Computer Architecture Simulator

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Computer Architecture Simulator

CATEGORIES

Computer architecture simulators can be classified into many different categories depending on the context.

scope: micro-architecture vs. full-system simulators. The modeled scope could be only one microprocessor or the whole computer system.

Detail: functional s. timing (or performance) simulators. Functional simulators emphasize achieving the same function as the modeled components(What to be done.), while timing simulators strive to accurately reproduce the performance/timing features (When is done.) of the targets in addition to their functionalities.

Input: trace-driven(or event-driven) vs. execution-driven simulators. Traces/Events are pre-recorded streams of instructions with some fixed input. Execution-driven simulators allow dynamic change of instructions to be executed depending on different input data.

BENEFITS OF SIMULATORS

Architectural simulators are very useful for the following purposes:

evaluating different hardware designs without building costly physical hardware systems.

enabling the opportunities to access non-existing computer components or systems

obtaining detailed performance metrics: A single execution of simulators can often generate a large set of performance data.

debugging: Debugging on real hardware typically require re-booting and re-running the code to reproduce the problems. In contrast, some simulators have a fully-controlled environment and allow software developers to run code backward once an error is detected.

IMPLEMENTATIONS

Some popular architectural simulators include:

PTLsim , a cycle accurate x86-64 full system simulator

SimpleScalar : a microarchitectural simulator suite

SESC :a cycle-accurate architectural simulator

SEE ALSO

Instruction Set Simulator