Advanced Micro Devices Corporation

Ati Technologies Ulc

William R Alverson

Amitabh Mehra

Anil Harwani

Grant E Ley

Jerry A Ahrens

Joshua Taylor Knight

Jerry Anton Ahrens, Jr

Jayesh Joshi

Scott E Swanstrom

Mustansir M Pratapgarhwala

Alicia Wen Ju Yurie Leong

Richard Martin Born

Dirk J Robinson

Kenneth Mitchell

Charles Sy Lee

John William Abshier

Charles Sum Yuen Lee

Package lids with carveouts configured to expose lights directly connected to an internal component of a processor are described. Lid carveouts are configured to precisely align and mechanically secure a cooling device to the package lid by receiving protrusions of the cooling device via a press fit connection, while maintaining visibility of lights directly connected to processor internal components when the cooling device is connected. Lid carveouts are further configured to expose one or more connectors disposed on a processor surface that supports its internal component. When contacted by corresponding connectors of an auxiliary device, such as a light not integrated into a processor package or a cooling device, the lid carveouts enable direct connections between the package's internal components and the auxiliary device.

Lid carveouts for processor lighting

Extended training for memory is described. In accordance with the described techniques, a training request to train a memory with extended training is received. The extended training corresponds to a longer amount of time than a default training. The extended training of the memory is performed using a set of target memory settings. In one or more implementations, the extended training is performed during a boot up phase of the computing device.

Extended training for memory

Automated memory overclocking is described. In accordance with the described techniques, one or more sets of overclocked memory settings of a memory are automatically selected for performance testing and stability testing of the memory. The one or more sets of the overclocked memory settings are tested for performance of the memory and a performance indication is output for each of the one or more sets of the overclocked memory settings. The one or more sets of the overclocked memory settings are tested for stability of the memory and a stability indication is output for each of the one or more sets of the overclocked memory settings. One of the one or more sets of the overclocked memory settings are selected as optimized overclocked memory settings for the memory.

Automated memory overclocking

Physical adjustment to system memory with chipset attached memory is described. In accordance with the described techniques, an indication for making one or more physical adjustments to system memory of a device is received. Contents of the system memory are transferred via a chipset link to a chipset attached memory. The device is operated using the contents from the chipset attached memory while the one or more physical adjustments are made to adjust the system memory. After the one or more physical adjustments, the contents are transferred back from the chipset attached memory to the adjusted system memory via the chipset link.

Physical adjustment to system memory with chipset attached memory

Random access memory (RAM) is attached to an input/output (I/O) controller of a chipset (e.g., on a motherboard). This chipset attached RAM is optionally used as part of a tiered storage solution with other tiers including, for example, nonvolatile memory (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD)) or a hard disk drive. The chipset attached RAM is separate from the system memory, allowing the chipset attached RAM to be used to speed up access to frequently used data stored in the tiered storage solution without reducing the amount of system memory available to an operating system running on the one or more processing units.

Chipset attached random access memory

Package lids with carveouts configured for processor connection and alignment are described. Lid carveouts are configured to align and mechanically secure a cooling device to the package lid by receiving protrusions of the cooling device. Because the lid carveouts ensure precise alignment and orientation of a cooling device relative to a package lid, the lid design enables targeted cooling of discrete portions of the lid. Lid carveouts are further configured to expose one or more connectors disposed on a surface that supports package internal components. When contacted by corresponding connectors of a cooling device, the lid carveouts enable direct connections between the package and the attached cooling device. By creating a direct connection between package components and an attached cooling device, the lid carveouts enable a high-speed connection for proactive and on-demand cooling actuation.

Lid carveouts for processor connection and alignment

Core activation and deactivation for a multi-core processor is described. In accordance with the described techniques, a processor having multiple cores operates using a first core configuration. A request to switch from the first core configuration to a second core configuration is received. Responsive to the request, a switch from the first core configuration to the second core configuration occurs by adjusting a number of active cores of the processor without rebooting.

Core activation and deactivation for a multi-core processor

User configurable hardware settings for overclocking is described. In accordance with the described techniques, user input to adjust hardware settings for operating a processing unit in an overclocking mode is received. The user input, for example, adjusts at least one of a voltage droop threshold or a frequency adjustment of the clock rate. A voltage droop is detected while operating the processing unit in the overclocking mode. Responsive to detecting the voltage droop, a clock rate of the processing unit is adjusted based at least in part on the adjusted hardware settings.

User configurable hardware settings for overclocking

Automatic central processing unit (CPU) usage optimization includes: monitoring performance activity of a workload comprising a plurality of threads; and modifying a resource allocation of a plurality of cores for the plurality of threads based on the performance activity.

Automatic central processing unit (CPU) usage optimization

Profile switching for memory overclocking is described. In accordance with the described techniques, a memory is operated according to a first memory profile. During operation of the memory according to the first memory profile, a request is received to operate the memory according to a second memory profile. Responsive to the request, operation of the memory is switched to operate according to the second memory profile without rebooting. In one or more implementations, at least one of the first memory profile or the second memory profile comprises an overclocking memory profile that configures the memory to operate in an overclocking mode. In one or more implementations, the memory is trained to operate according to the overclocking memory profile prior to operating the memory according to the first memory profile.

Real time profile switching for memory overclocking

Methods and apparatuses control the clock rate of a processing unit. The methods and apparatus control the clock rate by generating an output clock rate based on the determined frequency adjustment such that the processing unit maintains the overclocking. The methods include: receiving an analog voltage supply in response to detecting overclocking in the processing unit; dynamically sensing measurements of an output voltage from a voltage generator based on the received analog voltage supply; determining characteristics of a voltage droop in the output voltage based on the dynamically sensed output voltage measurements; determining a frequency adjustment for the clock rate of the processing unit based on the determined characteristics of the voltage droop; and generating an output clock rate based on the determined frequency adjustment such that the processing unit maintains the overclocking.

System and method for enabling clock stretching during overclocking in response to voltage droop

A method and apparatus for managing processor functionality includes receiving, by the processor, data relating to one or more environmental conditions. The processor compares the data to pre-existing parameters to determine whether or not the environmental conditions are within the pre-existing parameters for normal operation. If the data are within the pre-existing parameters for normal operation, the processor is operated in a normal operation mode. If the data are outside the pre-existing parameters for normal operation, the processor operates in a second operation mode which is dynamically determined and calibrated during power-on, boot and operation.

Method and apparatus for managing processor functionality

Automatic memory overclocking, including: increasing a memory frequency setting for a memory module until a memory stability test fails; determining an overclocked memory frequency setting including a highest memory frequency setting passing the memory stability test; and generating a profile including the overclocked memory frequency setting.

Automatic memory overclocking

Automatic part testing includes: booting a part under testing into a first operating environment; executing, via the first operating environment, one or more test patterns on the part; performing a comparison between one or more observed characteristics associated with the one or more test patterns and one or more expected characteristics; and modifying one or more operational parameters of a central processing unit of the part based on the comparison.

Automatic part testing

Automatic voltage reconfiguration in a computer processor including one or more cores includes executing one or more user-specified workloads; determining, based on the user-specified workloads, a respective minimum safe voltage for each core of one or more cores; and modifying a respective voltage configuration for each core of the one or more cores based on the respective minimum safe voltage.

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

William R Alverson