Evaluating Stream Buffers as a Secondary Cache Replacement

Today's commodity microprocessors require a low latency memory system to achieve high sustained performance. The conventional high-performance memory system provides fast data access via a large secondary cache. But large secondary caches can be expensive, particularly in large-scale parallel systems with many processors (and thus many caches). We evaluate a memory system design that can be both cost-effective as well as provide better performance, particularly for scientific workloads: a single level of (on-chip) cache backed up only by Jouppi's stream buffers [10] and a main memory. This memory system requires very little hardware compared to a large secondary cache and doesn't require modifications to commodity processors. We use tracedriven simulation of fifteen scientific applications from the NAS and PERFECT suites in our evaluation. We present two techniques to enhance the effectiveness of Jouppi's original stream buffers: filtering schemes to reduce their m...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: ISCA
• Authors: Subbarao Palacharla, Richard E. Kessler
• Keywords: Hardware, ISCA 1994, Large Secondary Cache, Secondary Cache, Stream Buffers