Computer architects employ a series of performance optimizations at the micro-architecture
level. These optimizations are meant to be invisible to the programmer but they are implicitly …

While Sequential Consistency (SC) is the most intuitive memory consistency model and the
one most programmers likely assume, current multiprocessors do not support it. Instead …

Increased integration in the form of multiple processor cores on a single die, relatively
constant die sizes, shrinking power envelopes, and emerging applications create a new …

Rock, Sun's third-generation chip-multithreading processor, contains 16 high-performance
cores, each of which can support two software threads. Rock uses a novel checkpoint-based …

A major shift from compute-centric to data-centric computing systems can be perceived, as
novel big data workloads like cognitive computing and machine learning strongly enforce …

CMT processors offer a way to significantly improve the performance of computer systems.
The return on investment for multithreading is among the highest in computer …

Recently-proposed processor microarchitectures for high memory level parallelism (MLP)
promise substantial performance gains. Unfortunately, current cache hierarchies have miss …

Current integration trends embrace the prosperity of single-chip multi-core processors.
Although multi-core processors deliver significantly improved system throughput, single …

Long-latency loads are critical in today's processors due to the ever-increasing speed gap
with memory. Not only do these loads block the execution of dependent instructions, they …

Multiprocessor interconnection networks may reach congestion with high traffic loads, which
prevents reaching the wished performance. Unfortunately, many of the mechanisms …