HyperTransport
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HyperTransport (HT), formerly known as Lightning Data Transport (LDT), is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency computer bus. The HyperTransport Technology Consortium is in charge of promoting and developing HyperTransport technology. The technology is used by AMD and Transmeta in x86 processors, PMC-Sierra and Broadcom in MIPS microprocessors, NVIDIA, Via, SiS, ULi/ALi, and AMD in PC chipsets, Apple Computer and HP in Desktops and notebooks, HP, Sun, IBM, and IWill in servers, Cray in supercomputers, and Cisco Systems in routers.
HyperTransport runs at 200-1400 MHz (compared to PCI at either 33 or 66 MHz). It is also a DDR or "Double pumped" bus, meaning it sends data on both the rising and falling edges of the 1400 MHz clock signal. This allows for a maximum data rate of 2800 MTransfers/s per pair. The frequency is auto-negotiated.
HyperTransport supports an auto-negotiated bus widths, from 2 (bidirectional serial, 1 bit each way) to 32-bit (16 each way) busses are allowed. The full-sized, full-speed 32-bit bus has a transfer rate of 22,400 MByte/s, making it much faster than existing standards. Busses of various widths can be mixed together in a single application, which allows for high speed busses between main memory and the CPU, and lower speed busses to peripherals, as appropriate. The technology also has much lower latency than other solutions.
HyperTransport is packet-based, with each packet always consisting of a set of 32-bit words, regardless of the physical width of the bus interconnect. The first word in a packet is always a command word. If a packet contains an address, the last 8 bits of the command word are chained with the next 32-bit word to make a 40-bit address. The remaining 32-bit words in a packet are the data payload. Transfers are always padded to a multiple of 32 bits, regardless of their actual length. HyperTransport revision 1.05 contains an option allowing an additional 32-bit control packet to be prepended when 64 bit addressing is required.
Hypertransport packets come out onto the bus in segments known as bit times. How many bit times it takes depends on the width of the bus. HT can be used for generating system management messages, signaling interrupts, issuing probes to adjacent devices or processors, and general I/O and data transactions. There are usually two different kinds of write commands that can be used, posted and non-posted. Posted writes are ones that do not require a response from the target. This is usually used for high bandwidth devices such as UMA traffic or DMA transfers. Non-posted writes require a response from the receiver in the form of a target done. Reads also cause the receiver to generate a read response.
Hypertransport also greatly facilitates power management as it readily supports C-state specific messages various architectures. Power management messages are transmitted in system management packets, prepended with a FDF91... For specific C-state messages, the HT specification employs the use of signals like the HTStop signal. This is to allow hypertransport controllers to disconnect end devices on the hypertransport chain when a processor is entering a C3/C4 sleep state or other state that requires a bus disconnect. This signal is typically controlled by an end device on the hypertransport chain that is responsible for initiating a C-state transition.
Its electrical interface uses 1.2 volt Low Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS).
There has been confusion between the use of HT referring to HyperTransport and the use of HT to refer to Intel's Hyper-Threading feature of their Pentium 4 based microprocessors. Hyper-Threading is known as Hyper-Threading Technology (HTT) or HT-Technology. Because of this potential for confusion, the HyperTransport Consortium always uses the written out form: "HyperTransport".
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Applications for HyperTransport
Front-Side Bus Replacement
The primary uses for HyperTransport will be to replace the front-side bus, which is currently different for every machine (or some set of them). For instance, a Pentium cannot be plugged into a PCI bus. In order to expand the system the front-side bus must connect through adaptors for the various standard busses, like AGP or PCI. These are typically included in a controller called either the northbridge or the southbridge depending on the bus being connected to.
A similar computer implemented with HyperTransport is more flexible, as well as being faster. A single PCI<->HyperTransport adaptor chip will work with any HyperTransport enabled microprocessor and allow the use of PCI cards with these processors. The NVIDIA nForce chipset uses HyperTransport to connect its north and south bridges.
Multiprocessor interconnect
Another use for HyperTransport is as an interconnect for NUMA multiprocessor computers. AMD uses HyperTransport with a proprietary extension of HyperTransport as part of their Direct Connect Architecture.
Router or Switch Bus Replacement
HyperTransport can also be used as a bus in routers and switches. Routers and switches have multiple connections ports and data has to be forwarded between these ports as fast as possible. E.g. a four port 100 MBit/s Ethernet switch needs a bus that is 800 MBit/s fast (100 MBit/s * 4 ports * 2). With HyperTransport, vendors could use four HyperTransport-to-Ethernet bridges and use HyperTransport as bus instead.
The HyperTransport Consortium
The HyperTransport Consortium is led by founding members Advanced Micro Devices, Alliance Semiconductor, Apple Computer, Broadcom Corporation, Cisco Systems, NVIDIA, PMC-Sierra, Sun Microsystems, and Transmeta. It manages the HyperTransport specification, drives new developments and promotes the consortium. As of 2005, David Rich of AMD is the President of the Consortium, Mario Cavalli is the General Manager, Brian Holden of PMC-Sierra is both the Vice President and the Chair of the Technical Working Group, and Gregg Buzard of Futureplus is the Chair of the Marketing Working Group.
See also
External links
- HyperTransport Consortium Home (http://www.hypertransport.org)
- Technology Page (http://www.hypertransport.org/tech/index.cfm)
- Technical Specifications (http://www.hypertransport.org/tech/tech_specs.cfm)
- Technical FAQ (http://www.hypertransport.org/tech/tech_faqs.cfm)de:HyperTransport