An illustration of the Wii U MCM without heat spreader. The smaller chip, lower right, is the "Espresso" CPU made by IBM. The other chips are the "Latte" GPU (large chip, center) from AMD and an EEPROM chip (tiny chip, upper right) from Renesas.
An illustration of the Wii U MCM with heat spreader. The markings indicate that it is designed by Nintendo, and its components are made by AMD, IBM and Renesas. It also says that it was assembled in Japan, the 26th week of 2012.
Wii U MCM without heat spreader.
IBM and Nintendo have revealed that the Espresso processor is a PowerPC-based microprocessor with three cores on a single chip to reduce power consumption and increase speed. The CPU and the graphics processor are placed on a single substrate as a multi-chip module (MCM) to reduce complexity, increase the communication speed between the chips, further reduce power consumption and reduce cost and space required. The two chips were assembled to the complete MCM by Renesas in Japan.[1] Espresso itself was manufactured by IBM in its 300 mm plant in East Fishkill, New York, using 45 nmSOI-technology[2] and embedded DRAM (eDRAM) for caches.
While unverified by Nintendo, hackers, teardowns, and unofficial informants have since revealed more information about the Espresso, such as its name,[3] size[4][5] and speed.[6][7] The microarchitecture seems to be quite similar to its predecessors the Broadway and Gekko, i.e. PowerPC 750 based, but enhanced with larger and faster caches and multiprocessor support.
Rumors that the Wii U CPU was derived from IBM's high-end POWER7 server processor proved false, as it would potentially increase the manufacturing and retail cost of the system, and require a larger form factor. Espresso shares some technology with POWER7, such as eDRAM and general instruction set similarities, but those are superficial similarities.[8][9][10][11][12]
Backward compatible with the Broadway and Gekko processors
The following specifications have not been officially confirmed by either Nintendo or IBM. They have been obtained by reverse engineering by hacker Hector Martin, alias marcan.[13]
^"IBM teases on Wii U CPU specs". Eurogamer.net. 8 June 2011.
^"Rumored Wii U Specs Raising Eyebrows... for the Wrong Reasons".
^"IBM reconfirms the Wii U/Watson connection". 27 August 2012.
^"IBM Confirms WII U Utilizes Power-Based CPU, Not Power 7". 25 September 2012.
^Joel Hruska (November 29, 2012). "Hackers Discover Wii U's Processor Design and Clock Speed". HotHardware. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
^Martín, Héctor [@marcan42] (2012-12-09). (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2013-10-05 – via Twitter.
^Martín, Héctor [@marcan42] (2013-11-23). (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2013-12-03 – via Twitter. (links to PNG of a page from the IBM Espresso RISC Processor Developer's User Manual)
^Martín, Héctor [@marcan42] (2013-01-30). (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2013-10-08 – via Twitter.
Nintendo exec denies Wii U processor is 'a little poor'
First page of developer's user manual
February 18, 2023
espresso, processor, espresso, codename, central, processing, unit, used, nintendo, video, game, console, designed, produced, using, silicon, insulator, process, espresso, chip, resides, together, with, from, manufactured, renesas, revealed, 2011, june, 2011, . Espresso is the codename of the 32 bit central processing unit CPU used in Nintendo s Wii U video game console It was designed by IBM and was produced using a 45 nm silicon on insulator process The Espresso chip resides together with a GPU from AMD on an MCM manufactured by Renesas It was revealed at E3 2011 in June 2011 and released in November 2012 EspressoAn illustration of the Wii U MCM without heat spreader The smaller chip lower right is the Espresso CPU made by IBM The other chips are the Latte GPU large chip center from AMD and an EEPROM chip tiny chip upper right from Renesas General informationLaunched2012DiscontinuedJanuary 31 2017Marketed byNintendoDesigned byIBM Nintendo IRD NTDCommon manufacturer s IBM Microelectronics RenesasPerformanceMax CPU clock rate1 243 GHzCacheL2 cache1 2 MB 2 512 KB on die Last level cache3Architecture and classificationApplicationEmbedded Wii U Technology node45 nmMicroarchitectureNot verified by NintendoInstruction setPowerPC 1 1Instructions4Physical specificationsCores3GPU s AMD Radeon based Latte HistoryPredecessorBroadwaySuccessorErista Contents 1 Design 2 Specifications 3 References 4 Further readingDesign Edit An illustration of the Wii U MCM with heat spreader The markings indicate that it is designed by Nintendo and its components are made by AMD IBM and Renesas It also says that it was assembled in Japan the 26th week of 2012 Wii U MCM without heat spreader IBM and Nintendo have revealed that the Espresso processor is a PowerPC based microprocessor with three cores on a single chip to reduce power consumption and increase speed The CPU and the graphics processor are placed on a single substrate as a multi chip module MCM to reduce complexity increase the communication speed between the chips further reduce power consumption and reduce cost and space required The two chips were assembled to the complete MCM by Renesas in Japan 1 Espresso itself was manufactured by IBM in its 300 mm plant in East Fishkill New York using 45 nm SOI technology 2 and embedded DRAM eDRAM for caches While unverified by Nintendo hackers teardowns and unofficial informants have since revealed more information about the Espresso such as its name 3 size 4 5 and speed 6 7 The microarchitecture seems to be quite similar to its predecessors the Broadway and Gekko i e PowerPC 750 based but enhanced with larger and faster caches and multiprocessor support Rumors that the Wii U CPU was derived from IBM s high end POWER7 server processor proved false as it would potentially increase the manufacturing and retail cost of the system and require a larger form factor Espresso shares some technology with POWER7 such as eDRAM and general instruction set similarities but those are superficial similarities 8 9 10 11 12 Specifications EditThis section has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information January 2016 This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Some of this section s listed sources may not be reliable Please help this article by looking for better more reliable sources Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted January 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Out of order execution PowerPC based cores 45 nanometer process technology IBM silicon on insulator SOI technology Backward compatible with the Broadway and Gekko processorsThe following specifications have not been officially confirmed by either Nintendo or IBM They have been obtained by reverse engineering by hacker Hector Martin alias marcan 13 Broadway based core architecture 14 Three cores at 1 243125 GHz Symmetric multiprocessing with MESI MERSI support 15 Each core can output up to 4 instructions per clock using superscalar parallelism 32 bit integer unit 64 bit floating point or 2 32 bit SIMD often found under the denomination paired singles A total of 3 MB of Level 2 cache in an unusual configuration 16 Core 0 512 KB core 1 2 MB core 2 512 KB 4 stage pipeline 17 7 stage pipeline FP 17 6 Execution Units per core 18 EUs total 17 Die size 4 74 mm 5 85 mm 27 73 mm2References Edit Wii U The Console Changes in Television Iwata Asks Nintendo Archived from the original on 2022 06 09 NEW WII U ON SOI Archived from the original on 2016 03 25 World Exclusive Wii U Final Specs 11 September 2012 Nintendo Wii U Teardown AnandTech Nintendo Wii U Teardown iFixit 19 November 2012 Wii U has 1 24GHz CPU 550MHz graphics core Eurogamer net 29 November 2012 Wii U CPU GPU Details Uncovered 29 November 2012 IBM puts Watson s brains in Nintendo Wii U IBM teases on Wii U CPU specs Eurogamer net 8 June 2011 Rumored Wii U Specs Raising Eyebrows for the Wrong Reasons IBM reconfirms the Wii U Watson connection 27 August 2012 IBM Confirms WII U Utilizes Power Based CPU Not Power 7 25 September 2012 Joel Hruska November 29 2012 Hackers Discover Wii U s Processor Design and Clock Speed HotHardware Retrieved January 21 2014 Martin Hector marcan42 2012 12 09 DFaker no it s just a 750 PPC750 can issue 3 cycle and retire 2 cycle dampflokfreund yes three Broadways and more cache Tweet Archived from the original on 2013 10 05 via Twitter Martin Hector marcan42 2013 11 23 Hah My Twitter arguing must be so sad that I just got this screenshot in my inbox anon sender marcansoft com transf espresso intro png EyeOfCore Tweet Archived from the original on 2013 12 03 via Twitter links to PNG of a page from the IBM Espresso RISC Processor Developer s User Manual Martin Hector marcan42 2013 01 30 theevilmuppet L1 is the same L2 is different this is the claimed eDRAM 512K 2M 512K L2 cache per core core 1 has more cache Tweet Archived from the original on 2013 10 08 via Twitter a b c IBM PowerPC 750CL Microprocessor Revision Level DD2 x Datasheet PDF Further reading EditWii U graphics power finally revealed Nintendo exec denies Wii U processor is a little poor First page of developer s user manual Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Espresso processor amp oldid 1137450859, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
