Pointer-Chase Prefetcher for Linked Data Structures

TL;DR

This paper proposes a pointer-chase prefetcher for linked data structures that uses compiler hints to improve cache performance, addressing the challenge of spatial locality in dynamically constructed linked data-structures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel prefetching mechanism combining pointer chase techniques with compiler hints specifically for linked data-structures.

Findings

Improved cache hit rate for linked data-structures

Reduced memory access latency

Enhanced energy efficiency

Abstract

Caches only exploit spatial and temporal locality in a set of address referenced in a program. Due to dynamic construction of linked data-structures, they are difficult to cache as the spatial locality between the nodes is highly dependent on the data layout. Prefetching can play an important role in improving the performance of linked data-structures. In this project, a pointer chase mechanism along with compiler hints is adopted to design a prefetcher for linked data-structures. The design is evaluated against the baseline of processor with cache in terms of performance, area and energy