If the cache access mode is parallel, i.e. "sequential_access" parameter
is set to "False", tags and data are accessed in parallel. Therefore,
the hit_latency is the maximum latency between tag_latency and
data_latency. On the other hand, if the cache access mode is
sequential, i.e. "sequential_access" parameter is set to "True",
tags and data are accessed sequentially. Therefore, the hit_latency
is the sum of tag_latency plus data_latency.
Signed-off-by: Jason Lowe-Power <jason@lowepower.com>
this patch implements a new tags class that uses a random replacement policy.
these tags prefer to evict invalid blocks first, if none are available a
replacement candidate is chosen at random.
this patch factors out the common code in the LRU class and creates a new
abstract class: the BaseSetAssoc class. any set associative tag class must
implement the functionality related to the actual replacement policy in the
following methods:
accessBlock()
findVictim()
insertBlock()
invalidate()
Adds very basic statistics on the number of tag and data accesses within the
cache, which is important for power modelling. For the tags, simply count
the associativity of the cache each time. For the data, this depends on
whether tags and data are accessed sequentially, which is given by a new
parameter. In the parallel case, all data blocks are accessed each time, but
with sequential accesses, a single data block is accessed only on a hit.
This patch removes the notion of a peer block size and instead sets
the cache line size on the system level.
Previously the size was set per cache, and communicated through the
interconnect. There were plenty checks to ensure that everyone had the
same size specified, and these checks are now removed. Another benefit
that is not yet harnessed is that the cache line size is now known at
construction time, rather than after the port binding. Hence, the
block size can be locally stored and does not have to be queried every
time it is used.
A follow-on patch updates the configuration scripts accordingly.
This patch reorganizes the cache tags to allow more flexibility to
implement new replacement policies. The base tags class is now a
clocked object so that derived classes can use a clock if they need
one. Also having deriving from SimObject allows specialized Tag
classes to be swapped in/out in .py files.
The cache set is now templatized to allow it to contain customized
cache blocks with additional informaiton. This involved moving code to
the .hh file and removing cacheset.cc.
The statistics belonging to the cache tags are now including ".tags"
in their name. Hence, the stats need an update to reflect the change
in naming.
Sanchayan Maity
