Advanced Vector Extensions
Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX, also known as Sandy Bridge New Extensions) are extensions to the x86 instruction set architecture for microprocessors from Intel and AMD proposed by Intel in March 2008 and first supported by Intel with the Sandy Bridge processor shipping in Q1 2011 and later on by AMD with the Bulldozer processor shipping in Q3 2011. AVX provides new features, new instructions and a new coding scheme.
AVX2 expands most integer commands to 256 bits and introduces fused multiply-accumulate (FMA) operations. AVX-512 expands AVX to 512-bit support using a new EVEX prefix encoding proposed by Intel in July 2013 and first supported by Intel with the Knights Landing processor, which shipped in 2016.
CPUs with AVX
Intel
- Sandy Bridge processor, Q1 2011[10]
- Sandy Bridge E processor, Q4 2011[11]
- Ivy Bridge processor, Q1 2012
- Ivy Bridge E processor, Q3 2013
- Haswell processor, Q2 2013
- Haswell E processor, Q3 2014
- Broadwell processor, Q4 2014
- Broadwell E processor, Q2 2016
- Skylake processor, Q3 2015
- Kaby Lake processor, Q3 2016(ULV mobile)/Q1 2017(desktop/mobile)
- Skylake-X processor, Q2 2017
- Coffee Lake processor, Q4 2017
- Cannon Lake (microarchitecture) processor, expected in 2018
- Cascade Lake processor, expected in 2018
- Ice Lake processor, expected in 2018
Note: Not all CPUs from the listed families support AVX. Generally, CPUs with the commercial denomination "Core i3/i5/i7" support them, whereas "Pentium" and "Celeron" CPUs don't.