IPC Considered Harmful for Multiprocessor Workloads
Alaa R. Alameldeen, David Alvra Wood · IEEE Micro · 2006
Many architectural simulation studies use instructions per cycle (IPC) to analyze performance. In this article, we challenge the commonly held view that IPC accurately reflects performance - at least for multithreaded workloads running on multiprocessors. Work-related metrics, such as time per transaction, are the most accurate and reliable way to estimate multiprocessor workload performance