Instruction
VPADDSW
Adds packed signed words with signed saturation.
VPADDSW adds signed words and clamps each sum to the range -32768 to
32767: the VEX and EVEX form of SSE2’s PADDSW, whose
page covers the operation and the baseline code. What the newer
encodings add is on VPADDSB’s page: a separate
destination, memory at any alignment, zeroing above the vector length,
AVX2 for the ymm form, AVX512BW (or AVX10.1) for the EVEX forms, here
with a mask bit per word, and no broadcast. On Zen 5, vpaddsw ymm12, ymm6, ymm6 doubled every word, 8000h staying 8000h, 7FFFh staying 7FFFh
and FFFFh becoming FFFEh, and vpaddsw xmm14{k1}{z}, xmm8, xmmword ptr [mem] wrote only words 5 and 7, 0001h plus FFFFh giving 0000h and 7FFFh
plus 0001h giving 7FFFh, and zeroed the other six.
Mixing samples
Mixing two signals of 16-bit samples, one of them at half volume, should
clip rather than wrap. In our builds at -O2 over fixed-size int16_t
arrays, s = b[i] + (c[i] >> 1) with s an int32_t, clamped to the
word range, compiles in Clang 23 to VPSRAW by one and
VPADDSW, on ymm registers at both -march=x86-64-v3 and -v4; at -v4
the shift reads its operand from memory, which only the EVEX form can.
GCC 14 widens both inputs to doublewords with
VPMOVSXWD, adds with VPADDD and clamps with
VPMAXSD and VPMINSD, then narrows with VPAND,
VPACKUSDW and VPERMQ at -v3, or with one
VPERMT2W that picks the low words of two zmm
registers at -v4. The plain clamped sum of two arrays compiles the
same way in each compiler, without the shift.
AMD’s latency spreadsheet for Zen 5 gives VPADDSW what it gives VPADDSB, VEX and EVEX rows alike: two cycles and two per cycle, on pipes FP0 and FP3.
Forms
| Instruction | Encoding | Requires |
|---|---|---|
VPADDSW xmm, xmm, m128
VPADDSW_XMMdq_XMMdq_MEMdq | VEX.128.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX |
VPADDSW xmm, xmm, xmm
VPADDSW_XMMdq_XMMdq_XMMdq | VEX.128.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX |
VPADDSW ymm, ymm, m256
VPADDSW_YMMqq_YMMqq_MEMqq | VEX.256.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX2 |
VPADDSW ymm, ymm, ymm
VPADDSW_YMMqq_YMMqq_YMMqq | VEX.256.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX2 |
VPADDSW xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm
VPADDSW_XMMi16_MASKmskw_XMMi16_XMMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.128.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW + AVX512VL |
VPADDSW xmm {k}{z}, xmm, m128
VPADDSW_XMMi16_MASKmskw_XMMi16_MEMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.128.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW + AVX512VL |
VPADDSW ymm {k}{z}, ymm, ymm
VPADDSW_YMMi16_MASKmskw_YMMi16_YMMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.256.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW + AVX512VL |
VPADDSW ymm {k}{z}, ymm, m256
VPADDSW_YMMi16_MASKmskw_YMMi16_MEMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.256.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW + AVX512VL |
VPADDSW zmm {k}{z}, zmm, zmm
VPADDSW_ZMMi16_MASKmskw_ZMMi16_ZMMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.512.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW |
VPADDSW zmm {k}{z}, zmm, m512
VPADDSW_ZMMi16_MASKmskw_ZMMi16_MEMi16_AVX512 | EVEX.512.66.0F.WIG ED /r | AVX10.1 or AVX512BW |
Latency and throughput
| Model | xmm, xmm, m128xmm {k}{z}, xmm, m128no mask | xmm, xmm, xmmxmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmmno mask | ymm, ymm, m256ymm {k}{z}, ymm, m256no mask | ymm, ymm, ymm | xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmmwith a mask, zeroing | xmm {k}{z}, xmm, m128with a mask, zeroing | ymm {k}{z}, ymm, ymmno mask | ymm {k}{z}, ymm, ymmwith a mask, zeroing | ymm {k}{z}, ymm, m256with a mask, zeroing | zmm {k}{z}, zmm, zmmno mask | zmm {k}{z}, zmm, zmmwith a mask, zeroing | zmm {k}{z}, zmm, m512no mask | zmm {k}{z}, zmm, m512with a mask, zeroing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandy Bridge | 7 / 0.5p15 | 1 / 0.5p15 | |||||||||||
| Haswell | 7 / 0.5p15 | 1 / 0.5p15 | 8 / 0.5p15 | 1 / 0.5p15 | |||||||||
| Broadwell | 6 / 0.5p15 | 1 / 0.5p15 | 7 / 0.5p15 | 1 / 0.5p15 | |||||||||
| Skylake | 7 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 8 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | |||||||||
| Skylake-SP, Ice Lake | 7 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 8 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 7 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 8 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 1p0 | 1 / 1p0 | 8 / 1p0 | 8 / 1p0 |
| Alder Lake | 8 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 9 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | |||||||||
| Sapphire Rapids | 8 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 9 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 3 / 0.5p01 | 11 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 0.5p01 | 3 / 0.5p01 | 11 / 0.5p01 | 1 / 1p0 | 3 / 1p0 | 9 / 1p0 | 11 / 1p0 |
| Lunar Lake | 7 / 2V0 V1 | 1 / 0.5V0 V1 | 8 / 2.33V0 V1 | 1 / 0.5V0 V1 | |||||||||
| Piledriver | 7 / 1.5FPMAL | 2 / 0.5FPMAL FPU2 FPU3 | |||||||||||
| Zen | 8 / 0.5FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 1 / 0.33FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 8 / 0.67FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 1 / 0.67FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | |||||||||
| Zen 2 | 8 / 0.33FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 1 / 0.33FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 8 / 0.33FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | 1 / 0.33FPU0 FPU1 FPU3 | |||||||||
| Zen 3 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.5FP0 FP1 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.5FP0 FP1 | |||||||||
| Zen 4 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 2 / 11FP0 FP1 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.5FP0 FP1 | 2 / 12FP0 FP1 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.253FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.253FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.54FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 1 / 0.54FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 | 8 / 0.5FP0 FP1 FP2 FP3 |
| Jaguar | 6 / 1FPU0 FPU1 VALU0 VALU1 | 1 / 0.5FPU0 FPU1 VALU0 VALU1 | |||||||||||
- Zen 4 model: AMD's spreadsheets give reciprocal throughput 0.5 for Zen 4 and Zen 5 (AMD 57647, row 1882; AMD 58455, row 1136).
- Zen 4 model: AMD's spreadsheets give reciprocal throughput 0.5 for Zen 4 and Zen 5 (AMD 57647, row 1883; AMD 58455, row 182).
- Zen 4 model: AMD's spreadsheets give latency 2 for Zen 4 and Zen 5 (AMD 57647, row 1885; AMD 58455, row 182).
- Zen 4 model: AMD's spreadsheets give latency 2 for Zen 4 and Zen 5 (AMD 57647, row 1886; AMD 58455, row 182).
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.
Every word works alike: 8, 16 and 32 words in the xmm, ymm and zmm forms. The EVEX forms write under a mask: where its bit is 0, the element keeps its old value, or zeroes it with {z}.
Result word i comes from word i of xmm2 and xmm3. Result words 7 to 0: a7+b7, unchanged (bit 6 of k1 is 0), a5+b5, a4+b4, a3+b3, a2+b2, a1+b1, a0+b0.
Operation
What the forms do, in pseudocode that our tests run against results recorded on real processors. How to read.
for i in range(VL // 16):
if k1[i]: # 1 without a write mask
sa = zmm2.sw[i]
sb = src3.sw[i]
zmm1.w[i] = ssat(sa + sb, 16)
elif zeroing:
zmm1.w[i] = 0
# else: zmm1.w[i] keeps its value
# zmm1 is zeroed from bit VL upRun on AMD Zen 5 (EPYC 9645): 10 cases.
Operands
| Operand | Kind | Action |
|---|---|---|
VPADDSW xmm, xmm, xmm/m128 VPADDSW ymm, ymm, ymm/m256 | ||
xmm, ymm | explicit | write |
xmm, ymm | explicit | read |
xmm/m128, ymm/m256 | explicit | read |
VPADDSW xmm {k}{z}, xmm, xmm/m128 VPADDSW ymm {k}{z}, ymm, ymm/m256 VPADDSW zmm {k}{z}, zmm, zmm/m512 | ||
xmm, ymm, zmm | explicit | write (masked) |
{k} | explicit | read (write mask) |
xmm, ymm, zmm | explicit | read |
xmm/m128, ymm/m256, zmm/m512 | 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.
- VEX forms
avx-type-4- EVEX forms
AVX512-E4
Attributes
What else XED records about the forms. How to read.
- EVEX forms
- write masking
- EVEX memory forms
- memory fault suppression
Intrinsics
The C intrinsics of Clang 23.1.2 that compile to VPADDSW, 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_adds_epi16
__m128i _mm_adds_epi16(__m128i __a, __m128i __b) |
|
_mm_mask_adds_epi16
__m128i _mm_mask_adds_epi16(__m128i __W, __mmask8 __U, __m128i __A, __m128i __B) |
|
_mm_maskz_adds_epi16
__m128i _mm_maskz_adds_epi16(__mmask8 __U, __m128i __A, __m128i __B) |
|
_mm256_adds_epi16
__m256i _mm256_adds_epi16(__m256i __a, __m256i __b) |
|
_mm256_mask_adds_epi16
__m256i _mm256_mask_adds_epi16(__m256i __W, __mmask16 __U, __m256i __A, __m256i __B) |
|
_mm256_maskz_adds_epi16
__m256i _mm256_maskz_adds_epi16(__mmask16 __U, __m256i __A, __m256i __B) |
|
_mm512_adds_epi16
__m512i _mm512_adds_epi16(__m512i __A, __m512i __B) |
|
_mm512_mask_adds_epi16
__m512i _mm512_mask_adds_epi16(__m512i __W, __mmask32 __U, __m512i __A, __m512i __B) |
|
_mm512_maskz_adds_epi16
__m512i _mm512_maskz_adds_epi16(__mmask32 __U, __m512i __A, __m512i __B) |
|
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.
More AVX instructions
- VMOVUPD
- VMOVUPS
- VMPSADBW
- VMULPD
- VMULPS
- VMULSD
- VMULSS
- VORPD
- VORPS
- VPABSB
- VPABSD
- VPABSW
- VPACKSSDW
- VPACKSSWB
- VPACKUSDW
- VPACKUSWB
- VPADDB
- VPADDD
- VPADDQ
- VPADDSB
- VPADDUSB
- VPADDUSW
- VPADDW
- VPALIGNR
- VPAND
- VPANDN
- VPAVGB
- VPAVGW
- VPBLENDVB
- VPBLENDW
- VPCLMULQDQ
- VPCMPEQB
- VPCMPEQD
- VPCMPEQQ
- VPCMPEQW
- VPCMPESTRI
- VPCMPESTRM
- VPCMPGTB
- VPCMPGTD
- VPCMPGTQ
More AVX2 instructions
- VBROADCASTSS
- VEXTRACTI128
- VGATHERDPD
- VGATHERDPS
- VGATHERQPD
- VGATHERQPS
- VINSERTI128
- VMOVNTDQA
- VMPSADBW
- VPABSB
- VPABSD
- VPABSW
- VPACKSSDW
- VPACKSSWB
- VPACKUSDW
- VPACKUSWB
- VPADDB
- VPADDD
- VPADDQ
- VPADDSB
- VPADDUSB
- VPADDUSW
- VPADDW
- VPALIGNR
- VPAND
- VPANDN
- VPAVGB
- VPAVGW
- VPBLENDD
- VPBLENDVB
- VPBLENDW
- VPBROADCASTB
- VPBROADCASTD
- VPBROADCASTQ
- VPBROADCASTW
- VPCMPEQB
- VPCMPEQD
- VPCMPEQQ
- VPCMPEQW
- VPCMPGTB
More AVX10.1 instructions
- VMULPD
- VMULPH
- VMULPS
- VMULSD
- VMULSH
- VMULSS
- VORPD
- VORPS
- VPABSB
- VPABSD
- VPABSQ
- VPABSW
- VPACKSSDW
- VPACKSSWB
- VPACKUSDW
- VPACKUSWB
- VPADDB
- VPADDD
- VPADDQ
- VPADDSB
- VPADDUSB
- VPADDUSW
- VPADDW
- VPALIGNR
- VPANDD
- VPANDND
- VPANDNQ
- VPANDQ
- VPAVGB
- VPAVGW
- VPBLENDMB
- VPBLENDMD
- VPBLENDMQ
- VPBLENDMW
- VPBROADCASTB
- VPBROADCASTD
- VPBROADCASTMB2Q
- VPBROADCASTMW2D
- VPBROADCASTQ
- VPBROADCASTW
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 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual, Volume 2 (325383-093, September 2026): Volume 2B, page 4-208 (PADDSB/
PADDSW) - Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual, Volume 1 (253665-093, September 2026)
- Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 10.2 Architecture Specification, revision 7.0 (361050-007, April 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.