TILE-Gx

TILE-Gx was a VLIW ISA multicore processor family designed by Tilera. It consisted of a mesh network^[7] that was expected to scale up to 100 cores,^[8] but only 72-core variants actually shipped.^[9]

TILE-Gx

General information
Launched	2010
Discontinued	2022 [1]
Designed by	Tilera
Common manufacturer	TSMC[citation needed]
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate	1000[2] MHz to 1200 MHz
Architecture and classification
Technology node	40nm
Microarchitecture	VLIW RISC
Physical specifications
Cores	9,[3] 16,[4] 36,[5][2] 72[6]

After a few acquisitions, Tilera's designs ended up in the hands of Nvidia, which ended production of TILE-Gx processors in 2022.^[1] In June 2018, the Linux kernel dropped support for this architecture.^[10] Tile-Gx processors were used in MikroTik's CCR1000 series routers, and MikroTik continues to support this architecture out-of-tree in its RouterOS Linux distribution.

Product lineup

Common features of TILE-Gx processors:

• 64-bit VLIW RISC core (3-issue)
• 4 MAC/cycle with SIMD extensions
• L1 cache: 64 KB (32 KB data + 32 KB instruction) per core.
• L2 cache: 256 KB per core.
• L3 cache: Other core's L2 cache connected via mesh network.
• 1, 2, or 4 ECC 72-bit DDR3 controllers.
• Up to 24 PCIe 2.0 lanes.
• Optional built-in crypto accelerator with 40 Gbit/s encryption (small packet) and 20 Gbit/s full-duplex compression, true random number generator, RSA accelerator.
• Fabrication process: TSMC 40nm.

Part	Core Frequency (GHz)	Memory Speed	PCIe Controllers/Lanes	DDR3 Controllers	Network Interfaces XAUI (10 Gb)/SGMII (1 Gb)	TDP	Crypto Engines
TILE-Gx8009			3/10	1	2/12
TLR4-00980CG-10C	1.0	1333 MT/s				9 W	0
TLR4-00980CG-10CE	1.0	1333 MT/s				10 W	1
TLR4-00980CG-12C	1.2	1600 MT/s				11 W	0
TLR4-00980CG-12CE	1.2	1600 MT/s				12 W	1
TILE-Gx8016			2/12	2	2/12
TLR4-01680CG-10C	1.0	1600 MT/s				15 W	0
TLR4-01680CG-10CE	1.0	1600 MT/s				15 W	1
TLR4-01680CG-12C	1.2	1600 MT/s				18 W	0
TLR4-01680CG-12CE	1.2	1600 MT/s				18 W	1
TILE-Gx8036			3/16	2	4/16
TLR4-03680CG-10C	1.0	1600 MT/s				20 W	0
TLR4-03680CG-10CE	1.0	1600 MT/s				22 W	2
TLR4-03680CG-12C	1.2	1866 MT/s				26 W	0
TLR4-03680CG-12CE	1.2	1866 MT/s				28 W	2
TILE-Gx8072			6/24	4	8/32
TLR4-07280CG-10C	1.0	1600 MT/s				? W	0
TLR4-07280CG-10CE	1.0	1600 MT/s				? W	2
TLR4-07280CG-12C	1.2	1866 MT/s				? W	0
TLR4-07280CG-12CE	1.2	1866 MT/s				? W	2

See also

• TILE64
• TILEPro64

References

• "Tilera Corporation Joins China's Wireless TD Forum as a Senior Member" (Press release). Tilera. 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2011.

1. "END OF LIFE NOTIFICATION" (PDF). Nvidia. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
2. "Tilera preps many-cored Gx chips for March launch". 30 January 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
3. "TILE-Gx8009 datasheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-01.
4. "TILE-Gx8016 datasheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-26.
5. "TILE-Gx8036 datasheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-03-22.
6. "TILE-Gx8072 datasheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-16.
7. "TILE-Gx architecture shema". Archived from the original (JPG) on 2013-03-22.
8. "MIT's 100-core CPU Will Be Ready This Year". 24 January 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
9. "Tilera announces 72-core Tile-Gx chip". 19 February 2013. Archived from the original on July 2, 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
10. "Linux 4.17 Spring Cleaning To Drop Some Old CPU Architectures". 17 March 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2021.