Skip to content

Commit 19cd8c8

Browse files
ydirsonalexdeucher
authored andcommitted
Documentation/gpu: include description of some of the GC microcontrollers
This is Alex' description from the "Looking for clarifications around gfx/kcq/kiq" thread, edited to fit as ReST. Original text: https://www.spinics.net/lists/amd-gfx/msg71383.html Originally-by: Alex Deucher <[email protected]> Signed-off-by: Yann Dirson <[email protected]> Acked-by: Harry Wentland <[email protected]> Reviewed-by: Rodrigo Siqueira <[email protected]> Signed-off-by: Alex Deucher <[email protected]>
1 parent d59f177 commit 19cd8c8

File tree

1 file changed

+35
-0
lines changed

1 file changed

+35
-0
lines changed

Documentation/gpu/amdgpu/driver-core.rst

Lines changed: 35 additions & 0 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -76,13 +76,48 @@ VCN (Video Core Next)
7676
decode. It's exposed to userspace for user mode drivers (VA-API,
7777
OpenMAX, etc.)
7878

79+
Graphics and Compute Microcontrollers
80+
-------------------------------------
81+
82+
CP (Command Processor)
83+
The name for the hardware block that encompasses the front end of the
84+
GFX/Compute pipeline. Consists mainly of a bunch of microcontrollers
85+
(PFP, ME, CE, MEC). The firmware that runs on these microcontrollers
86+
provides the driver interface to interact with the GFX/Compute engine.
87+
88+
MEC (MicroEngine Compute)
89+
This is the microcontroller that controls the compute queues on the
90+
GFX/compute engine.
91+
92+
MES (MicroEngine Scheduler)
93+
This is a new engine for managing queues. This is currently unused.
94+
95+
RLC (RunList Controller)
96+
This is another microcontroller in the GFX/Compute engine. It handles
97+
power management related functionality within the GFX/Compute engine.
98+
The name is a vestige of old hardware where it was originally added
99+
and doesn't really have much relation to what the engine does now.
100+
79101
Driver Structure
80102
================
81103

82104
In general, the driver has a list of all of the IPs on a particular
83105
SoC and for things like init/fini/suspend/resume, more or less just
84106
walks the list and handles each IP.
85107

108+
Some useful constructs:
109+
110+
KIQ (Kernel Interface Queue)
111+
This is a control queue used by the kernel driver to manage other gfx
112+
and compute queues on the GFX/compute engine. You can use it to
113+
map/unmap additional queues, etc.
114+
115+
IB (Indirect Buffer)
116+
A command buffer for a particular engine. Rather than writing
117+
commands directly to the queue, you can write the commands into a
118+
piece of memory and then put a pointer to the memory into the queue.
119+
The hardware will then follow the pointer and execute the commands in
120+
the memory, then returning to the rest of the commands in the ring.
86121

87122
.. _amdgpu_memory_domains:
88123

0 commit comments

Comments
 (0)