Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

SPECrate2006: Alternatives Considered, Lessons Learned

  • Conference paper
Computer Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking (SBW 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 5419))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1022 Accesses

Abstract

Since 1992, SPEC has used multiple identical benchmarks to measure multi-processor performance. This “Homogeneous Capacity Method” (aka “SPECrate”) has been criticized on the grounds that real workloads are not homogeneous. Nevertheless, SPECrate provides a useful window into how systems perform when stressed by multiple requests for similar resources. This paper reviews SPECrate’s history, and several performance lessons learned using it: (1) a 4:1 performance gain for startup of a benchmark when I/O was reconfigured; (2) a benchmark that improved up to 2:1 when a TLB data structure was re-sized; and (3) a benchmark that improved by 52% after a change to NUMA page allocation. The SPEC CPU workloads usefully exposed several opportunities for performance improvement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Carlton, A.: CINT92 and CFP 92 Homogeneous Capacity Method Offers Fair Measure of Processing Capacity, http://www.spec.org/cpu92/specrate.txt

  2. Chew, J.: Memory Placement Optimization (MPO), http://opensolaris.org/os/community/performance/mpo_overview.pdf

  3. Gove, D.: CPU2006 Working Set Size. ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News 35(1), 90–96 (2007), http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/publications/

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Henning, J.L.: SPEC CPU Suite Growth: An Historical Perspective. ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News 35(1), 65–68 (2007), http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/publications/

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. McGhan, H.: Niagara 2 Opens the Floodgates. Microprocessor Report (November 6, 2006), http://www.sun.com/processors/niagara/M45_MPFNiagara2_reprint.pdf

  6. SPEC CPU2000 published results, http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2000q2/cpu2000-20000511-00104.html , http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2000q2/cpu2000-20000511-00105.html

  7. SPEC CPU2000 published results, http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2002q2/cpu2000-20020422-01329.html , http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2002q1/cpu2000-20020211-01256.html

  8. SPEC CPU2006 published results, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2008q2/cpu2006-20080408-04064.html

  9. SPEC CPU2006 published results, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2008q4/cpu2006-20080929-05409.html

  10. SPEC CPU2006 Documentation, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/docs/utility.html#convert_to_development

  11. SPEC CPU2006 Documentation, http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/docs/utility.html#specinvoke

  12. Sun Microsystems, UltraSPARC T2 Processor, http://www.sun.com/processors/UltraSPARC-T2/datasheet.pdf

  13. Sun Microsystems, UltraSPARCT2 Supplement to the UltraSPARC Architecture 2007, section 12.2 (2007), http://opensparc-t2.sunsource.net/specs/UST2-UASuppl-current-draft-P-EXT.pdf

  14. Sun Microsystems, Solaris 10 Reference Manual Collection, http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/816-5166/trapstat-1m?a=view

  15. Sun Microsystems, NUMA Observability, http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/performance/numa/observability/

  16. Sun Microsystems, Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual, http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-0404

  17. STREAM: Sustainable Memory Bandwidth in High Performance Computers, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/

  18. Tufte, E.R.: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, pp. 107–121. Graphics Press, Chesire (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Weicker, R.P., Henning, J.L.: Subroutine Profiling Results for the CPU2006 Benchmarks. ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News 35(1), 102–111 (2007), http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/publications/

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sun Microsystems, USA

    John L. Henning

Authors
  1. John L. Henning
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., 02115, Boston, MA, USA

    David Kaeli

  2. Dept. of Computer Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Schlossgartenstr. 73, 64289, Darmstadt, Germany

    Kai Sachs

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Henning, J.L. (2009). SPECrate2006: Alternatives Considered, Lessons Learned. In: Kaeli, D., Sachs, K. (eds) Computer Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking. SBW 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5419. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-93799-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-93799-9_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-93798-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-93799-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation