Shared Cache Based on Content Addressable Memory in a Multi-Core Architecture

Modern shared-memory multi-core processors typically have shared Level 2(L2)or Level 3(L3)caches.Cache bottlenecks and replacement strategies are the main problems of such architectures,where multiple cores try to access the shared cache simultaneously.The main problem in improving memory performance is the shared cache architecture and cache replacement.This paper documents the implementation of a Dual-Port Content Addressable Memory(DPCAM)and a modified Near-Far Access Replacement Algorithm(NFRA),which was previously proposed as a shared L2 cache layer in a multi-core processor.Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation(SPEC)Central Processing Unit(CPU)2006 benchmark workloads are used to evaluate the benefit of the shared L2 cache layer.Results show improved performance of the multicore processor’s DPCAM and NFRA algorithms,corresponding to a higher number of concurrent accesses to shared memory.The new architecture significantly increases system throughput and records performance improvements of up to 8.7%on various types of SPEC 2006 benchmarks.The miss rate is also improved by about 13%,with some exceptions in the sphinx3 and bzip2 benchmarks.These results could open a new window for solving the long-standing problems with shared cache in multi-core processors.

Reducing Network Traffic of Token Protocol Using Sharing Relation Cache

Token protocol provides a new coherence framework for shared-memory multiprocessor systems. It avoids indirections of directory protocols for common cache-to-cache transfer misses, and achieves higher interconnect bandwidth and lower interconnect latency compared with snooping protocols. However, the broadcasting increases network traffic, limiting the scalability of token protocol. This paper describes an efficient technique to reduce the token protocol network traffic, called sharing relation cache. This cache provides destination set information for cache-to-cache miss requests by caching directory information for recent shared data. This paper introduces how to implement the technique in a token protocol. Simulations using SPLASH-2 benchmarks show that in a 16-core chip multiprocessor system, the cache reduced the network traffic by 15% on average.

Performance Metrics and Models for Shared Cache

Performance metrics and models are prerequisites for scientific understanding and optimization. This paper introduces a new footprint-based theory and reviews the research in the past four decades leading to the new theory. The review groups the past work into metrics and their models in particular those of the reuse distance, metrics conversion, models of shared cache, performance and optimization, and other related techniques.