Target Environment Simulation and its Impact on Architecture Validation: A Case Study of Thread-Level Speculative Execution

Due to simulation overhead, validation of proposed microarchitecture enhancements may be limited to simple test scenarios, which focus on the known architectural deficiencies. These test scenarios often avoid a complete simulation of the eventual target environment in which the enhancements will be employed. A case study is presented, comparing and contrasting the performance of previous Thread-Level Speculation (TLS) proposals with that of a new, context-preserving proposal. Validation is performed within the constraints of a simulated target environment.