A partitioned instruction queue to reduce instruction wakeup energy
by Marco A. Ramirez, Adrian Cristal, Mateo Valero, Alexander V. Veidenbaum, Luis Villa
International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking (IJHPCN), Vol. 1, No. 4, 2004

Abstract: Instruction wakeup logic consumes a large amount of energy in out-of-order processors. Existing solutions to the problem require prediction or additional hardware complexity to reduce the energy consumption and, in some cases, may have a negative impact on processor performance. This paper proposes a new mechanism for instruction wakeup, which uses a partitioned instruction queue (IQ). The energy consumption of an IQ partition (block) is proportional to the number of entries in it. All the blocks are turned off until the mechanism determines which blocks to access on wakeup using a simple successor tracking mechanism. The proposed approach is shown to require as little as 1.5 comparisons per committed instruction for SPEC2000 benchmarks. The energy consumption and timing of the partitioned IQ design are evaluated using CACTI 3 models for a 0.07 µm process. The average energy savings observed were 85% and 92%, respectively, for 64-entry integer and floating-point partitioned IQs.

Online publication date: Wed, 07-Dec-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking (IJHPCN):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

    Username:        Password:         

Forgotten your password?


Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com