Data prefetching in a cache hierarchy with high bandwidth and capacity

Abstract

In this paper we evaluate four hardware data prefetchers in the context of a high-performance three-level on chip cache hierarchy with high bandwidth and capacity. We consider two classic prefetchers (Sequential Tagged and Stride) and two correlating prefetchers: PC/DC, a recent method with a superior score and low-sized tables, and P-DFCM, a new method. Like PC/DC, P-DFCM focuses on local delta sequences, but it is based on the DFCM value predictor. We explore different prefetch degrees and distances. Running SPEC2000, Olden and IAbench applications, results show that this kind of cache hierarchy turns prefetching aggressiveness into success for the four prefetchers. Sequential Tagged is the best, and deserves further attention to cut it losses in some applications. PC/DC results are matched or even improved by P-DFCM, using far fewer accesses to tables while keeping sizes low.