A tuning framework for software-managed memory hierarchies

Achieving good performance on a modern machine with a multi-level memory hierarchy, and in particular on a machine with software-managed memories, requires precise tuning of programs to the machine’s particular characteristics. A large program on a multi-level machine can easily expose tens or hundreds of inter-dependent parameters which require tuning, and manually searching the resultant large, non-linear space of program parameters is a tedious process of trial-and-error. In this paper we present a general framework for automatically tuning general applications to machines with software-managed memory hierarchies. We evaluate our framework by measuring the performance of benchmarks that are tuned for a range of machines with different memory hierarchy configurations: a cluster of Intel P4 Xeon processors, a single Cell processor, and a cluster of Sony Playstation3’s. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.4 [Performance Of Systems]: Measurement techniques, Modeling techniques; D...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: IEEEPACT
• Authors: Manman Ren, Ji Young Park, Mike Houston, Alex Aiken, William J. Dally
• Keywords: Hardware, IEEEPACT 2008, Machines, Memory Hierarchy, Multi-level Memory Hierarchy