SuperRAM DRAM memory expansion

The SuperRAM IP Core implements a hardware accelerator for zram/zswap compression and decompression. Compute-intensive software-based compression is offloaded from the host to the IP, delivering high compression performance at unmatched power efficiency.

Overview

The SuperRAM IP Core implements a hardware accelerator for zram/zswap compression and decompression. Compute-intensive software-based compression is offloaded from the host to the IP, delivering high compression performance at unmatched power efficiency.

Standards
  • Hardware accelerated zram/zswap

  • Compression: LZ4, ZID (proprietary)

  • Interface: AXI4, CHI

Architecture
  • Modular architecture, enables scalability to meet customer throughput requirements

  • Architectural configuration parameters accessible to fine tune performance

HDL Source Licenses
  • Synthesizable System Verilog RTL (encrypted)

  • Implementation constraints

  • UVM testbench (self-checking)

  • Vectors for testbench and expected results

  • User Documentation

Features
  • Turn key solution: compression, compaction, memory management

  • Transparent addressing to operating system and applications

  • Operates on page granularity to enable high compression performance

Deliverables
  • Performance evaluation license C++ compression model for integration in customer performance simulation model

FPGA evaluation license
  • Encrypted IP delivery (Xilinx)

Applications

Smart devices: The product benefit is a faster user experience at unmatched power efficiency when the host processor is offloaded and the page swapping is hardware accelerated. 

Servers: The product benefit is more system performance at less power when the host is off-loaded with the SW-based compression. Operating system and hypervisor offload SW-based compression of swapped pages with a super-fast page compression technology and return more performance to the guest at unmatched power efficiency.

Integration

SuperRAM is integrated on the SoC as a hardware accelerator, a master node on the SoC interconnect. Part of the integration includes a software driver so that the zram/zswap crypto-compress API sends a command to the SuperRAM accelerator when there is a software-triggered compression and decompression.

Benefits

High performance and low latency hardware accelerated compression at unmatched power efficiency. Off-loading CPU – More cycles to released to user work loads. Power efficiency – Less energy. Speed – Fast compression and low latency access. Several in-flight compression and decompression operation operating in parallel. Operating at main memory speed and throughput. Compatible with AXI4/CHI, both 128-b and 256-b bus interface. Intelligent real-time analysis and tuning of the IP Block.

Performance / KPI

FeaturePerformance
Compression ratio:2-4x across diverse data sets
Compression throughput:8 GB/s
Decompression throughput:10 GB/s
Frequency:DDR4/DDR5 DRAM speed
IP area:Starting at 0.1mm2 (@5nm TSMC)
Memory technologies supported:(LP)DDR4, (LP)DDR5, HBM

Cache MX

The Cache MX compression solution increases the cache capacity by 2x at an 80% area and power saving to comparable SRAM capacity.

SuperRAM

High performance and low latency hardware accelerated compression at unmatched power efficiency.

Ziptilion™ BW

Delivers up to 25% more (LP)DDR bandwidth at nominal frequency and power, enabling a significantly more performance and energy efficient SoC.

DenseMem

Double the CXL connected memory capacity with data DenseMem.

Flash MX

Double the NvMe storage capacity with Flash MX.

SphinX

High Performance and Low Latency industry-standard encryption / decryption. Independent non-blocking encryption and decryption channels.