What is Sparc?

Information about Sparc

Sun UltraSPARC II Microprocessor

Sun UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara 8 Core)

SPARC (Scalable Processor ARChitecture) is a RISC microprocessor instruction set architecture originally designed in 1985 by Sun Microsystems.

SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc., an organization established in 1989 to promote the SPARC architecture and to provide conformance testing. SPARC International was intended to open the SPARC architecture to make a larger ecosystem for the design, which has been licensed to several manufacturers, including Texas Instruments, Cypress Semiconductor, and Fujitsu. As a result of SPARC International, the SPARC architecture is fully open and non-proprietary.

Implementations of the SPARC architecture were initially designed and used for Sun's Sun-4 workstation and server systems, replacing their earlier Sun-3 systems based on the Motorola 68000 family of processors. Later, SPARC processors were used in SMP servers produced by Sun Microsystems, Solbourne and Fujitsu, among others.

Features

The SPARC architecture was heavily influenced by the earlier RISC designs including the RISC I & II from the University of California, Berkeley and the IBM 801. These original RISC designs were minimalist, including as few features or op-codes as possible and aiming to execute instructions at a rate of almost one instruction per clock cycle. This made them similar to the MIPS architecture in many ways, including the lack of instructions such as multiply or divide. Another feature of SPARC influenced by this early RISC movement is the branch delay slot.

The SPARC processor usually contains as many as 128 general purpose registers. At any point, only 32 of them are immediately visible to software - 8 are global registers (one of which, g0, is hard-wired to zero, so only 7 of them are usable as registers) and the other 24 are from the stack of registers. These 24 registers form what is called a register window, and at function call/return, this window is moved up and down the register stack. Each window has 8 local registers and shares 8 registers with each of the adjacent windows. The shared registers are used for passing function parameters and returning values, and the local registers are used for retaining local values across function calls. The "Scalable" in SPARC comes from the fact that the SPARC specification allows implementations to scale from embedded processors up through large server processors, all sharing the same core (nonprivileged) instruction set. One of the architectural parameters that can scale is the number of implemented register windows; the specification allows from 3 to 32 windows to be implemented, so the implementation can choose to implement all 32 to provide maximum call stack efficiency, or to implement only 3 to reduce context switching time, or to implement some number between them. Other architectures that include similar register windows include Intel i960, IA-64, and AMD 29000.

The architecture has gone through a few revisions. It gained hardware multiply and divide functionality in Version 8. The most substantial upgrade resulted in Version 9, which is a 64-bit (addressing and data) SPARC specification.

In SPARC Version 8, the floating point register file has 16 double precision registers. Each of them can be used as two single precision registers, providing a total of 32 single precision registers. An odd-even number pair of double precision registers can be used as a quad precision register, thus allowing 8 quad precision registers. SPARC Version 9 added 16 more double precision registers (which can also be accessed as 8 quad precision registers), but these additional registers can not be accessed as single precision registers.

Tagged add and subtract instructions perform adds and subtracts on values assuming that the bottom two bits do not participate in the computation. This can be useful in the implementation of the run time for ML, Lisp, and similar languages that might use a tagged integer format.

The 32-bit SPARC V8 architecture is a purely big-endian architecture. The 64-bit SPARC V9 architecture utilizes big-endian instructions, but can access data in either big-endian or little-endian byte order, chosen either at the application instruction (load/store) level or at the memory page level (via an MMU setting). The latter is often used for accessing data from inherently little-endian devices, such as those on PCI buses.

History

There have been three major revisions of the architecture. The first published revision was the 32-bit SPARC Version 7 (V7) in 1986. SPARC Version 8 (V8), an enhanced SPARC architecture definition, was released in 1990. SPARC V8 was standardized as IEEE 1754-1994, an IEEE standard for a 32-bit microprocessor architecture. SPARC Version 9, the 64-bit SPARC architecture, was released by SPARC International in 1993. In early 2006, Sun released an extended architecture specification, UltraSPARC Architecture 2005. UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 includes not only the nonprivileged and most of the privileged portions of SPARC V9, but also all the architectural extensions (such as CMT, hyperprivileged, VIS 1, and VIS 2) present in Sun's UltraSPARC processors starting with the UltraSPARC T1 implementation. UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 includes Sun's standard extensions and remains compliant with the full SPARC V9 Level 1 specification. The architecture has provided continuous application binary compatibility from the first SPARC V7 implementation in 1987 into the Sun UltraSPARC Architecture implementations.

As of December 2005 Sun announced their UltraSPARC T1 design would be open sourced, and in March 2006 the full source code became available via the OpenSPARC project.

Among various implementations of SPARC, Sun's SuperSPARC and UltraSPARC-I were very popular, and were used as reference systems for SPEC CPU95 and CPU2000 benchmarks. The 296 MHz UltraSPARC-II is the reference system for the SPEC CPU2006 benchmark.

SPARC64

Since 1995, Fujitsu (initially through its subsidiary, HAL Computer Systems) have designed SPARC V9-compliant processors under the SPARC64 brand. The latest processors in this series are the SPARC64 V, used in Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER family of servers; and the SPARC64 VI, used by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu in their SPARC Enterprise M-class servers.

SPARC microprocessor specifications

Name (Codename)	Model	Frequency [MHz]	Architecture Version	Year	Threads Per Core × Cores = Total Threads	Process [µm]	Transistors [millions]	Die size [mm²]	IO Pins	Power [W]	Voltage [V]	L1 Dcache [k]	L1 Icache [k]	L2 Cache [k]	L3 Cache [k]
SPARC	(various)^[1]	14.28–40	V7	1987-1992	1×1=1	0.8–1.3	~0.1–1.8	--	160–256	--	--	0–128 (unified)		none	none
microSPARC I (Tsunami)	TI TMS390S10	40–50	V8	1992	1×1=1	0.8	0.8	225?	288	2.5	5	2	4	none	none
SuperSPARC I (Viking)	TI TMX390Z50 / Sun STP1020	33–60	V8	1992	1×1=1	0.8	3.1	--	293	14.3	5	16	20	0-2048	none
SPARClite	Fujitsu MB8683x	66–108	V8E	1992	1×1=1	--	--	--	144–176	--	2.5/3.3V	1–16	1–16	none	none
hyperSPARC (Colorado 1)	Ross RT620A	40–90	V8	1993	1×1=1	0.5	1.5	--	--	--	5?	0	8	128-256	none
microSPARC II (Swift)	Fujitsu MB86904 / Sun STP1012	60–125	V8	1994	1×1=1	0.5	2.3	233	321	5	3.3	8	16	none	none
hyperSPARC (Colorado 2)	Ross RT620B	90–125	V8	1994	1×1=1	0.4	1.5	--	--	--	3.3	0	8	128-256	none
SuperSPARC II (Voyager)	Sun STP1021	75–90	V8	1994	1×1=1	0.8	3.1	299	--	16	--	16	20	1024-2048	none
hyperSPARC (Colorado 3)	Ross RT620C	125–166	V8	1995	1×1=1	0.35	1.5	--	--	--	3.3	0	8	512-1024	none
TurboSPARC	Fujitsu MB86907	160–180	V8	1995	1×1=1	0.35	3.0	132	416	7	3.5	16	16	512	none
UltraSPARC I (Spitfire)	Sun STP1030	143–167	V9	1995	1×1=1	0.47	5.2	315	521	30 @167 MHz	3.3	16	16	512-1024	none
UltraSPARC I (Hornet)	Sun STP1030	200	V9	1998	1×1=1	0.42	5.2	265	521	--	3.3	16	16	512-1024	none
hyperSPARC (Colorado 4)	Ross RT620D	180–200	V8	1996	1×1=1	0.35	1.7	--	--	--	3.3	16	16	512	none
SPARC64	Fujitsu (HAL)	101–118	V9	1995	1×1=1	0.4	--	297+163+142	286	50	3.8	128	128	--	--
SPARC64 II	Fujitsu (HAL)	141–161	V9	1996	1×1=1	0.35	--	202+103+84	286	64	3.3	128	128	--	--
SPARC64 III	Fujitsu (HAL) MBCS70301	250–330	V9	1998	1×1=1	0.24	17.6	240	--	--	2.5	64	64	8192	--
UltraSPARC IIs (Blackbird)	Sun STP1031	250–400	V9	1997	1×1=1	0.35	5.4	149	521	25 @250 MHz	2.5	16	16	1024 or 4096	none
UltraSPARC IIs (Sapphire-Black)	Sun STP1032 / STP1034	360–480	V9	1999	1×1=1	0.25	5.4	126	521	21 @400 MHz	1.9	16	16	1024–8192	none
UltraSPARC IIi (Sabre)	Sun SME1040	270–360	V9	1997	1×1=1	0.35	5.4	156	587	21	1.9	16	16	256–2048	none
UltraSPARC IIi (Sapphire-Red)	Sun SME1430	333–480	V9	1998	1×1=1	0.25	5.4	--	587	21 @440 MHz	1.9	16	16	2048	none
UltraSPARC IIe (Hummingbird)	Sun SME1701	400–600	V9	2000	1×1=1	0.18 Al	--	--	370	13 max @500 MHz	1.5-1.7	16	16	256	none
UltraSPARC IIi (IIe+)	--	550–650	V9	2002	1×1=1	0.18 Cu	--	--	370	17.6	1.7	16	16	512	none
SPARC64 GP	Fujitsu SFCB81147	400–810	V9	2000	1×1=1	0.18	30.2	217	--	--	1.8	128	128	8192	--
SPARC64 IV	Fujitsu MBCS80523	450–810	V9	2000	1×1=1	0.13	--	--	--	--	--	128	128	2048	--
UltraSPARC III (Cheetah)	Sun SME1050	600	V9	2001	1×1=1	0.18 Al	29	330	1368	53	1.6	64	32	8192	none
UltraSPARC III (Cheetah)	Sun SME1052	750–900	V9	2001	1×1=1	0.13 Al	29	--	1368	--	1.6	64	32	8192	none
UltraSPARC III Cu (Cheetah+)	Sun SME1056	1002–1200	V9	2001	1×1=1	0.13 Cu	29	232	1368	80 @900 MHz	1.6	64	32	8192	none
UltraSPARC IIIi (Jalapeno)	Sun SME1603	1064–1593	V9	2003	1×1=1	0.13	87.5	206	959	52	1.3	64	32	1024	none
SPARC64 V (Zeus)	Fujitsu	1100–1350	V9/JPS1	2003	1×1=1	0.13	190	289	269	40	1.2	128	128	2048内蔵	--
SPARC64 V+ (Olympus-B)	Fujitsu	1650–2160	V9/JPS1	2004	1×1=1	0.09	400	297	279	65	1	128	128	4096内蔵	--
UltraSPARC IV (Jaguar)	Sun SME1167	1050–1350	V9	2004	1×2=2	0.13	66	356	1368	108	1.35	64	32	16384	none
UltraSPARC IV+ (Panther)	--	1500–2100	V9	2005	1×2=2	0.09	295	336	1368	90	1.1	64	64	2048	32768
UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara)	Sun SME1905	1000–1400	V9 / UA 2005	2005	4×8=32	0.09	300	340	1933	72	1.3	8	16	3072	none
SPARC64 VI (Olympus-C)	Fujitsu	2150–2400	V9/JPS1	2007	2×2=4	0.09	540	422	--	120	--	128	128	6144	none
UltraSPARC T2 (Niagara II)	?	1200–1400	V9 / UA ????	2007	8×8=64	0.065	503	342	1831	84	1.1–1.5	8	16	4096	none
UltraSPARC RK (Rock)	Sun SME1832	?	V9 / UA ????	2007-8?	2×16=32^[2]	0.065	?	?	2326	?	?	?	?	?	?
Name	Model	Frequency [MHz]	Architecture Version	Year	Threads Per Core × Cores = Total Threads	Process [µm]	Transistors [millions]	Die size [mm²]	IO Pins	Power [W]	Voltage [V]	L1 Dcache [k]	L1 Icache [k]	L2 Cache [k]	L3 Cache [k]

Operating system support

SPARC machines have generally used Sun's SunOS or Solaris Operating Systems, but other operating systems such as NEXTSTEP, RTEMS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and Linux are also used on SPARC-based systems.

In 1993, Intergraph announced a port of Windows NT to the SPARC architecture,^[3] but it was later canceled.

Open source implementations

Two fully open source implementations of the SPARC architecture exist.

LEON is a 32-bit, single-thread SPARC Version 8 implementation, designed with a view to space applications. Source code is written in VHDL, and licensed under the GPL.
OpenSPARC T1 is a 64-bit, 32-thread implementation conforming to the UltraSPARC Architecture 2005 and to SPARC Version 9. Source code is written in Verilog, and licensed under many licenses. Most OpenSPARC T1 source code is licensed under the GPL. Source based on extant open source projects will continue to be licensed under their current licenses. Binary programs are licensed under a binary Software License Agreement.

Supercomputers

As of June 2007, just three of the world's top 500 fastest supercomputers are based on SPARC64 processors:

Rank #178: Nagoya University Japan, PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 (1664 2.08 GHz processors), Fujitsu, 6860 GFLOPS
Rank #290: National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan, PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 (2304 1.3 GHz processors), Fujitsu, 5406 GFLOPS
Rank #414: Kyoto University Japan, PRIMEPOWER HPC2500 (1472 1.56 GHz processors), Fujitsu, 4552 GFLOPS

This list compares unfavorably with other processor architectures, which make up a much larger portion of the top 500 list. Eighty-five (85) systems on the list use the IBM POWER processor, including #1 and six of the top 10. The x86-64 architecture has 338 systems on the list, including the second-ranked system. The SPARC processor family had 88 of the top 500 systems in June 2002, but has since lost popularity to faster chips from IBM, Intel, and AMD.

References

1. ^ Various SPARC V7 implementations were produced by Fujitsu, LSI Logic, Weitek, Texas Instruments and Cypress. A SPARC V7 processor generally consisted of several discrete chips, usually comprising an Integer Unit (IU), a Floating-Point Unit (FPU), a Memory Management Unit (MMU) and cache memory.
2. ^ Sun CEO shows off Rock ahead of Fujitsu launch. The Register (2007-04-10).
3. ^ Intergraph Announces Port of Windows NT to SPARC Architecture. The Florida SunFlash (1993-07-07).

External links

SPARC International, Inc.
SPARC International list of SPARC processors
SPARC Standards Documents Depository
UltraSPARC Architecture specification - a SPARC architecture specification extended with CMT, hyperprivileged mode, VIS 1, VIS 2, and so forth
UltraSPARC Processors
SPARC processor images and descriptions
The Rough Guide to MBus Modules (SuperSPARC, hyperSPARC)
Open Directory: Computers: Hardware: Components: Processors: SPARC

BSD operating systems SPARC ports

Linux distributions

• • [ e] RISC processor architectures
Power ARM DEC Alpha Atmel AVR Atmel AVR32 Analog Devices Blackfin MIPS HP PA-RISC SPARC Renesas SuperH Intel i960 AMD 29000 Motorola 88000 Altera Nios II Xilinx MicroBlaze Xilinx Picoblaze LatticeMico32 Cambridge Consultants XAP Fairchild Clipper

• • [ e] Sun Microsystems
Software	SunOS Solaris StarOffice / OpenOffice.org Java Desktop System Java (Java language JVM Java API) JES Network File System JavaFX NetBeans Sun Grid Engine JXTA Sun Java System Application Server / GlassFish Sun Java System Access Manager / OpenSSO JavaDB Logical Domains
Hardware	Sun-1 Sun-2 Sun-3 Sun386i Sun-4 SPARCstation Sun Ultra series Sun Enterprise Sun Blade Sun Fire SPARC Enterprise UltraSPARC T1 / UltraSPARC T2 SPARC JavaStation Sun Ray Project Blackbox Sun Grid Sun SPOT
Education and Recognition	SCPs List of notable employees

reduced instruction set computer (RISC, pronounced like "risk") is a CPU design philosophy that favors an instruction set reduced both in size and complexity of addressing modes, in order to enable easier implementation, greater instruction level parallelism, and
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Sun-4 was the name given to a series of Unix computer workstations and servers produced by Sun Microsystems, launched in 1987. The original Sun-4 series were VMEbus-based systems similar to the earlier Sun-3 series, but employing microprocessors based on Sun's own SPARC V7 RISC
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Solbourne Computer Inc. was a vendor of computer systems based in Longmont, Colorado, USA, funded by Matsushita. In the late 1980s and early 90s, the company produced a range of computer workstations and servers based on the SPARC microprocessor architecture, largely compatible
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Founded 1935
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Berkeley RISC was one of two seminal research projects into RISC-based microprocessor design taking place under ARPA's VLSI project. RISC was led by David Patterson at the University of California, Berkeley between 1980 and 1984, while the other was taking place only a short drive
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In computer architecture, a delay slot is an instruction slot that gets executed without the effects of a preceding instruction. The most common form is a single arbitrary instruction located immediately after a branch instruction on a RISC or DSP architecture; this instruction
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Intel C4004 microprocessor
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