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z15 µarch
General Info
Arch Type	CPU
Designer	IBM
Manufacturer	GlobalFoundries
Introduction	September 12, 2019
Process	14 nm
Core Configs	12
Pipeline
Type	Superscalar, Pipelined
OoOE	Yes
Speculative	Yes
Reg Renaming	Yes
Instructions
ISA	z/Architecture
Cache
L1I Cache	128 KiB/core 8-way set associative
L1D Cache	128 KiB/core 8-way set associative
L3 Cache	256 MiB/chip 32-way set associative
L4 Cache	960 MiB/drawer 60-way set associative
Succession
z14

z15 is the successor to the z14, a 14 nm z/Architecture mainframe microarchitecture designed by IBM and introduced in 2019.

Process Technology

IBM fabricates its z15 microprocessors and system controllers on GlobalFoundries's 14 nm (14HP) FinFET Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) process featuring highly-dense deep trench structures used for high-density eDRAM.

Release Dates

The z15 was launched by IBM on September 12, 2019. General availability of the z15 mainframe started September 23.

Architecture

Key changes from z14

• Mainframe
  • Up to 190-way multiprocessing (from 170-way)
  • Less CPs per drawer (4, down from 6)
  • Less CPs per logical cluster (2, down from 3)
  • 1 more drawer (5, up from 4)
  • 1-4 racks (up from 2)

• Central Processor (CP)
  • 2 more cores (12, up from 10)
  • Core
    • 10-13% higher IPC (IBM claim)
    • Front-end
      • Improved branch predictor
        • New TAGE predictor
        • BTB pre-buffer (BTBp) replaced by a simpler write buffer
          • single double-bandwidth port (two independentread ports)
        • 2x larger L1 BTB (8 sets of 2K rows, up from 4 sets of 2K rows)
    • Back-end
      • Larger GCT (60 groups, up from 48 groups)
        • Wider retire (12 instructions/cycle, up from 10)
      • Larger Issue Queues (2 x 36-entry, up from 2 x 30-entry)
      • 2x larger mapper (128-entry, up from 64-entry)
      • Larger integer physical register files (???, up from 120 entries)
      • Larger vector physical register files (???, up from 127 entries)
    • Execution engine
      • Wider execute (12 instructions/cycle, up from 10)
      • New Modulo Arithmetic (MA) unit
    • Memory subsystem
      • 2x larger L2 instruction cache (4 MiB, up from 2 MiB)
      • 2x larger 2 GiB pages STLB (256-entry, up from 64 entries)
  • Shared L3
    • 2x larger L3 (256 MiB, up from 128 MiB)
  • I/O
    • GX Bus removed
    • X Bus removed (2 interface, down from 3)
    • New PCIe Gen interface (3 interfaces, up from 2)
  • Memory
    • Larger memory support (40 TiB, up from 32 TiB)
  • New integration
    • Nest Acceleration Unit (NXU)

• System Controller (SC)
  • 1.4x Larger L4 cache (960 MiB, up from 672 MiB)
    • Non-exclusive (from inclusive)

Block Diagram

CP Chip

Individual core

Memory Hierarchy

The z15 features a memory structure very similar to the z14.

• Cache:
  • L1 instruction cache
    • 128 KiB, 8-way set associative
    • 64 sets, 256 B line size
  • L1 data cache
    • 128 KiB, 8-way set associative
    • 64 sets, 256 B line size
  • L2 instruction cache
    • 4 MiB, 8-way set associative
    • 2K sets, 256 B line size
  • L2 data cache
    • 4 MiB, 8-way set associative
    • 2K sets, 256 B line size
  • L3 cache
    • 256 MiB, 32-way set associative
    • 32K sets, 256 B line size
  • L4 cache (off-chip, on the SC chip)
    • 960 MiB, 40-way set associative
    • 64K sets, 256 B line size
    • Non-exclusive (almost always inclusive, but not strictly)
  • System Memory
    • Up to 40 TiB
    • Up 5 DIMMs (one DIMM per channel)
      • 5th DIMM for Redundant Array of Independent Memory (RAIM) (Note: No non-RAIM option)
      • 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512 GiB DIMMs

• TLBs:
  • ITLB
    • 4 sets x 128 entries
  • DTLB
    • 4 KiB pages
      • 4 sets x 256 entries
    • 1 MiB pages
      • 4 sets x 128 entries
    • 2 GiB pages
      • 2 sets x 32 entries
  • STLB
    • 4 KiB pages
      • 6K entries
    • 2 GiB pages
      • 256 entries
    • Segment Table
      • 8 sets x 256 entries
    • Page Table
      • 8 sets x 256 entries

Overview

Introduced in early September 2019, the z15 mainframe is the successor to the z14. The z15 is designed to improve both single-thread and multi-core performance as well as introduce better data security features for pervasive encryption through new hardware acceleration.

This article is a work in progress!

Mainframe

The z15 mainframe has changed from the z14 in a number of important ways. IBM switched from a 24-inch to standard 19-inch rack chassis, meaning they can now be incorporated into standard data center aisles. For this, IBM provides new options for hot and cold aisle configurations. Unlike the last few generations which came in only 2-frame options, the new z15 is intended to scale from one to four frames depending on the desired configuration. Additionally, the z15 comes with 1 to 5 CPC drawers.

Models

The z15 comes in a single model - T01. There are 5 feature codes.

z15 T01 Configurations
Feature Code	Feature Name	CPC Drawers	Core	Spare Cores	SAPs
0655	Max34	1	34	2	4
0656	Max71	2	71	2	8
0657	Max108	3	108	2	12
0658	Max145	4	145	2	16
0659	Max190	5	190	2	22

System

This section is empty; you can help add the missing info by editing this page.

Drawer

This section is empty; you can help add the missing info by editing this page.

Central Processor

This section is empty; you can help add the missing info by editing this page.

Core

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Die

Central Processor (CP) Chip

• 14HP FinFET on SOI
  • 17 metal layers
• 9,200,000,000 transistors
• 5.2 GHz
• 12 cores
• Die size
  • 25.3 mm x 27.5 mm
  • 695.75 mm²

Core

System Controller (SC) Chip

• 14HP FinFET on SOI
  • 17 metal layers
• 9,700,000,000 billion transistors (note that this number, from the technical document, is likely incorrect as it's the same number as the z14)
• 960 MiB shared eDRAM L4 cache.
• Die size
  • 25.3 mm x 27.5 mm
  • 695.75 mm²