodes are started by the decoders and then
completed by fetched sequences from an on-chip ROM. After
decoding, the RISC86 operations are delivered to the scheduler
for dispatching to the executions units.
Scheduler/Instruction Control Unit. The centraliz ed scheduler or
buffer is managed by the Instruction Control Unit (ICU). The
ICU buffers and manages up to 24 RISC86 operations at a time.
This equals from 6 to 12 x86 instructions. This buffer size (24) is
perfectly matched to the processor’s six-stage RISC86 pipeline
and seven parallel execution units. The scheduler accepts as
many as four RISC86 operations at a time from the decoders.
The ICU is capable of simultaneously issuing up to six RISC86
operations at a time to the execution units. This consists of the
following types of operations:
s Memory load operation
s Memory store operation
s Complex integer or MMX register operation
s Simple integer register operation
s Floating-point register operation
s Branch condition evaluation
Registers. The scheduler uses 48 physical registers that are
contained within the RISC86 microarchitecture when managing
the 24 RISC86 operations. The 48 physical registers are located
in a general register file and are grouped as 24 general
registers, plus 24 renaming registers. The 24 general registers
consist of 16 scratch registers and eight registers that
correspond to the x86 general purpose registers—EAX, EBX,
ECX, EDX, EBP, ESP, ESI and EDI.
Branch Logic. The AMD-K6 processor is designed with highly
sophisticated dynamic branch logic consisting of the following:
s Branch history/Prediction table
s Branch target cache
s Return address stack
The AMD-K6 implements a two-level branch prediction scheme
based on an 8192-entry branch history table. The branch history
table stores prediction information that is used for predicting
conditional branches. Because the branch history table does not
Internal Architecture
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