"In computing, a benchmark is the act of running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations, in order to assess the relative performance of an object."
The techniques used to measure and compare the performance of different computer architectures, including execution time, clock rate, and power consumption.
Computer Architecture: The study of the internal structure of computers and how their components work together to process data.
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA): The set of instructions that a computer processor is able to execute.
Microarchitecture: The detailed design of the processor, including the organization of functional units and data paths.
Cache Memory: A type of high-speed memory that stores frequently used data for quick access.
Pipelining: A technique that allows the processor to begin executing a second instruction before the first instruction has completed.
Branch Prediction: A technique used to guess whether a conditional instruction will be taken or not.
Superscalar Execution: A technique that allows the processor to execute multiple instructions simultaneously.
Out-of-order Execution: A technique that allows the processor to execute instructions in an order other than the order in which they were written.
Memory Hierarchy: The organization of different levels of memory in a computer system.
Performance Metrics: Methods for measuring and comparing the performance of different computer systems.
Benchmarks: Standardized tests used to evaluate the performance of computer hardware and software.
Benchmark testing: It compares the performance of a CPU with a set of predefined tests, used to put the system under stress and record results for comparison with other systems.
Simulation: Simulation of CPU performance is often used in the design and optimization of new processors or system designs.
Profiling: This method uses software tools to analyze and measure the performance of an application running on the CPU, identifying any bottlenecks or areas where performance could be improved.
Trace-based evaluation: Trace-based evaluation looks at the behavior of the CPU at the instruction level and aims to analyze exactly how the CPU is making use of its resources and where any bottlenecks lie.
Cycle-level simulation: This method involves simulating the CPU at the lowest possible level, by simulating each individual cycle of the processor's clock, in order to evaluate its performance in real-world conditions.
Parallelism evaluation: This method looks at the performance of the CPU when running multiple threads or processes in parallel, often using multi-core CPUs to demonstrate the benefits of such an approach.
Microarchitecture evaluation: Microarchitecture evaluation looks at the design of the CPU at the transistor level, in order to identify any potential bottlenecks or other issues that may impact performance.
Power consumption evaluation: Power consumption evaluation is concerned with measuring the amount of energy used by a CPU over a fixed period, and evaluating the performance-per-watt metric of the processor.
Instruction set architecture evaluation: This method focuses on evaluating the instruction set architecture of a CPU, and how well it performs under different conditions.
Simulation-based fault injection testing: This method involves simulating faults or errors in CPU hardware or software, in order to determine how well the system is able to recover or respond in such an event.
"...to assess the relative performance of an object, normally by running a number of standard tests and trials against it."
"The term benchmark is also commonly utilized for the purposes of elaborately designed benchmarking programs themselves."
"Benchmarking is usually associated with assessing performance characteristics of computer hardware."
"...there are circumstances when the technique is also applicable to software."
"Software benchmarks are, for example, run against compilers or database management systems (DBMS)."
"Benchmarks provide a method of comparing the performance of various subsystems..."
"Across different chip/system architectures."
"Computer hardware, compilers, and database management systems."
"For example, the floating point operation performance of a CPU."
"...elaborately designed benchmarking programs themselves."
"...by running a number of standard tests and trials against it."
"...to assess the relative performance of an object."
"...by running a computer program, a set of programs, or other operations."
"...by running a number of standard tests and trials against it."
"To assess their relative performance."
"By assessing performance characteristics and identifying areas of improvement."
"Performance characteristics of computer hardware."
"Compare the performance of various subsystems."
"...providing a method of comparing performance and identifying potential enhancements."