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160 AMD Geode™ SC3200 Processor Data Book
Core Logic Module
32581C
6.2.10 Power Management Programming
The power management resources provided by a com-
bined GX1 module and Core Logic module based system
supports a high efficiency power management implementa-
tion. The following explanations pertain to a full-featured
“notebook” power management system. The extent to
which these resources are employed depends on the appli-
cation and on the discretion of the system designer.
Power management resources can be grouped according
to the function they enable or support. The major functions
are as follows:
• APM Support
• CPU Power Management
— Suspend Modulation
— 3V Suspend
—Save-to-Disk
• Peripheral Power Management
— Device Idle Timers and Traps
— General Purpose Timers
— ACPI Timer Register
— Power Management SMI Status Reporting Registers
Included in the following subsections are details regarding
the registers used for configuring power management fea-
tures. The majority of these registers are directly accessed
through the PCI configuration register space designated as
Function 0 (F0). However, included in the discussions are
references to F1BARx+I/O Offset xxh. This refers to regis-
ters accessed through base address registers in Function 1
(F1) at Index 10h (F1BAR0) and Index 40h (F1BAR1).
6.2.10.1 APM Support
Many notebook computers rely solely on an Advanced
Power Management (APM) driver for enabling the operat-
ing system to power-manage the CPU. APM provides sev-
eral services which enhance the system power
management; but in its current form, APM is imperfect for
the following reasons:
• APM is an OS-specific driver, and may not be available
for some operating systems.
• Application support is inconsistent. Some applications in
foreground may prevent Idle calls.
• APM does not help with Suspend determination or
peripheral power management.
The Core Logic module provides two entry points for APM
support:
• Software CPU Suspend control via the CPU Suspend
Command register (F0 Index AEh)
• Software SMI entry via the Software SMI register (F0
Index D0h). This allows the APM BIOS to be part of the
SMI handler.
6.2.10.2 CPU Power Management
The three greatest power consumers in a system are the
display, the hard drive, and the CPU. The power manage-
ment of the first two is relatively straightforward and is dis-
cussed in Section 6.2.10.3 "Peripheral Power
Management" on page 162.
APM, if available, is used primarily by CPU power manage-
ment since the operating system is most capable of report-
ing the Idle condition. Additional resources provided by the
Core Logic module supplement APM by monitoring exter-
nal activity and power managing the CPU based on the
system demands. The two processes for power managing
the CPU are Suspend Modulation and 3V Suspend.
Suspend Modulation
Suspend Modulation works by asserting and de-asserting
the internal SUSP# signal to the GX1 module for config-
urable durations. When SUSP# is asserted to the GX1
module, it enters an Idle state during which time the power
consumption is significantly reduced. Even though the PCI
clock is still running, the GX1 module stops the clocks to its
core when SUSP# is asserted. By modulating SUSP# a
reduced frequency of operation is achieved.
The Suspend Modulation feature works by assuming that
the GX1 module is Idle unless external activity indicates
otherwise. This approach effectively slows down the GX1
module until external activity indicates a need to run at full
speed, thereby reducing power consumption. This
approach is the opposite of that taken by most power man-
agement schemes in the industry, which run the system at
full speed until a period of inactivity is detected, and then
slows down. Suspend Modulation, the more aggressive
approach, yields lower power consumption.
Suspend Modulation serves as the primary CPU power
management mechanism when APM is not present. It also
acts as a backup for situations where APM does not cor-
rectly detect an Idle condition in the system.
To provide high-speed performance when needed, SUSP#
modulation is temporarily disabled any time system activity
is detected. When this happens, the GX1 module is
“instantly” converted to full speed for a programmed dura-
tion. System activities in the Core Logic module are
asserted as: any unmasked IRQ, accessing Port 061h, any
asserted SMI, and/or accessing the Video Processor mod-
ule interface.
The graphics controller is integrated in the GX1 module.
Therefore, the indication of video activity is sent to the Core
Logic module via the serial link (see Section 6.2.2 "PSE-
RIAL Interface" on page 141 for more information on serial
link) and is automatically decoded. Video activity is defined
as any access to the VGA register space, the VGA frame
buffer, the graphics accelerator control registers and the
configured graphics frame buffer.