A case for resource-conscious out-of-order processors

Modern out-of-order processors tolerate long-latency memory operations by supporting a large number of in-flight instructions. This is achieved in part through proper sizing of critical resources, such as register files or instruction queues. In light of the increasing gap between processor speed an...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cristal Kestelman, Adrián|||0000-0003-1277-9296, Martínez, José F, Llosa Espuny, José Francisco|||0000-0001-7740-3148, Valero Cortés, Mateo|||0000-0003-2917-2482
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2003
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/103112
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/103112
https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/L-CA.2003.4
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Microprocessors -- Design and construction
Out-of-order processor
Memory latency
Instruction-level parallelism
Resource utilization
Checkpointing
Microprocessadors -- Disseny i construcció
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Arquitectura de computadors
Descripción
Sumario:Modern out-of-order processors tolerate long-latency memory operations by supporting a large number of in-flight instructions. This is achieved in part through proper sizing of critical resources, such as register files or instruction queues. In light of the increasing gap between processor speed and memory latency, tolerating upcoming latencies in this way would require impractical sizes of such critical resources.To tackle this scalability problem, we make a case for resource-conscious out-of-order processors. We present quantitative evidence that critical resources are increasingly underutilized in these processors. We advocate that better use of such resources should be a priority in future research in processor architectures.