@User: I think the 8kB was part of a wish list that got pared back when we realized we would be beta-testing the openRAM output. We added the DFFRAM which takes up a lot more space per bit than the SRAM, so there was no longer enough room for 8k. In effect, we reduced the overall amount of memory to reduce risk. But @User is right; it's 2kB SRAM + 1kB DFFRAM. Future versions of the management SoC should be able to get to the originally-planned 8kB by using all SRAM.

Thanks @User, so the 2kB SRAM (512 words) is the Management Area SRAM. Am I right?

Both the SRAM and DFFRAM blocks are part of the management area, yes.

Hello, has this situation changed since?

Yes, it has. We have analyzed the OpenRAM SRAM a lot with timing analysis and eyeballing the layout and concluded that it needs much more development work to be reliable. The current version of the Caravel management SoC now has two blocks of DFFRAM, a 1kB DFFRAM and a 512 byte DFFRAM. It is a high priorty to do something about that, but it's not going to happen for the next several tape-outs.

Thank you. And this storage DFFRAM is pre-hardened in the caravel repository?

In the

caravel_mgmt_soc_litex

repository.

So is OpenRAM not recommended for general use?