MSPC '08 Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGPLAN workshop on Memory systems performance and correctness: held in conjunction with the Thirteenth International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS '08)
Concepts inWhat can performance counters do for memory subsystem analysis?
Memory hierarchy
The term memory hierarchy is used in computer architecture when discussing performance issues in computer architectural design, algorithm predictions, and the lower level programming constructs such as involving locality of reference. A 'memory hierarchy' in computer storage distinguishes each level in the 'hierarchy' by response time. Since response time, complexity, and capacity are related, the levels may also be distinguished by the controlling technology.
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Hardware performance counter
In computers, hardware performance counters, or hardware counters are a set of special-purpose registers built into modern microprocessors to store the counts of hardware-related activities within computer systems. Advanced users often rely on those counters to conduct low-level performance analysis or tuning. The number of available hardware counters in a processor is limited while each cpu model might have a lot of different events that a developer might like to measure.
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Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.
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Die (integrated circuit)
A die in the context of integrated circuits is a small block of semiconducting material, on which a given functional circuit is fabricated. Typically, integrated circuits are produced in large batches on a single wafer of electronic-grade silicon (EGS) or other semiconductor through processes such as photolithography. The wafer is cut (¿diced¿) into many pieces, each containing one copy of the circuit. Each of these pieces is called a die.
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Bus (computing)
In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical wires with multiple connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same logical functionality as a parallel electrical bus.
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CPU cache
A CPU cache is a cache used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations. As long as most memory accesses are cached memory locations, the average latency of memory accesses will be closer to the cache latency than to the latency of main memory.
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In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system (such as a computer), and the outside world, possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it. The term can also be used as part of an action; to "perform I/O" is to perform an input or output operation.
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