Large and Fast: Exploiting Memory Hierarchy

Cache Hierarchies

  • Data and instructions are stored on DRAM chips
  • DRAM is a technology that has high bit density, but relatively poor latency
  • an access to data in memory can take as many as 300 cycles!
  • Hence, some data is stored on the processor in structure called the cache
  • caches employ SRAM technology, which is faster, but has lower bit density
  • Internet browsers also cache web pages – same concept

Memory Structure

  • Address and data
  • Address is the index, are not stored in memory
  • Address can be in unit of byte or in unit of word
  • Only data is stored in memory

Memory Hierarchy

  • As you go further, capacity and latency increase
  • Store everything on disk
  • Copy recently accessed (and nearby) items from disk to smaller DRAM memory
  • Main memory
  • Copy more recently accessed (and nearby) items from DRAM to smaller SRAM memory
  • Cache memory attached to CPU

Memory Hierarchy Levels

  • Block (also called line): unit of copying
  • May be multiple words
  • The memory in upper level is originally empty
  • If accessed data is absent
  • Miss: block copied from lower level
  • Time taken: miss penalty
  • Miss ratio: misses/accesses
  • If accessed data is present in upper level
  • Hit: access satisfied by upper level
  • Hit ratio: hits/accesses = 1 – miss ratio
  • Then accessed data supplied from upper level

Locality:

  • Why do caches work?
  • Temporal locality: if you used some data recently, you will likely use it again
  • Spatial locality: if you used some data recently, you will likely access its neighbors

Memory Technology:

  • Static RAM (SRAM)
  • 0.5ns – 2.5ns, $500 – ​$1000 per GB
  • Volatile: data will lost when SRAM is not powered
  • Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
  • 50ns – 70ns, $10 – $20 per GB
  • Flash
  • 5us – 50us, $0.75-$1 per GB
  • Magnetic disk
  • 5ms – 20ms, $0.05 – $0.1 per GB
  • Ideal memory
  • Access time of SRAM
  • Capacity and cost/GB of disk

SRAM Technology

DRAM Technology

Advanced DRAM Organization

Flash Storage

Disk Storage

Disk Sectors and Access

Cache Memory

Cache Memory

  • Cache memory
  • The level of the memory hierarchy closest to the CPU
  • Given accesses X1, …, Xn–1, Xn

Direct Mapped Cache

  • Memory size: 32 words, cache size: 8 words
  • The address is in unit of word
  • Direct mapper cache:
  • Location determined by address
  • One data in memory is mapped to only one location in cache
  • The lower bits defines the address of the cache

Tags and Valid Bits

  • How do we know which particular block is stored in a cache location?
  • Store block address as well as the data
  • Actually, only need the high-order bits
  • Called the tag
  • What if there is no data in a location?
  • Valid bit: 1 = present, 0 = not present
  • Initially 0

Larger Block Size:

  • Assume
  • 32-bit address
  • Direct mapped cache
  • $2^n$ number of blocks, so n bit for index
  • Block size: $2^m$ words, so m bit for the word within the block
  • Calculate:
  • Size of tag field: 32-(n+m+2)
  • Size of cache: $2^n*(\text{block size} + \text{tag size} + \text{valid field size})\ = 2n*(2m*32+(32-n-m-2)+1)$

Block Size Considerations:

Larger blocks should reduce miss rate

  • Due to spatial locality

But in a fixed-sized cache

  • Larger blocks => fewer of them
  • More competition => increased miss rate
  • Larger blocks => pollution

Larger miss penalty (with longer address bits)

Can override benefit of reduced miss rate

Early restart and critical-word-first can help

提前缓存块

先拿到需要的,再去缓存整个块

Cache Misses

  • On cache hit, CPU proceeds normally
  • On cache miss
  • Stall the CPU pipeline
  • Fetch block from next level of hierarchy
  • Instruction cache miss
  • Restart instruction fetch
  • Data cache miss
  • Complete data access

Write-Through

  • On data-write hit, could just update the block in cache
  • But then cache and memory would be inconsistent
  • Write through: also update memory
  • But makes writes take longer
  • write buffer:【improve】
  • Holds data waiting to be written to memory
  • CPU continues immediately
  • Only stalls on write if write buffer is already full

Write-Back:

  • On data-write hit, just update the block in cache
  • Keep track of whether each block is dirty
  • When a dirty block is replaced
  • Write it back to memory
  • Can use a write buffer to allow replacing block to be read first

Write Allocation

What should happen on a write miss?

Alternatives for write-through

  • Allocate on miss: fetch the block
  • Write around: don’t fetch the block
  • Since programs often write a whole block before reading it (e.g., initialization)

For write-back

  • Usually fetch the block

Write Policies Summary

If that memory location is in the cache:

Send it to the cache

write-through policy: send it to memory right away

write-back policy: Wait until we kick the block out

If it is not in the cache:

  • write allocate policy: Allocate the block (put it in the cache)
  • no write allocate policy: Write it directly to memory without allocation
updatedupdated2023-01-302023-01-30
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