[llvm-dev] Question

[Tim Northover via llvm-dev]

Hi Lulia,

On 4 June 2017 at 08:39, Iulia Stirb via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> Does LLVM support code generation for Intel Processors? Which Intel
> processors are supported? I am interested especially in Intel Xeon
> Processor, but you can give me information about the others as well.

Yes, x86 output is supported. "Xeon" is just a brand name for Intel's
server chips though, and covers lots of very different CPUs going back
many years.

LLVM distinguishes them by which instructions the CPU supports, which
is mostly determined by which generation the chip is. You may have
heard names like "Haswell", "Skylake", "Canonlake" mentioned; and
those are what LLVM uses to choose what you're compiling for. For
example if you know your Xeon is a Skylake one you'd specify
"-mcpu=skylake" (or an equivalent via the C++ API if you're writing
your own compiler).

LLVM is capable of generating code for all of them, though some may
have had more tuning work for performance.

Cheers.

Tim.