Dynamically Controlled Resource Allocation in SMT Processors

SMT processors increase performance by executing instructions from several threads simultaneously. These threads use the resources of the processor better by sharing them but, at the same time, threads are competing for these resources. The way critical resources are distributed among threads determ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:37th International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO-37'04) pp. 171 - 182
Main Authors: Cazorla, Francisco J., Ramirez, Alex, Valero, Mateo, Fernandez, Enrique
Format: Conference Proceeding Publication
Language:English
Published: Washington, DC, USA IEEE Computer Society 01.01.2004
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Series:ACM Conferences
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Arquitectura de computadors
Computer aided instruction
Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
General and reference
General and reference > Cross-computing tools and techniques
General and reference > Cross-computing tools and techniques > Performance
Informàtica
Integrated circuits
Integrated circuits by function (including memories and processors)
Microarchitecture
Multiprocessadors
Operating systems
Parallel processing (Electronic computers)
Process control
Processament en paral·lel (Ordinadors)
Processor scheduling
Resource management
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
Simultaneous multithreading processors
Surface-mount technology
Throughput
Yarn
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
Performance evaluation
Processor
Cache memory
Integrated circuit
Thread
ISBN:0769521266, 9780769521268
ISSN:1072-4451
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:SMT processors increase performance by executing instructions from several threads simultaneously. These threads use the resources of the processor better by sharing them but, at the same time, threads are competing for these resources. The way critical resources are distributed among threads determines the final performance. Currently, processor resources are distributed among threads as determined by the fetch policy that decides which threads enter the processor to compete for resources. However, current fetch policies only use indirect indicators of resource usage in their decision, which can lead to resource monopolization by a single thread or to resource waste when no thread can use them. Both situations can harm performance and happen, for example, after an L2 cache miss. In this paper, we introduce the concept of dynamic resource control in SMT processors. Using this concept, we propose a novel resource allocation policy for SMT processors. This policy directly monitors the usage of resources by each thread and guarantees that all threads get their fair share of the critical shared resources, avoiding monopolization. We also define a mechanism to allow a thread to borrow resources from another thread if that thread does not require them, thereby reducing resource under-use. Simulation results show that our dynamic resource allocation policy outperforms a static resource allocation policy by 8%, on average. It also improves the best dynamic resource-conscious fetch policies like FLUSH++ by 4%, on average, using the harmonic mean as a metric. This indicates that our policy does not obtain the ILP boost by unfairly running high ILP threads over slow memory-bounded threads. Instead, it achieves a better throughput-fairness balance.
Bibliography:SourceType-Conference Papers & Proceedings-1
ObjectType-Conference Paper-1
content type line 25
ISBN:0769521266
9780769521268
ISSN:1072-4451
DOI:10.1109/MICRO.2004.17