Report Number: CSL-TR-90-454
Institution: Stanford University, Computer Systems Laboratory
Title: Page allocation to reduce access time of physical caches
Author: Bray, Brian K.
Author: Lunch, William L.
Author: Flynn, Michael J.
Date: November 1990
Abstract: A simple modification to an operating system's page allocation algorithm can give physically addressed caches the speed of virtually addressed caches. Colored page allocation reduces the number of bits that need to be translated before cache access, allowing large low-associativity caches to be indexed before address translation, which reduces the latency to the processor. The colored allocation also has other benefits: caches miss less (in general) and more uniformly, and the inclusion principle holds for second level caches with less associativity. However, the colored allocation requires main memory partitioning, and more common bits for shared virtual addresses. Simulation results show high non-uniformity of cache miss rates for normal allocation. Analysis demonstrates the extent of second-level cache inclusion, and the reduction in effective main-memory due to partitioning.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/csl/tr/90/454/CSL-TR-90-454.pdf