Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
DUAL VECTOR ARITHMETIC LOGIC UNIT

Abstract:

A processing system executes wavefronts at multiple arithmetic logic unit (ALU) pipelines of a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) unit in a single execution cycle. The ALU pipelines each include a number of ALUs that execute instructions on wavefront operands that are collected from vector general process register (VGPR) banks at a cache and output results of the instructions executed on the wavefronts at a buffer. By storing wavefronts supplied by the VGPR banks at the cache, a greater number of wavefronts can be made available to the SIMD unit without increasing the VGPR bandwidth, enabling multiple ALU pipelines to execute instructions during a single execution cycle.