Estimating multimedia instruction performance based on workload characterization and measurement

The increasing popularity in multimedia applications provokes microprocessors to include media-enhancement instructions. In this paper, we describe a methodology to estimate performance improvement of a new set of media instructions on emerging applications based on workload characterization and measurement. Application programs are characterized into a sequential segment, a vectorizable segment, and extra data moves for utilizing the SIMD capability of new media instructions. Techniques based on benchmarking and measurement on existing systems are used to estimate the execution time of each segment. Based on the measurement results, the speedup and the additional data moves of using the new media instructions can be estimated to help processor architects and designers evaluate different design tradeoffs.