Characterizing memory performance in vector multiprocessors
James E. Smith, W. Rowland Taylor · 1992
We propose a set of three memory performance measures directed at vector multiprocessors. One is the port reservation time which is closely related to the commonly-used memory bandwidth measure. The second is the vector fill time and is the latency through the memory system for an entire vector operation. The third is the slowest element time, which is the highest effective latency of all the elements of a vector. The three measures are sufficent to characterize the memory system's influence on the processor's usage of memory ports, functional units, and vector registers--the three main resources that determine vector performance.