Espresso (microprocessor)

32-bit CPU for the Wii U

Espresso

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.

General information
Launched| 2012
Discontinued| January 31, 2017
Marketed by| Nintendo
Designed by| IBM, Nintendo IRD, NTD
Common manufacturer(s)|

* IBM, Renesas

Performance
Max. CPU clock rate| 1.243 GHz
Cache
L2 cache| 1× 2 MB, 2× 512 KB (on-die)
Last level cache| 3
Architecture and classification
Application| Embedded (Wii U)
Technology node| 45 nm
Microarchitecture| Not verified by Nintendo
Instruction set| PowerPC 1.1
Instructions| 4
Physical specifications
Cores|

* 3

GPU(s)| AMD Radeon-based "Latte"
History
Predecessor| Broadway
Successor| Erista
POWER, PowerPC, and Power ISA architectures

NXP (formerly Freescale and Motorola)

* PowerPC e series (2006)
* e200
* e300
* e500
* e600
* e5500
* e6500

* Qor series (2008)
* QorIQ
* Qorivva

IBM

* Power series (1990)
* POWER1
* POWER2
* POWER3
* POWER4
* POWER5
* POWER6
* POWER7
* POWER8
* POWER9
* Power10

* PowerPC series (1992)
* 6xx
* 4xx
* 7xx
* 74xx
* 970
* A2 (2010)
* A2I
* A2O
* RAD series (1997)
* RAD6000
* RAD750
* RAD5500

* RS64 series (1996)

IBM/Nintendo

* Gekko
* Broadway
* Espresso

Other

* Titan
* PWRficient
* Cell
* Xenon
* X704

Related links

* OpenPOWER Foundation
* AIM alliance
* RISC
* Blue Gene
* Power.org
* PAPR
* PReP
* CHRP
* AltiVec

Cancelled in gray, historic in italic

* v
* t
* e

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.

## Contents

* 1 Design
* 2 Specifications
* 3 References
* 4 Further reading

## Design[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[edit]

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* Out-of-order execution PowerPC based cores
* 45 nanometer process technology
* IBM silicon on insulator (SOI) technology
* 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]

* 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 mm2

## References[edit]

1. ^ Iwata asks: Wii U: The Console
2. ^ NEW WII U™ ON SOI Archived 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ World Exclusive: Wii U Final Specs
4. ^ Nintendo Wii U Teardown - AnandTech.com
5. ^ Nintendo Wii U Teardown - iFixit.com
6. ^ Wii U has 1.24GHz CPU, 550MHz graphics core
7. ^ Wii U CPU, GPU Details Uncovered
8. ^ IBM puts Watson's brains in Nintendo Wii U
9. ^ IBM teases on Wii U CPU specs
10. ^ Rumored Wii U Specs Raising Eyebrows... for the Wrong Reasons
11. ^ IBM reconfirms the Wii U/Watson connection
12. ^ IBM Confirms WII U Utilizes Power-Based CPU, Not Power 7
13. ^ Joel Hruska (November 29, 2012). "Hackers Discover Wii U's Processor Design and Clock Speed". HotHardware. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
14. ^ @marcan42, Twitter - 2012-12-09
15. ^ @marcan42, Twitter - 2013-11-23
16. ^ @marcan42, Twitter - 2013-01-30
17. ^ a b c IBM PowerPC 750CL Microprocessor Revision Level DD2.x Datasheet

## Further reading[edit]

* Wii U graphics power finally revealed
* Nintendo exec denies Wii U processor is 'a little poor'
* First page of developer's user manual

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Nintendo video game hardware

Consoles|

| Home|

* NES
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* Famicom Titler
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| Home|

* Color TV-Game
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* Super NES Classic Edition

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Handheld|

* Game & Watch
* Mini Classics
* Pokémon Pikachu

Peripherals|

| Lists|

* NES
* Super NES
* N64
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|

Add-ons|

* Famicom Data Recorder
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* Super NES CD-ROM (unreleased)
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Connectivity|

* NES Satellite
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First-party
Controllers|

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Networking|

* Family Computer Network System
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Other|

* Nintendo Power
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Arcade|

* VS. System
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Media|

* Turbo File
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* NES
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Integrated circuits|

* 2A03
* 5A22
* CIC
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* Super FX
* Gekko
* Broadway
* Hollywood
* PICA200
* Espresso

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