Bobcat (microarchitecture)

Bobcat was a low-power x86 microprocessor microarchitecture designed by AMD, released in 2011. It was targeted at netbooks, ultra-portable laptops, and embedded systems, focusing on energy efficiency over raw performance. The Bobcat core was a single-core design, though APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) featured multiple Bobcat cores on a single die.

Key features of the Bobcat microarchitecture included:

• Out-of-order execution: While not as aggressive as higher-performance AMD processors, Bobcat utilized out-of-order instruction execution to improve performance by executing instructions opportunistically when data dependencies allowed.
• Integrated memory controller: The Bobcat APUs integrated a DDR3 memory controller directly onto the processor die, reducing latency and improving memory bandwidth.
• Integrated GPU: Bobcat APUs incorporated a DirectX 11-capable integrated graphics processing unit (GPU), enabling improved graphics performance compared to older integrated graphics solutions.
• Low power consumption: Bobcat was designed from the ground up for low power consumption, making it suitable for battery-powered devices. Power-saving features included clock gating, power gating, and aggressive voltage scaling.
• Small die size: Bobcat was designed with a small die size to reduce manufacturing costs.

The Bobcat microarchitecture was significant because it represented AMD's first serious attempt to compete in the low-power x86 market, previously dominated by Intel's Atom processors. It aimed to provide a better balance of performance and power consumption compared to its competitors. The Bobcat core was the basis for AMD's C-, E-, and G-series APUs. It was eventually succeeded by the Jaguar microarchitecture.