{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/60191"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/60191","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Performance and energy efficiency in simple simultaneous multithreading processor cores","abstract":"Simultaneous multithreading, where instructions from different threads share processor resources, has shown promise in delivering high throughput with little area and power overhead. We compare where in the performance energy-efficiency space alternative simple simultaneous multithreading configurations lie, leveraging standard industry tools to estimate area and power from high level hardware descriptions. We find sharing function units among threads can improve energy efficiency over duplicating the function unit set for each thread. A good choice for the number of threads sharing a function unit ensures the function unit is not overloaded. Sharing front-end pipeline logic does not improve performance or energy efficiency over either duplicating the full pipeline or just duplicating the front-end pipelines for each thread. Different arbitration policies for use of function units do not impact performance much, but they do have a large impact on the power of the core, so the simplest arbitration policy should be used to maximize energy efficiency. Operand bypassing, an obvious optimization for a pipeline which does not share function units, is not obviously better when function units are shared, improving performance at the cost of reduced energy efficiency.","abstract_html":"Simultaneous multithreading, where instructions from different threads share processor resources, has shown promise in delivering high throughput with little area and power overhead. We compare where in the performance energy-efficiency space alternative simple simultaneous multithreading configurations lie, leveraging standard industry tools to estimate area and power from high level hardware descriptions. We find sharing function units among threads can improve energy efficiency over duplicating the function unit set for each thread. A good choice for the number of threads sharing a function unit ensures the function unit is not overloaded. Sharing front-end pipeline logic does not improve performance or energy efficiency over either duplicating the full pipeline or just duplicating the front-end pipelines for each thread. Different arbitration policies for use of function units do not impact performance much, but they do have a large impact on the power of the core, so the simplest arbitration policy should be used to maximize energy efficiency. Operand bypassing, an obvious optimization for a pipeline which does not share function units, is not obviously better when function units are shared, improving performance at the cost of reduced energy efficiency.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Uhler, Richard Stephen"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Jack B. Dennis."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010","date_published":"2010","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:06Z","subjects":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60191","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Jack B. Dennis."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60191"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-80)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Simultaneous multithreading, where instructions from different threads share processor resources, has shown promise in delivering high throughput with little area and power overhead. We compare where in the performance energy-efficiency space alternative simple simultaneous multithreading configurations lie, leveraging standard industry tools to estimate area and power from high level hardware descriptions. We find sharing function units among threads can improve energy efficiency over duplicating the function unit set for each thread. A good choice for the number of threads sharing a function unit ensures the function unit is not overloaded. Sharing front-end pipeline logic does not improve performance or energy efficiency over either duplicating the full pipeline or just duplicating the front-end pipelines for each thread. Different arbitration policies for use of function units do not impact performance much, but they do have a large impact on the power of the core, so the simplest arbitration policy should be used to maximize energy efficiency. Operand bypassing, an obvious optimization for a pipeline which does not share function units, is not obviously better when function units are shared, improving performance at the cost of reduced energy efficiency."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Performance and energy efficiency in simple simultaneous multithreading processor cores"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Jack B. Dennis."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:creator":["Uhler, Richard Stephen"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2010-12-06T17:35:58Z"],"dc:date.available":["2010-12-06T17:35:58Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2010"],"dc:description":["Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-80)."],"dc:description.abstract":["Simultaneous multithreading, where instructions from different threads share processor resources, has shown promise in delivering high throughput with little area and power overhead. We compare where in the performance energy-efficiency space alternative simple simultaneous multithreading configurations lie, leveraging standard industry tools to estimate area and power from high level hardware descriptions. We find sharing function units among threads can improve energy efficiency over duplicating the function unit set for each thread. A good choice for the number of threads sharing a function unit ensures the function unit is not overloaded. Sharing front-end pipeline logic does not improve performance or energy efficiency over either duplicating the full pipeline or just duplicating the front-end pipelines for each thread. Different arbitration policies for use of function units do not impact performance much, but they do have a large impact on the power of the core, so the simplest arbitration policy should be used to maximize energy efficiency. Operand bypassing, an obvious optimization for a pipeline which does not share function units, is not obviously better when function units are shared, improving performance at the cost of reduced energy efficiency."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60191"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."],"dc:title":["Performance and energy efficiency in simple simultaneous multithreading processor cores"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:06Z"}