• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Computer engineers boost app speeds by more than nine percent

Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,689 (2.66/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
"Researchers from North Carolina State University and Samsung Electronics have found a way to boost the speed of computer applications by more than 9 percent. The improvement results from techniques that allow computer processors to retrieve data more efficiently.

Computer processors have to retrieve data from memory to perform operations. All data is stored in off-chip "main" memory. But data that the processor will use a lot is also stored – temporarily – in a die-stacked dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cache that is located closer to the processor, where it can be retrieved more quickly.

The data in the cache is organized into large blocks, or macroblocks, so that the processor knows where to find whatever data it needs. However, for any given operation, the processor doesn't need all of the data in a macroblock – and retrieving the unnecessary data takes time and energy.

To make the process more efficient, researchers have developed a technique in which the cache learns over time which data the processor needs from each macroblock. This allows the cache to do two things. First, the cache can compress the macroblock, retrieving only the relevant data. This enables the cache to send data to the processor more efficiently. Second, because the macroblock is compressed, this frees up space in the cache that can be used to store other data, which the processor is more likely to need.

The researchers tested this approach, called Dense Footprint Cache, in a processor and memory simulator. After running 3 billion instructions for each application tested through the simulator, the researchers found that the Dense Footprint Cache sped up applications by 9.5 percent compared to state-of-the-art competing methods for managing die-stacked DRAM. Dense Footprint Cache also used 4.3 percent less energy.

The researchers also found that Dense Footprint Cache led to a significant improvement in "last-level cache miss ratios." Last-level cache misses occur when the processor tries to retrieve data from the cache, but the data aren't there, forcing the processor to retrieve the data from off-chip main memory. These cache misses make operations much less efficient – and Dense Footprint Cache reduced last-level cache miss ratios by 43 percent.

The work is featured in a paper, "Dense Footprint Cache: Capacity-Efficient Die-Stacked DRAM Last Level Cache," that will be presented at the International Symposium on Memory Systems, Oct. 3-6 in Washington, D.C.

Lead author of the paper is Seunghee Shin, a Ph.D. student at NC State. The paper was co-authored by Yan Solihin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State, and Sihong Kim of Samsung Electronics.
"

http://phys.org/news/2016-09-boost-app-percent.html
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,147 (2.96/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
How is this different from Crystalwell which is a last level eDRAM cache? I guess die stacking is probably the only difference.
 
Top