Communications of the ACM
New Bandwidth Management Techniques Boost Operating Efficiency in Multi-Core Chips
North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers have developed two techniques that make semiconductor bandwidth allocation and data prefetching more efficient. Combined, the techniques can increase the performance of multicore chips by as much as 40 percent, according to the researchers.
"The first technique relies on criteria we developed to determine how much bandwidth should be allotted to each core on a chip," says NCSU professor Yan Solihin. The researchers use data from the hardware counters on each chip to determine which cores need more bandwidth.
"The second technique relies on a set of criteria we developed for determining when prefetching will boost performance and should be utilized, as well as when prefetching would slow things down and should be avoided," Solihin says. The prefetching criteria enables chip developers to make multicore chips that work more efficiently by allowing individual cores to turn the prefetching ability on or off as needed.
From NCSU News
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