PowerPC e500
Encyclopedia
The PowerPC e500 is a 32-bit
Power Architecture
-based microprocessor
core
from Freescale Semiconductor
. The core is compatible with the older PowerPC Book E specification as well as the Power ISA v.2.03. It has a dual issue, seven-stage pipeline
with FPUs
(from version 2 onwards), 32/32 KiB data and instruction L1 cache
s and 256, 512 or 1024 KiB L2 frontside cache. Speeds range from 533 MHz up to 1.5 GHz, and the core is designed to be highly configurable and meet the specific needs of embedded
applications with features like multi-core
operation and interface for auxiliary application processing units (APU).
e500 powers the high-performance PowerQUICC III system on a chip (SoC) network processor
s and they all share a common naming scheme, MPC85xx. Freescale's new QorIQ
is the evolutionary step from PowerQUICC III and will also be based on e500 cores.
A 64-bit evolution of the e500mc core is called the e5500 core
and was introduced in 2010.
family of chips in June 2008. The e500mc has the following features:
85xx devices are based on e500v1 or e500v2 cores, most of them on the e500v2.
brand, microprocessors based on e500 cores. The QorIQ P1 and P2 families are using e500v2 while the P3 and P4 families are using the e500mc cores and CoreNet communications fabric.
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
Power Architecture
Power Architecture
Power Architecture is a broad term to describe similar RISC instruction sets for microprocessors developed and manufactured by such companies as IBM, Freescale, AMCC, Tundra and P.A. Semi...
-based microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
core
Multi-core (computing)
A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors , which are the units that read and execute program instructions...
from Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is a producer and designer of embedded hardware, with 17 billion semiconductor chips in use around the world. The company focuses on the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets with its product portfolio including microprocessors, microcontrollers,...
. The core is compatible with the older PowerPC Book E specification as well as the Power ISA v.2.03. It has a dual issue, seven-stage pipeline
Instruction pipeline
An instruction pipeline is a technique used in the design of computers and other digital electronic devices to increase their instruction throughput ....
with FPUs
Floating point unit
A floating-point unit is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root...
(from version 2 onwards), 32/32 KiB data and instruction L1 cache
Cache
In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...
s and 256, 512 or 1024 KiB L2 frontside cache. Speeds range from 533 MHz up to 1.5 GHz, and the core is designed to be highly configurable and meet the specific needs of embedded
Embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
applications with features like multi-core
Multi-core (computing)
A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors , which are the units that read and execute program instructions...
operation and interface for auxiliary application processing units (APU).
e500 powers the high-performance PowerQUICC III system on a chip (SoC) network processor
Network processor
A network processor is an integrated circuit which has a feature set specifically targeted at the networking application domain.Network processors are typically software programmable devices and would have generic characteristics similar to general purpose central processing units that are commonly...
s and they all share a common naming scheme, MPC85xx. Freescale's new QorIQ
QorIQ
QorIQ is a brand of Power Architecture-based communications microprocessors from Freescale. It is the evolutionary step from the PowerQUICC platform and will be built around one or more Power Architecture e500mc cores and come in five different product platforms, P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, segmented...
is the evolutionary step from PowerQUICC III and will also be based on e500 cores.
Versions
There are three versions of the e500 core, namely the original e500v1, the e500v2 and the e500mc.A 64-bit evolution of the e500mc core is called the e5500 core
PowerPC e5500
The PowerPC e5500 is a 64-bit Power Architecture-based microprocessor core from Freescale Semiconductor. The core is compatible with the Power ISA v.2.06 with hypervisor support. It has a four issue, seven-stage out-of-order pipeline with a double precision FPU, three Integer units, 32/32 KB data...
and was introduced in 2010.
e500v2
Key improvements in the e500v2 over the e500v1 include:- increase from 32-bit (4 GiB) to 36-bit (64 GiB) physical address space (this change means that e500v2-based devices often use a more advanced BSPBoard support packageIn embedded systems, a board support package is implementation specific support code for a given board that conforms to a given operating system...
than e500v1-based devices, as various peripheral units have moved to physical addresses higher than 2^32). - addition of 1 GiB and 4 GiB variable-page sizes
- addition of double precisionDouble precisionIn computing, double precision is a computer number format that occupies two adjacent storage locations in computer memory. A double-precision number, sometimes simply called a double, may be defined to be an integer, fixed point, or floating point .Modern computers with 32-bit storage locations...
floating point support. this is not compatible with any other PowerPC floating point unit, and in fact the instruction set overlaps with string and altivec instructions as well. - doubling in size and associativity of the MMU's second-level 4K-page array (from 256-entry 2-way to 512-entry 4-way)
- increase from 3 to 5 maximum outstanding data cache misses
- addition of the Alternate Time Base for cycle-granularity timestamps
e500mc
Freescale introduced the e500mc in the QorIQQorIQ
QorIQ is a brand of Power Architecture-based communications microprocessors from Freescale. It is the evolutionary step from the PowerQUICC platform and will be built around one or more Power Architecture e500mc cores and come in five different product platforms, P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, segmented...
family of chips in June 2008. The e500mc has the following features:
- PowerISA v.2.06, which includes hypervisorHypervisorIn computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
and virtualization functionality for embedded platforms. - The "classic" floating point unit has been reinstated.
- Support anything from two to more than 32 cores (not necessarily the same type of cores) on a single chip.
- Supports the CoreNet communications fabric for connecting cores and datapath accelerators.
- e500mc cores have private L2 caches but typically share other facilities like L3 caches, memory controllers, application specific acceleration cores, I/O and such.
PowerQUICC
All PowerQUICCPowerQUICC
PowerQUICC is the name for several Power Architecture based microcontrollers from Freescale Semiconductor. They are built around one or more PowerPC cores and the QUICC Engine which is a separate RISC core specialized in such tasks such as I/O, communications, ATM, security acceleration, networking...
85xx devices are based on e500v1 or e500v2 cores, most of them on the e500v2.
QorIQ
In June 2008 Freescale announced the QorIQQorIQ
QorIQ is a brand of Power Architecture-based communications microprocessors from Freescale. It is the evolutionary step from the PowerQUICC platform and will be built around one or more Power Architecture e500mc cores and come in five different product platforms, P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, segmented...
brand, microprocessors based on e500 cores. The QorIQ P1 and P2 families are using e500v2 while the P3 and P4 families are using the e500mc cores and CoreNet communications fabric.
See also
- Power ArchitecturePower ArchitecturePower Architecture is a broad term to describe similar RISC instruction sets for microprocessors developed and manufactured by such companies as IBM, Freescale, AMCC, Tundra and P.A. Semi...
- PowerQUICCPowerQUICCPowerQUICC is the name for several Power Architecture based microcontrollers from Freescale Semiconductor. They are built around one or more PowerPC cores and the QUICC Engine which is a separate RISC core specialized in such tasks such as I/O, communications, ATM, security acceleration, networking...
- QorIQQorIQQorIQ is a brand of Power Architecture-based communications microprocessors from Freescale. It is the evolutionary step from the PowerQUICC platform and will be built around one or more Power Architecture e500mc cores and come in five different product platforms, P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5, segmented...
- PowerPC e200PowerPC e200The PowerPC e200 is a family of 32-bit Power Architecture microprocessor cores developed by Freescale for primary use in automotive and industrial control systems...
- PowerPC e5500PowerPC e5500The PowerPC e5500 is a 64-bit Power Architecture-based microprocessor core from Freescale Semiconductor. The core is compatible with the Power ISA v.2.06 with hypervisor support. It has a four issue, seven-stage out-of-order pipeline with a double precision FPU, three Integer units, 32/32 KB data...