Excavator (microarchitecture)

Excavator – Family 15h (4th-gen)
General information
LaunchedJune 2, 2015; 9 years ago (June 2, 2015)[1]
Common manufacturer
Architecture and classification
Technology node28 nm bulk silicon (GF28A)[2]
Instruction setAMD64 (x86-64)
Physical specifications
Sockets
Products, models, variants
Core names
  • Carrizo
  • Bristol Ridge
  • Stoney Ridge
History
PredecessorSteamroller – Family 15h (3rd-gen)
SuccessorZen
Support status
iGPU unsupported

AMD Excavator Family 15h is a microarchitecture developed by AMD to succeed Steamroller Family 15h for use in AMD APU processors and normal CPUs. On October 12, 2011, AMD revealed Excavator to be the code name for the fourth-generation Bulldozer-derived core.

The Excavator-based APU for mainstream applications is called Carrizo and was released in 2015.[3][4] The Carrizo APU is designed to be HSA 1.0 compliant.[5] An Excavator-based APU and CPU variant named Toronto for server and enterprise markets was also produced.[6]

Excavator was the final revision of the "Bulldozer" family, with two new microarchitectures replacing Excavator a year later.[7][8] Excavator was succeeded by the x86-64 Zen architecture in early 2017.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Computex 2015: AMD launches Carrizo A-Series processors". ZDNet.
  2. ^ "AMD leak confirms that Excavator APU will be 28nm, and that some production is moving back to GlobalFoundries - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com.
  3. ^ Reynolds, Sam (October 31, 2013). "New confirmed details on AMD's 2014 APU lineup, Kaveri delayed". Vr-zone.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  4. ^ "AMD updates product roadmap for 2014 and 2015". Digitimes.com. August 26, 2013. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  5. ^ Hachman, Mark (November 21, 2014). "AMD reveals high-end 'Carrizo' APU, the first chip to fully embrace audacious HSA tech". PCWorld. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  6. ^ Mujtaba, Hassan (December 26, 2013). "AMD Opteron Roadmap Reveals Next Generation Toronto and Carrizo APU Details". WCCF Tech. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  7. ^ "AMD hints at high-performance Zen x86 architecture | bit-tech.net". bit-tech.net.
  8. ^ "AMD to Introduce New High-Performance Micro-Architecture in 2015 – Report - X-bit labs". Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  9. ^ Moammer, Khalid (September 9, 2014). "AMD's Next Gen x86 High Performance Core is Zen". WCCF Tech. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  10. ^ Mujtaba, Hassan (May 5, 2014). "AMD Announces 2014-2016 Roadmap – 20nm Project SkyBridge and K12 64-bit ARM Cores For 2016". WCCF Tech. Retrieved January 15, 2015.