Understanding Power Consumption Metric on Heterogeneous Memory Systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates power consumption in heterogeneous memory systems, providing insights and a hierarchy to help developers optimize memory choices based on power, latency, and bandwidth considerations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach for understanding power consumption across different memory types and proposes an ordered hierarchy for better memory management decisions.

Findings

Developed a comprehensive power consumption profiling method.

Established a hierarchy of memory types based on power efficiency.

Enabled informed memory selection for energy-efficient applications.

Abstract

Contemporary memory systems contain a variety of memory types, each possessing distinct characteristics. This trend empowers applications to opt for memory types aligning with developer's desired behavior. As a result, developers gain flexibility to tailor their applications to specific needs, factoring in attributes like latency, bandwidth, and power consumption. Our research centers on the aspect of power consumption within memory systems. We introduce an approach that equips developers with comprehensive insights into the power consumption of individual memory types. Additionally, we propose an ordered hierarchy of memory types. Through this methodology, developers can make informed decisions for efficient memory usage aligned with their unique requirements.