HyperTransport: The Ties That Bind

Jan. 18, 2007
HyperTransport is a generalized point-to-point I/O interface that's been enhanced to support cache coherency by AMD. It's used for I/O with AMD's Athlon chips. It's also used for I/O and non-uniform memory access (NUMA) support in AMD's Opteron chips,

HyperTransport is a generalized point-to-point I/O interface that's been enhanced to support cache coherency by AMD. It's used for I/O with AMD's Athlon chips. It's also used for I/O and non-uniform memory access (NUMA) support in AMD's Opteron chips, which lets designers create a multiple-chip system without any intervening chips like the memory host controllers found in Sun and Intel multichip solutions.

Programming issues tend to pop up, though, as the number of hops between chips goes above one and the frequency of multihop memory accesses is high. If locality of reference is high, making the latter low, then the number of hops becomes irrelevant. Unfortunately, this is applicationand software-environment-specific. So like other multicore architectures, the approach won't be optimal in all instances. Of course, it may be good enough, and the ability to link large numbers of multicore chips together will typically result in economical, high-performance solutions.

See Associated Figure

Sponsored Recommendations

Article: Meeting the challenges of power conversion in e-bikes

March 18, 2024
Managing electrical noise in a compact and lightweight vehicle is a perpetual obstacle

Power modules provide high-efficiency conversion between 400V and 800V systems for electric vehicles

March 18, 2024
Porsche, Hyundai and GMC all are converting 400 – 800V today in very different ways. Learn more about how power modules stack up to these discrete designs.

Bidirectional power for EVs: The practical and creative opportunities using power modules

March 18, 2024
Bidirectional power modules enable vehicle-to-grid energy flow and other imaginative power opportunities. Learn more about Vicor power modules for EVs

Article: Tesla commits to 48V automotive electrics

March 18, 2024
48V is soon to be the new 12V according to Tesla. Size and weight reduction and enhanced power efficiency are a few of the benefits.

Comments

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Electronic Design, create an account today!