The Quest for a Zero Overhead Shared Memory Parallel Machine
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Abstract
In this paper we present a new approach to benchmark the performance
of shared memory systems. This approach focuses on recognizing how
far off is the performance of a given memory system from a realistic
ideal parallel machine. We define such a realistic machine model called
the z-machine, which accounts for the inherent communication costs
in an application by tracking the data flow in the application.
The z-machine is incorporated into an execution-driven simulation
framework to be used as a reference for benchmarking for different
memory systems. The components of the overheads in these memory
systems are identified and quantified for four applications.
Using the z-machine performance as the standard to strive for we
discuss the implications of the performance results and suggest
architectural trends to pursue for realizing a zero overhead shared
memory machine.
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Date
1995
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163800 bytes
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Text
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Technical Report