Instruction
VFMSUB231SH
Fused multiply-subtract of the low half-precision values: second times third minus first, into the first; the rest is unchanged.
- Extensions
- Forms
- 2 (2 EVEX)
- Data
- Intel XED v2026.08.23
VFMSUB231SH computes op2 × op3 - op1 on the low halves and rounds once:
the product minus the destination’s old value. Bits 127:16 of the
destination stay as they were and the bits above 127 are cleared. It is
the scalar form of VFMSUB231PH;
VFMSUB132SH and VFMSUB213SH
are the other operand orders, VFMADD231SH the
accumulating form, and VFMSUB231SS the
single-precision one. The encoding is BBh with the 66 prefix in EVEX map
6; it takes {er} and reads two bytes when op3 is in memory.
In our builds
At -O2 with -march=x86-64-v4 -mavx512fp16, GCC 14 and Clang 23 compile
x * y - z on _Float16 values to VFMSUB132SH and VFMSUB213SH, where
the destination is a factor. VFMSUB231SH appears where the subtracted
value must survive in its register: both compile _mm_mask3_fmsub_sh(a, b, c, k), which keeps c when bit 0 of the mask is clear, to it, with
c as destination and a move to the return register after.
GCC also reaches it for complex numbers. With -ffast-math, a * b - z
on _Complex _Float16 values becomes four scalar FMAs, VFMSUB231SH and
VFMSUB132SH among them; Clang uses VMULPH, VADDPH and VSUBPH on paired
halves instead.
Intel’s optimization manual counts the fused multiply-add among the FP16 operations that are correctly rounded, to 0.5 ULP when rounding to nearest (Section 18.5.3).
AMD’s Zen 5 guide does not list AVX512-FP16, and this site’s recorded cases include none of VFMSUB231SH.
Forms
| Instruction | Encoding | Requires |
|---|---|---|
VFMSUB231SH xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm, {er}
VFMSUB231SH_XMMf16_MASKmskw_XMMf16_XMMf16_AVX512 | EVEX.LIG.66.MAP6.W0 BB /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512_FP16 |
VFMSUB231SH xmm {k}{z}, xmm, m16
VFMSUB231SH_XMMf16_MASKmskw_XMMf16_MEMf16_AVX512 | EVEX.LIG.66.MAP6.W0 BB /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512_FP16 |
Latency and throughput
| Model | xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm, {er}no mask, with {er} | xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm, {er}with a mask, zeroing | xmm {k}{z}, xmm, m16 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sapphire Rapids | 5 / 0.5p01 | 6 / 0.5p01 | 12 / 0.5p01 |
Data flow
Where the elements of the sources go, element 0 on the right; results that depend on a control value are drawn for an example. How to read.
The write mask k1 applies to the low half: with bit 0 clear it keeps its old value, or is zeroed with {z}.
Result half 0 is computed from half 0 of xmm1, xmm2 and xmm3; halves 7 to 1 are those of xmm1. Result halves 7 to 0: a7, a6, a5, a4, a3, a2, a1, r0.
Operation
What the forms do, in pseudocode that our tests run against results recorded on real processors. How to read.
if k1[0]:
a = xmm1.f16[0]
b = xmm2.f16[0]
c = src3.f16[0]
xmm1.f16[0] = fmsub(b, c, a)
elif zeroing:
xmm1.f16[0] = 0
# else: xmm1.f16[0] keeps its value
# xmm1.w[1] to [7] keep their values
# {er}: the form's rounding, not MXCSR.RC, and no flags
# xmm1 is zeroed from bit 128 upNot run on a processor: none of these processors has AVX512-FP16. The tests check its arithmetic against MPFR.
Operands
| Operand | Kind | Action |
|---|---|---|
VFMSUB231SH xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm/m16, {er} | ||
xmm | explicit | read, write (masked) |
{k} | explicit | read (write mask) |
xmm | explicit | read |
xmm/m16 | explicit | read |
Flags
None: XED records no flag that the forms test or change.
Exceptions
The exception class is XED's name for the set of exception conditions that a form follows. How to read.
- All forms
AVX512-E3
Attributes
What else XED records about the forms. How to read.
- All forms
- write masking; follows MXCSR
- Memory forms
- memory fault suppression
Intrinsics
The C intrinsics of Clang 23.1.2 that compile to VFMSUB231SH, each with the form it compiles to and the Clang options it needs. The forms come from compiling every intrinsic and decoding the result with Intel XED; all intrinsics A–Z explains the method.
| Intrinsic | Compiles to |
|---|---|
_mm_mask3_fmsub_round_sh
__m128h _mm_mask3_fmsub_round_sh(__m128h W, __m128h X, __m128h Y, __mmask8 U, const int R) |
|
_mm_mask3_fmsub_sh
__m128h _mm_mask3_fmsub_sh(__m128h __W, __m128h __X, __m128h __Y, __mmask8 __U) |
|
CPUID and processors
Each form belongs to an XED ISA set. A form can be used when the processor reports every CPUID bit of one of its ISA set's alternatives.
| ISA set | CPUID | Processors |
|---|---|---|
AVX512_FP16_SCALAR | AVX10.1 or AVX512_FP16 | Nova Lake, Sapphire Rapids, Emerald Rapids, Granite Rapids, Diamond Rapids, Zen 6 |
More AVX10.1 instructions
- VFMADDSUB213PS
- VFMADDSUB231PD
- VFMADDSUB231PH
- VFMADDSUB231PS
- VFMSUB132PD
- VFMSUB132PH
- VFMSUB132PS
- VFMSUB132SD
- VFMSUB132SH
- VFMSUB132SS
- VFMSUB213PD
- VFMSUB213PH
- VFMSUB213PS
- VFMSUB213SD
- VFMSUB213SH
- VFMSUB213SS
- VFMSUB231PD
- VFMSUB231PH
- VFMSUB231PS
- VFMSUB231SD
- VFMSUB231SS
- VFMSUBADD132PD
- VFMSUBADD132PH
- VFMSUBADD132PS
- VFMSUBADD213PD
- VFMSUBADD213PH
- VFMSUBADD213PS
- VFMSUBADD231PD
- VFMSUBADD231PH
- VFMSUBADD231PS
- VFMULCPH
- VFMULCSH
- VFNMADD132PD
- VFNMADD132PH
- VFNMADD132PS
- VFNMADD132SD
- VFNMADD132SH
- VFNMADD132SS
- VFNMADD213PD
- VFNMADD213PH
Sources
- Intel XED v2026.08.23 (commit
0bcb6237345c): forms, encodings, operands, flags, exception classes, attributes, ISA sets, CPUID bits and chip model. - The CPU data of x86-64.net: Zen 3 to Zen 6, from GCC’s
-marchfeature sets and AMD’s Processor Programming References, which the page of each processor cites. - Clang's x86 intrinsic headers, LLVM 23.1.2 (commit
85ac56026243): the intrinsics, their signatures and doc comments, and the Clang of that release, which compiled each of them. - LLVM 23.1.2's x86 scheduling models (commit
85ac56026243): the latency, reciprocal throughput and ports of each form, as llvm-mca reports them. - Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 10.2 Architecture Specification, revision 7.0 (361050-007, April 2026)
- Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual, Volume 2 (325383-093, September 2026): Volume 2C, page 5-279 (VF[,N]MSUB[132,213,231]SH)
- Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Optimization Reference Manual, Volume 1 (248966-051, October 2026)
- Software Optimization Guide for the AMD Zen5 Microarchitecture (58455, rev. 1.00, August 2024), Wayback Machine copy of AMD's ZIP
The tables are derived from Intel XED, Copyright Intel Corporation, licensed under the Apache License 2.0; x86-64.net converted and reformatted them. The intrinsics and their signatures come from Clang and the timings from LLVM's scheduling models, both part of the LLVM Project, licensed under the Apache License 2.0 with LLVM Exceptions. The text is our own.