Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Tensilica | Subject: Xtensa LX processor
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 30 March 2005
Top score posted for licensable
processor core
Tensilica has announced that it has posted the highest score ever recorded for a licensable processor core, and the highest absolute score ever published for any processor on EEMBC.
Tensilica, the only company to automate the design of optimized application-specific configurable processors for system-on-chip (SOC) design, has announced that it has posted the highest score ever recorded for a licensable processor core, and the highest absolute score ever published for any processor, on the Office Automation benchmark suite of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) The EEMBC benchmark scores, independently certified by the EEMBC Certification Laboratories (ECL), confirm that the Xtensa LX processor is nearly four times faster than the much larger PowerPC 440GX core, and more than four times as powerful as the 64-bit MIPS 20Kc processor
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Apr 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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The certified EEMBC OAmark scores are: * 4.19523 - Optimized Xtensa LX processor.
* 1.07999 - Out-of-the-box PowerPC 440GX processor.
* 0.98880 - Out-of-the-box Xtensa LX processor.
Further reading
Cores enable software configurable processors
Stretch of Sunnyvale, California, USA, has licensed Tensilica's Xtensa LX processor and HiFi 2 Audio Engine for use in its next-generation software configurable processor.
Optimised core jumps the queue to top benchmark
Tensilica has claimed the highest score ever reported on the Networking Version 2.0 benchmark suite of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC).
Core claims top performance at 90nm node
The Xtensa LX reaches the highest clock rate published to date of any licensable 32bit processor in 90nm technology.
* 0.89033 - Out-of-the-box MIPS 20Kc processor.
* 0.75975 - Out of the box ARM 1026EJ-S processor.
EEMBC scores for licensable synthesisable processors are expressed on a 'per-MHz' basis.
The optimised configuration of Xtensa LX used in this Office Automation benchmark certification achieved a 454MHz operating frequency in 90nm ASIC technology.
At that expected operating frequency, the 4.19523 OAmarks/MHz would yield an at-speed score of 1904 OAmarks.
The optimized version of the Xtensa LX runs nearly four times faster than the much larger, out-of-the-box Power PC 440GX core, and more than four times faster than the out-of-the-box 64-bit MIPS 20Kc processor.
In addition to having a significant advantage in the OAmark scores, Tensilica's Xtensa LX processor demonstrated much lower code size, which means it requires less memory.
Code size results for the Office Automation benchmark were: * 4,912 bytes - Out-of-the-box Xtensa LX processor.
* 5,908 bytes - Out-of-the-box ARM 1026EJ-S processor.
* 11,024 bytes - Optimized Xtensa LX processor.
* 13,780 bytes - Out-of-the-box MIPS 20Kc processor.
* 18,540 bytes - Out-of-the-box IBM PowerPC 440 processor.
"For our 1.4 sqmm Xtensa LX processor to have the equivalent speed of a much larger PowerPC core when running the out-of-the-box C code, while having a 4X code size advantage, is a testament to the inherent advantages of the Xtensa base processor architecture," stated Steve Roddy, vice president of marketing for Tensilica.
"Customers looking for outstanding embedded processor power in a small form factor with low code size can quickly benefit from using the Xtensa LX processor, even without utilizing Tensilica's instruction extension automation technology." Tensilica used the EEMBC-provided, ECL-certified C Code with its XPRES (Xtensa PRocessor Extension Synthesis) Compiler to generate the optimized version of the Xtensa LX processor for this benchmark.
ANSI-standard C code tuning was performed to expose the natural parallelism inherent in the EEMBC benchmark code.
No C intrinsics, no assembly coding, or other Xtensa-specific changes were made to the reference EEMBC C code.
The resulting C code could be run on any processor, not just an Xtensa LX processor.
Tensilica's XPRES Compiler - the XPRES Compiler, used for this benchmark, takes a C/C++ program as input and generates the optimisations necessary to customise the Xtensa LX processor.
It can be used in an automatic mode or under full designer control, so the designer can guide the tool, select instructions, and even tune the original application to take better advantage of the added hardware instructions.
The XPRES Compiler can generate optimisations for (and thus speed performance of) frequently executed code blocks - such as inner loops - and complex blocks including highly branched code that is almost never optimised using traditional performance tuning methods because of its complexity.
The effect is a general acceleration of code performance with significant improvements in the performance of critical inner loops.
About EEMBC - EEMBC, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, develops and certifies real-world benchmarks and benchmark scores to help designers select the right embedded processors for their systems.
Every processor submitted for EEMBC benchmarking is tested for parameters representing different workloads and capabilities in communications, networking, consumer, office automation, automotive/industrial, embedded Java, and microcontroller-related applications.
With members including leading semiconductor, intellectual property, and compiler companies, EEMBC establishes benchmark standards and provides certified benchmarking results through the EEMBC Certification Labs (ECL).
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