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Summary: 1
Abstract
High-end microprocessors continue to increase in
complexity to push the limits of speed and performance.
As a result, analyzing these complex systems can be an
arduous task. Architectural simulators, acting as soft-
ware processors, are able to run programs and give sta-
tistics about the performance of the code on the design.
While these statistics are valuable for identifying prob-
lems, they often do not provide the fidelity necessary to
diagnose the cause of sluggish performance. This paper
presents a cross-platform tool that can be used to visual-
ize the flow of instructions through an architectural pro-
cessor pipeline model. The Graphical Pipeline Viewer,
GPV, uses a colorized pipeline trace display to deliver
an efficient diagnostic and analysis environment. The
resource view of the tool, which can display cycle statis-
tics, aids in distinguishing possible bottlenecks and
architectural trade-offs. We demonstrate through case
studies how the tool can be applied to increase perfor-
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