SiFive Performance P550 Core Sets New Standard as Highest Performance RISC-V Processor IP

By Tiera Oliver

Associate Editor

Embedded Computing Design

June 22, 2021

News

SiFive Performance P550 Core Sets New Standard as Highest Performance RISC-V Processor IP

SiFive launched the new SiFive Performance family of processors.

The SiFive Performance family debuts with two new processor cores, the P270, SiFive’s first Linux capable processor with full support for the RISC V vector extension v1.0 rc, and the SiFive Performance P550 core, SiFive’s highest performance processor to date. According to the company, the new SiFive Performance P550 delivers a SPECInt 2006 score of 8.65/GHz, making it the highest performance RISC-V processor available today, and comparable to existing proprietary solutions in the application processor space.

The SiFive Performance P550 features a thirteen-stage, triple-issue, out-of-order pipeline compatible with the RISC-V RV64GC ISA. Built on the previously announced SiFive U84 microarchitecture, Performance P550 scales up to four-core complex configurations that use a similar amount of area as a single Arm Cortex-A75 while delivering a suitable performance-per-area advantage.

The SiFive Performance P270 is a an 8-stage, dual-issue, efficient in-order pipeline compatible with the RISC-V RV64GCV ISA. With full support for the RISC V Vector Extension v 1.0 rc, and combined with SiFive Recode, which translates existing SIMD software from legacy architectures to RISC-V Vector assembly code, the P270 is a suitable replacement for dated SIMD architectures.

The new SiFive Performance family joins the recently announced SiFive Intelligence family that is focused on AI & ML applications, and the broadly adopted SiFive Essential family of configurable cores that includes the U/S/E-Series of 64-bit and 32-bit processors. 

For more information, please visit www.sifive.com.

Tiera Oliver, Associate Editor for Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for web content edits, product news, and constructing stories. She also assists with newsletter updates as well as contributing and editing content for ECD podcasts and the ECD YouTube channel. Before working at ECD, Tiera graduated from Northern Arizona University where she received her B.S. in journalism and political science and worked as a news reporter for the university’s student led newspaper, The Lumberjack.

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