Performance Characterization of SPEC CPU2006 Benchmarks on Intel and AMD Platform

For understanding the performance differences caused by different computer architectures and optimization technologies, the paper characterizes performance of SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks both on Intel and AMD platform. Using the performance events collected by Performance Monitor Unit, we compare their performance differences and analyze the causes from the features of architectures and the optimization technologies. Our results and analysis help the programmers better understand the memory performance and branch prediction performance which are caused by architectures and guide them in the optimization. The analysis also help the processor architects better balance among the key architecture factors such as memory disambiguation and hardware prefetch when doing architecture design decision.