Dynamic branch prediction and control speculation. (20th April 2007)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Silc, Jurij; Ungerer, Theo; Robic, Borut
• Is Part Of: International journal of high performance systems architecture. Volume 1:Number 1(2007)
• Page Start: 2
• Page End: 13
• Publication Date: 2007-04-20
• Subjects: superscalar processors -- dynamic branch prediction -- high performance -- simulation -- prototypes; Computer architecture -- Periodicals; Computer systems -- Periodicals; High performance computing -- Periodicals; 004.205
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-6528

Abstract

Branch prediction schemes have become an integral part of today's superscalar processors. They are one of the key issues in enhancing the performance of processors. Pipeline stalls due to conditional branches are one of the most significant impediments to realise the performance potential of superscalar processors. Many schemes for branch prediction that can effectively and accurately predict the outcome of branch instructions have been proposed. In this paper, an overview of some dynamic branch prediction schemes for superscalar processors are presented.