System level analysis of fast, per-core DVFS using on-chip switching regulators

Portable, embedded systems place ever-increasing demands on high-performance, low-power microprocessor design. Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) is a well-known technique to reduce energy in digital systems, but the effectiveness of DVFS is hampered by slow voltage transitions that occur on the order of tens of microseconds. In addition, the recent trend towards chipmultiprocessors (CMP) executing multi-threaded workloads with heterogeneous behavior motivates the need for per-core DVFS control mechanisms. Voltage regulators that are integrated onto the same chip as the microprocessor core provide the benefit of both nanosecond-scale voltage switching and per-core voltage control. We show that these characteristics provide significant energy-saving opportunities compared to traditional off-chip regulators. However, the implementation of on-chip regulators presents many challenges including regulator efficiency and output voltage transient characteristics, which are significa...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: HPCA
• Authors: Wonyoung Kim, Meeta Sharma Gupta, Gu-Yeon Wei, David Brooks
• Keywords: Computer Architecture, HPCA 2008, On-chip Integrated Regulators, On-chip Regulators, Voltage Regulators