Gekko is a superscalar out-of-order
32-bit PowerPC microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...
custom-made by
IBM in 2000 for
Nintendo to use as the
CPU in their
sixth generation game console, the
GameCube, and later the
Triforce Arcade Board.
Development
Gekko's role in the game system was to facilitate game scripting,
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
, physics and collision detection, custom graphics lighting effects and geometry such as smooth transformations, and moving graphics data through the system.
The project was announced in 1999 when
IBM and Nintendo agreed to a dollar contract (IBM's largest ever single order)
for a CPU running at approximately 400 MHz. IBM chose to modify their existing
PowerPC 750CXe processor to suit Nintendo's needs, such as tight and balanced operation alongside the "Flipper" graphics processor. The customization was to the bus architecture,
DMA, compression and floating point unit which support a special set of SIMD instructions. The CPU made ground work for custom lighting and geometry effects and could burst compressed data directly to the GPU.
The Gekko is considered to be the direct ancestor to the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
processor, also designed and manufactured by
IBM, that powers the
Wii console.
Features
* Customized
PowerPC 750CXe core
* Clockrate – 486
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
*
Superscalar Out-of-order execution
* 4 stages long two-integer
ALUs (IU1 and IU2) – 32 bit
* 7 stages long Floating Point Unit – 64-bit double-precision
FPU, usable as 2 × 32-bit
SIMD
Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD can be internal (part of the hardware design) and it can be directly accessible through an instruction set architecture (ISA), but it shoul ...
for 1.9 single-precision
GFLOPS
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
performance using the
Multiply–accumulate operation. The SIMD is often found under the denomination "paired singles."
* Branch Prediction Unit (BPU)
* Load-Store Unit (LSU)
* System Register Unit (SRU)
* Memory Management Unit (MMU)
* Branch Target Instruction Cache (BTIC)
* SIMD Instructions – PowerPC750 + roughly 50 new
SIMD
Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD can be internal (part of the hardware design) and it can be directly accessible through an instruction set architecture (ISA), but it shoul ...
instructions, geared toward
3D graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...
* Front-side Bus – 64-bit enhanced
60x bus to
GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
/
chipset
In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components in one or more integrated circuits known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found on the mo ...
at 162 MHz clock with 1.3 GB/s peak bandwidth
* On-chip Cache – 64
KB 8-way
associative L1 cache (32/32 KB instruction/data). 256 KB on-die, 2-way associative L2 cache
* DMIPS – 1125 (
dhrystone 2.1)
*
180 nm IBM six-layer, copper-wire process. 43 mm²
die
* 1.8
V for logic and
I/O. 4.9
W dissipation
* 27 × 27 mm
PBGA
A ball grid array (BGA) is a type of surface-mount packaging (a chip carrier) used for integrated circuits. BGA packages are used to permanently mount devices such as microprocessors. A BGA can provide more interconnection pins than can be put ...
package with 256 contacts
* 6.35 million logic transistors and 18.6 million transistors total
See also
*
Broadway (microprocessor)
Broadway is the codename of the 32-bit central processing unit (CPU) used in Nintendo's Wii home video game console. It was designed by IBM, and was initially produced using a 90 nm SOI process and later produced with a 65 nm SOI process.
Acc ...
, the processor in the
Wii
* MIPS
R4300, the processor in the
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
References
IBM, Nintendo Announce $1 Billion Technology AgreementA PowerPC compatible processor supporting high-performance 3-D graphics
{{Nintendo hardware
GameCube
IBM microprocessors
Nintendo chips
PowerPC implementations