Memory Access Vectors: Improving Sampling Fidelity for CPU Performance Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Caculo, Sriyash, Madhav, Mahesh, Baxter, Jeff
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Caculo, Sriyash
Madhav, Mahesh
Baxter, Jeff
author_facet Caculo, Sriyash
Madhav, Mahesh
Baxter, Jeff
contents Accurate performance projection of large-scale benchmarks is essential for CPU architects to evaluate and optimize future processor designs. SimPoint sampling, which uses Basic Block Vectors (BBVs), is a widely adopted technique to reduce simulation time by selecting representative program phases. However, BBVs often fail to capture the behavior of applications with extensive array-indirect memory accesses, leading to inaccurate projections. In particular, the 523.xalancbmk_r benchmark exhibits complex data movement patterns that challenge traditional SimPoint methods. To address this, we propose enhancing SimPoint's BBV methodology by incorporating Memory Access Vectors (MAV), a microarchitecture independent technique that tracks functional memory access patterns. This combined approach significantly improves the projection accuracy of 523.xalancbmk_r on a 192-core system-on-chip, increasing it from 80% to 98%.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02344
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Memory Access Vectors: Improving Sampling Fidelity for CPU Performance Simulations
Caculo, Sriyash
Madhav, Mahesh
Baxter, Jeff
Hardware Architecture
Applications
I.6.4; B.8.2; C.4
Accurate performance projection of large-scale benchmarks is essential for CPU architects to evaluate and optimize future processor designs. SimPoint sampling, which uses Basic Block Vectors (BBVs), is a widely adopted technique to reduce simulation time by selecting representative program phases. However, BBVs often fail to capture the behavior of applications with extensive array-indirect memory accesses, leading to inaccurate projections. In particular, the 523.xalancbmk_r benchmark exhibits complex data movement patterns that challenge traditional SimPoint methods. To address this, we propose enhancing SimPoint's BBV methodology by incorporating Memory Access Vectors (MAV), a microarchitecture independent technique that tracks functional memory access patterns. This combined approach significantly improves the projection accuracy of 523.xalancbmk_r on a 192-core system-on-chip, increasing it from 80% to 98%.
title Memory Access Vectors: Improving Sampling Fidelity for CPU Performance Simulations
topic Hardware Architecture
Applications
I.6.4; B.8.2; C.4
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02344