A reconfigurable cache architecture for energy efficiency

Abstract

On-chip caches often consume a significant fraction of the total processor energy budget. Allowing adaptation to the running workload can significantly lower their energy consumption. In this paper, we present a novel Set and way Management cache Architecture for efficient Run-Time reconfiguration (Smart cache), a cache architecture that allows reconfiguration in both its size and associativity. Results show the energy-delay of the Smart cache is on average 18% better than state-of-the-art reconfiguration architectures.