Digital Design & Computer Architecture - Lecture 24a: Multi-Core Caches (Spring 2022)

Why It Matters

Cache design decisions directly affect system throughput, latency for latency-sensitive threads, and fairness across workloads; optimizing allocation, QoS, and compression can materially improve performance and resource efficiency in multicore systems.

Summary

The lecture examines cache design challenges in multicore and multithreaded systems, highlighting trade-offs between private and shared caches. Shared caches improve utilization, reduce data replication and communication latency, and align with shared-memory programming, while private caches avoid contention and offer predictable per-thread performance. The instructor discusses allocation and QoS mechanisms for shared caches, the potential role of compression to increase effective cache capacity, and the need for smarter prediction and management as thread counts rise (e.g., GPUs). Overall, cache miss rates, latencies, and fairness drive complex design choices in modern many-core processors.

Original Description

Digital Design and Computer Architecture, ETH Zürich, Spring 2022 (https://safari.ethz.ch/digitaltechnik/spring2022/)

Lecture 24a: Multi-Core Caches

Lecturer: Professor Onur Mutlu (https://people.inf.ethz.ch/omutlu/)

Date: May 30, 2022

Lecture 24a Slides (pptx): https://safari.ethz.ch/digitaltechnik/spring2022/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=onur-digitaldesign_comparch-2022-lecture24a-multi-core-caches-afterlecture.pptx

Lecture 24a Slides (pdf): https://safari.ethz.ch/digitaltechnik/spring2022/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=onur-digitaldesign_comparch-2022-lecture24a-multi-core-caches-afterlecture.pdf

Recommended Reading:

====================

A Modern Primer on Processing in Memory

https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.03112

Intelligent Architectures for Intelligent Computing Systems

https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.12381

RowHammer: A Retrospective

https://people.inf.ethz.ch/omutlu/pub/RowHammer-Retrospective_ieee_tcad19.pdf

Fundamentally Understanding and Solving RowHammer

https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07613

RECOMMENDED LECTURE VIDEOS & PLAYLISTS:

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Computer Architecture Fall 2021 Lectures Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yfkM_5EFgo&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi-Mnk1PxjEIG32HAGILkTOF

Digital Design and Computer Architecture Spring 2021 Livestream Lectures Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbC0EZY8yw4&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi_uej3aY39YB5pfW4SJ7LlN

Featured Lectures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVYCchBGNVc&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8VrmOTz44l2WupethSdh-M&index=1

Interview with Professor Onur Mutlu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ffSEKZhmvo&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8VrmOTz44l2WupethSdh-M&index=9

The Story of RowHammer Lecture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgd7PHQQ1AI&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl&index=39

Accelerating Genome Analysis Lecture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7sn41lH-4A&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl&index=41

Memory-Centric Computing Systems Tutorial at IEDM 2021:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3sEaINPBOE&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl&index=35

Intelligent Architectures for Intelligent Machines Lecture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTieZPY4Wmc&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl&index=38

Computer Architecture Fall 2020 Lectures Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3mPdZA-Fmc&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi9xidyIgBxUz7xRPS-wisBN

Digital Design and Computer Architecture Spring 2020 Lectures Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJBmIaUneB0&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi_FRrloMa2fUYWPGiZUBQo2

Public Lectures by Onur Mutlu, Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgiZlSOcGFM&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl

Computer Architecture at Carnegie Mellon Spring 2015 Lectures Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLP_X4wyHbY&list=PL5PHm2jkkXmi5CxxI7b3JCL1TWybTDtKq

Rethinking Memory System Design Lecture @stanfordonline :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7xZLNMIY1E&list=PL5Q2soXY2Zi8D_5MGV6EnXEJHnV2YFBJl&index=4