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5.3.2.1. Multiply and Divide Performance
The Nios II/s core provides the following hardware multiplier options:
•
DSP Block—Includes DSP block multipliers available on the target device. This
option is available only on Intel FPGAs that have DSP Blocks.
•
Embedded Multipliers—Includes dedicated embedded multipliers available on the
target device. This option is available only on Intel FPGAs that have embedded
multipliers.
•
Logic Elements—Includes hardware multipliers built from logic element (LE)
resources.
•
None—Does not include multiply hardware. In this case, multiply operations are
emulated in software.
The Nios II/s core also provides a hardware divide option that includes LE-based
divide circuitry in the ALU.
Including an ALU option improves the performance of one or more arithmetic
instructions.
Note:
The performance of the embedded multipliers differ, depending on the target FPGA
family.
Table 71.
Hardware Multiply and Divide Details for the Nios II/s Core
ALU Option
Hardware Details
Cycles per
instruction
Supported Instructions
No hardware multiply or divide
Multiply and divide instructions
generate an exception
–
None
LE-based multiplier
ALU includes 32 x 4-bit multiplier
11
mul
,
muli
Embedded multiplier on
Stratix III families
ALU includes 32 x 32-bit
multiplier
3
mul
,
muli
,
mulxss
,
mulxsu
,
mulxuu
Embedded multiplier on
Cyclone III families
ALU includes 32 x 16-bit
multiplier
5
mul
,
muli
Hardware divide
ALU includes multicycle divide
circuit
4 – 66
div
,
divu
5.3.2.2. Shift and Rotate Performance
The performance of shift operations depends on the hardware multiply option. When a
hardware multiplier is present, the ALU achieves shift and rotate operations in three or
four clock cycles. Otherwise, the ALU includes dedicated shift circuitry that achieves
one-bit-per-cycle shift and rotate performance.
Refer to the "Instruction Execution Performance for Nios II/s Core" table in the
"Instruction Performance" section for details.
Related Information
Instruction Performance
on page 139
5. Nios II Core Implementation Details
NII-PRG | 2018.04.18
Nios II Processor Reference Guide
136