DDR4 SPD tools README

Tools for generating SPD files for DDR4 memory used in platforms with memory down configuration. These tools generate SPDs following JESD79-4C and Jedec 4.1.2.L-5 R29 v103 specifications.

There are two tools provided that assist with generating SPDs and Makefiles to integrate in coreboot build. These tools can also be used to allocate DRAM IDs (configure DRAM hardware straps) for any DDR4 memory part used by the board.

• gen_spd.go: Generates de-duplicated SPD files using a global memory part list provided by the mainboard in JSON format. Additionally, generates a SPD manifest file(in CSV format) with information about what memory part from the global list uses which of the generated SPD files.

• gen_part_id.go: Allocates DRAM strap IDs for different DDR4 memory parts used by the board. Takes as input a list of memory parts used (in CSV format) by the board with optional fixed ids and the SPD manifest file generated by gen_spd.go. Generates Makefile.inc for integrating the generated SPD files in the coreboot build.

Tool 1 - gen_spd.go

This program takes as input:

• Pointer to directory where the generated SPD files and manifest will be placed.
• JSON file containing a global list of memory parts with their attributes as per the datasheet. This is the list of all known DDR4 memory parts irrespective of their usage on the board.
• SoC platform name for which the SPDs are being generated. Currently supported platform names are TGL, PCO and PLK.

Input JSON file requires the following two fields for every memory part:

• name: Name of the memory part
• attribs: List of attributes of the memory part as per its datasheet. These attributes match the part specifications and are independent of any SoC expectations. Tool takes care of translating the physical attributes of the memory part to match JEDEC and Intel MRC expectations.

attribs field further contains two types of sub-fields:

• Mandatory: These attributes have to be provided for a memory part.
• Optional: These attributes can be provided by memory part if it wants to override the defaults.

Mandatory attribs

• speedMTps: Maximum rate supported by the part in MT/s. Valid values: 1600, 1866, 2133, 2400, 2666, 2933, 3200 MT/s.

• CL_nRCD_nRP: Refers to CAS Latency specified for the part (find “CL-nRCD-nRP” in the vendor spec for the DDR4 part).

• capacityPerDieGb: Capacity per die in gigabits. Valid values: 2, 4, 8, 16 Gb part.

• diesPerPackage: Number of dies on the part. Valid values: 1, 2 dies per package.

• packageBusWidth: Number of bits of the device's address bus. Valid values: 8, 16 bit-wide bus. NOTE: Width of x4 is not supported by this tool.

• ranksPerPackage: From Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-1R23: “Package ranks per DIMM” refers to the collections of devices on the module sharing common chip select signals (across the data width of the DIMM), either from the edge connector for unbuffered modules or from the outputs of a registering clock driver for RDIMMs and LRDIMMs.Number of bits of the device's address bus. Valid values: 1, 2 package ranks.

Optional attribs

The following options are calculated by the tool based on the mandatory attributes described for the part, but there may be cases where a default value must be overridden, such as when a device appears to be 3200AA, but does not support all of the CAS latencies typically supported by a speed bin 3200AA part. Do deal with such a case, the variable can be overridden here and the tool will use this value instead of calculating one. All values must be defined in picosecond units, except for “CASLatencies”, which would be represented as a string like “9 10 11 12 14”.

• TAAMinPs: Defines the minimum CAS Latency. Table 48 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tAAmin for each speed grade.

• TRASMinPs: Refers to the minimum active to precharge delay time. Table 55 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRPmin for each speed grade.

• TCKMinPs: Refers to the minimum clock cycle time. Table 42 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tCKmin for each speed grade.

• TCKMaxPs:Refers to the minimum clock cycle time. Table 44 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tCKmin for each speed grade.

• TRFC1MinPs: Refers to the minimum refresh recovery delay time. Table 59 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRFC1min for each page size.

• TRFC2MinPs: Refers to the minimum refresh recovery delay time. Table 61 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRFC2min for each page size.

• TRFC4MinPs: Refers to the minimum refresh recovery delay time. Table 63 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRFC4min for each page size.

• TFAWMinPs:: Refers to the minimum four activate window delay time. Table 66 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tFAWmin for each speed grade and page size combination.

• TRRDSMinPs: Refers to the minimum activate to activate delay time to different bank groups. Table 68 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRRD_Smin for each speed grade and page size combination.

• TRRDLMinPs: Refers to the minimum activate to activate delay time to the same bank group. Table 70 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tRRD_Lmin for each speed grade and page size combination.

• TCCDLMinPs: Refers to the minimum CAS to CAS delay time to same bank group. Table 72 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tCCD_Lmin for each speed grade.

• TWRMinPs: Refers to the minimum write recovery time. Table 75 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tWRmin for each ddr4 type.

• TWTRSMinPs: Refers to minimum write to read time to different bank group. Table 78 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tWTR_Smin for each ddr4 type.

• TWTRLMinPs: Refers to minimum write to read time to same bank group. Table 80 of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 lists tWTR_Lmin for each ddr4 type.

• CASLatencies: Refers to the CAS latencies supported by the part. The speed bin tables in the back of Jedec doc 4_01_02_AnnexL-5R29 define the standard CAS latencies that a speed bin part is supposed to support. In cases where a part does not support all of the CAS latencies listed in the speed bin tables, this entry should be used to override the default settings.

Example JSON file

{
    "parts": [
        {
            "name": "MEMORY_PART_A",
            "attribs": {
                "speedMTps": 3200,
                "CL_nRCD_nRP": 22
                "capacityPerDieGb": 8,
                "diesPerPackage": 2,
                "packageBusWidth": 16,
                "ranksPerPackage": 1,
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "MEMORY_PART_B",
            "attribs": {
                "speedMTps": 3200,
                "CL_nRCD_nRP": 22
                "capacityPerDieGb": 8,
                "diesPerPackage": 1,
                "packageBusWidth": 16,
                "ranksPerPackage": 2,
                "casLatencies": "9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20",
                "tCKMaxPs": "1250"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Output

This tool generates the following files using the global list of memory parts in JSON format as described above:

• De-duplicated SPDs required for the different memory parts. These SPD files are named (ddr4-spd-1.hex, ddr4-spd-2.hex, and so on) and placed in the directory provided as an input to the tool.
• CSV file representing which of the deduplicated SPD files is used by which memory part. This file is named as ddr4_spd_manifest.generated.txt and placed in the directory provided as an input to the tool along with the generated SPD files. Example CSV file:

  MEMORY_PART_A, ddr4-spd-1.hex
  MEMORY_PART_B, ddr4-spd-2.hex
  MEMORY_PART_C, ddr4-spd-3.hex
  MEMORY_PART_D, ddr4-spd-2.hex
  MEMORY_PART_E, ddr4-spd-2.hex
  

Tool 2 - gen_part_id.go

This program takes as input:

• Pointer to directory where the SPD files and the manifest file ddr4_spd_manifest.generated.txt (in CSV format) are placed by gen_spd.go

• CSV file containing list of memory parts used by the board and optional fixed id. Each line of the file is supposed to contain one memory part name as present in the global list of memory parts provided to gen_spd.go. Optionally a fixed id may also be assigned to the part if required. NOTE: Only assign a fixed ID if required for legacy reasons.

• Pointer to directory where the generated Makefile.inc should be placed by the tool.

Sample input (mem_parts_used_file.txt):

K4AAG165WA-BCWE,1
MT40A512M16TB-062E:J
MT40A1G16KD-062E:E
K4A8G165WC-BCWE
H5AN8G6NDJR-XNC,8
H5ANAG6NCMR-XNC

NOTE: This will ensure SPDs compatible with K4AAG165WA-BCWE and H5AN8G6NDJR-XNC are assigned to ID 1 and 8 respectively. All other memory parts will be assigned to the first compatible ID. Assigning fixed IDs may result in duplicate SPD entries or gaps in the ID mapping.

Output

This program provides the following:

• Prints out the list of DRAM hardware strap IDs that should be allocated to each memory part listed in the input file.
• Makefile.inc is generated in the provided directory to integrate SPDs generated by gen_spd.go with the coreboot build for the board.
• dram_id.generated.txt is generated in the same directory as Makefile. This contains the part IDs assigned to the different memory parts. (Useful to integrate in board schematics).

Sample output (dram_id.generated.txt):

DRAM Part Name                 ID to assign
MEMORY_PART_A                  0 (0000)
MEMORY_PART_B                  1 (0001)
MEMORY_PART_C                  2 (0010)
MEMORY_PART_D                  1 (0001)

Sample Makefile.inc:

## SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
## This is an auto-generated file. Do not edit!!

SPD_SOURCES =
SPD_SOURCES += ddr4-spd-1.hex      # ID = 0(0b0000)  Parts = MEMORY_PART_A
SPD_SOURCES += ddr4-spd-2.hex      # ID = 1(0b0001)  Parts = MEMORY_PART_B, MEMORY_PART_D
SPD_SOURCES += ddr4-spd-empty.hex  # ID = 2(0b0010)
SPD_SOURCES += ddr4-spd-3.hex      # ID = 2(0b0010)  Parts = MEMORY_PART_C

NOTE: Empty entries may be required if there is a gap created by a memory part with a fixed id.

Note of caution

This program assigns DRAM IDs using the order of DRAM part names provided in the input file. Thus, when adding a new memory part to the list, it should always go to the end of the input text file. This guarantees that the memory parts that were already assigned IDs do not change.

How to build the tools?

# go build gen_spd.go
# go build gen_part_id.go

How to use the tools?

# ./gen_spd <spd_dir> <mem_parts_list_json> <platform>
# ./gen_part_id <spd_dir> <makefile_dir> <mem_parts_used_file>

Example Usage

# ./gen_spd ../../../../src/soc/intel/tigerlake/spd/ddr4 ./global_ddr4_mem_parts.json.txt 'TGL'

Need to add a new memory part for a board?

• If the memory part is not present in the global list of memory parts, then add the memory part name and attributes as per the datasheet to the file containing the global list.
  • Use gen_spd.go with input as the file containing the global list of memory parts to generate de-duplicated SPDs.
  • If a new SPD file is generated, use git add to add it to the tree and push a CL for review.
• Update the file containing memory parts used by board (variant) to add the new memory part name at the end of the file.
  • Use gen_part_id.go providing it pointer to the location where SPD files are stored and file containing the list of memory parts used by the board(variant).
  • Use git add to add Makefile.inc and dram_id.generated.txt with updated changes and push a CL for review.