15h.org – Maintaining coreboot for the bleeding edge of blob-free x86

Welcome to 15h.org, a resource for documentation and support for AMD's Family 15h (fam15h) and other related processors and platforms.

Why 15h?

Released between 2011 and 2014, AMD's fam15h (and its approximately-contemporaneous relatives, fam10h, fam14h and fam16h) are the final high-performance x86_64 microprocessors lacking most of the limitations newer x86 platforms are encumbered by. In many cases, fam15h hardware can provide a performant, full-featured system, using entirely free and open source software. It enforces no firmware signing (allowing things such as coreboot), can be booted entirely with free firmware (including memory initialization), and it requires no privileged management coprocessor (such as the Platform Security Processor or Management Engine, found on newer AMD and Intel platforms respectively). Where a Board Management Controller is present, it can usually reliably disabled, or better yet, flashed with OpenBMC. On fam10h, even microcode is unencrypted and unsigned, and can be modified by the user.

Beyond their currently-unparalleled degree of firmware freedom for a modern x86_64 platform, AMD hardware of this era (in particular, 6200 and 6300-series Opteron platforms) remains a powerful and cost-effective option for many systems, especially under parallel workloads. Despite this, the comparative popularity of competing Intel processors during this era has limited the familiarity and uptake of these pre-Zen AMD platforms among many enthusiasts.

If you are looking for an x86_64 platform under your complete control, this website serves to demystify fam15h and its relatives, so that these systems can remain in operation well into the future.

What hardware was that again?

fam15h consists of the Bulldozer, Piledriver, Steamroller, and Excavator microarchitectures (sold under the AMD FX and AMD Opteron CPU brands, and combined with graphics under the A4, A6, A8, A10, A12, FirePro, Sempron X2, Athlon X2, and Athlon X4 APU brands) while fam10h corresponds with the K10 microarchitecture (sold under the Athlon X2, Athlon II, Sempron, Sempron X2, Phenom, Phenom II, Turion II, and Opteron CPU brands, and combined with graphics under the Sempron X2, Athlon II X2, Athlon II X4, E2, A4, A6, and A8 APU brands). The related Family 16h, corresponding with the Jaguar microarchitecture, was sold exclusively combined with graphics, under the Athlon, Sempron, E1, E2, A4, A6, and Opteron APU brands.

FOSS firmware development has to date focused primarily on platforms using Opteron processors of the K10, Bulldozer, and Piledriver microarchitectures (for example, the KGPE-D16), as well as APUs of the Piledriver (e.g. G505s), Steamroller (e.g. A88XM-E) and Jaguar (e.g. AM1I-A, AM1ML) microarchitectures.

Stable coreboot images

These images work with a wide range of peripherals and have hardware based fan control. Review the corresponding motherboard page for missing or untested features. For source, see our git forge.

Beta coreboot images

These images may be complete enough to be used in a production setting, depending on your needs. Review the corresponding motherboard page for missing features, known bugs, or untested features.