2022/01/15 by Hossein Bakhshi Golestani, Golestani, Hossein, Rathijit Sen +5
Computer Science · Engineering · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Hardware Architecture (cs.AR) #Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques #Performance (cs.PF) #Radiation Effects in Electronics #Software System Performance and Reliability
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2201.05884
openalex publication_date 2022/01/15 · openalex created_date 2022/05/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Computer architecture design space is vast and complex. Tools are needed to explore new ideas and gain insights quickly, with low efforts and at a desired accuracy. We propose Calipers, a criticality-based framework to model key abstractions of complex architectures and a program's execution using dynamic event-dependence graphs. By applying graph algorithms, Calipers can track instruction and event dependencies, compute critical paths, and analyze architecture bottlenecks. By manipulating the graph, Calipers enables architects to investigate a wide range of Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and microarchitecture design choices/"what-if" scenarios during both early- and late-stage design space exploration without recompiling and rerunning the program. Calipers can model in-order and out-of-order microarchitectures, structural hazards, and different types of ISAs, and can evaluate multiple ideas in a single run. Modeling algorithms are described in detail. We apply Calipers to explore and gain insights in complex microarchitectural and ISA ideas for RISC and EDGE processors, at lower effort than cycle-accurate simulators and with comparable accuracy. For example, among a variety of investigations presented in the paper, experiments show that targeting only a fraction of critical loads can help realize most benefits of value prediction.