An Experimental Approach to Estimation of the Energy Cost of Dynamic Branch Prediction in an Intel High-Performance Processor
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Published:2023-07-11
Issue:7
Volume:12
Page:139
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ISSN:2073-431X
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Container-title:Computers
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Computers
Author:
Alqurashi Fahad Swilim1, Al-Hashimi Muhammad1
Affiliation:
1. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 25732, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Power and energy efficiency are among the most crucial requirements in high-performance and other computing platforms. In this work, extensive experimental methods and procedures were used to assess the power and energy efficiency of fundamental hardware building blocks inside a typical high-performance CPU, focusing on the dynamic branch predictor (DBP). The investigation relied on the Running Average Power Limit (RAPL) interface from Intel, a software tool for credibly reporting the power and energy based on instrumentation inside the CPU. We used well-known microbenchmarks under various run conditions to explore potential pitfalls and to develop precautions to raise the precision of the measurements obtained from RAPL for more reliable power estimation. The authors discuss the factors that affect the measurements and share the difficulties encountered and the lessons learned.
Subject
Computer Networks and Communications,Human-Computer Interaction
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