Procurability-Aware Design Space Exploration

Lee, Lin Chuan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124837 Copy

Description

Title

Procurability-Aware Design Space Exploration

Author(s)

Lee, Lin Chuan

Issue Date

2023-05-01

Keyword(s)

computer architecture; design space exploration (DSE); procurability; supply chain; high bandwidth memory (HBM)

Abstract

The unpredictable demand, complex supply chain, and high barrier of entry of the semiconductor industry make it prone to shortages. Consequently, creating designs with highly procurable, easily replaceable components has become an increasing priority for any businesses relying on semiconductors: from car makers and home appliance manufacturers to the many companies producing consumer and commercial electronics. For instance, while High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) memory offers high bandwidth, low power consumption, and a small form factor, it has lower procurability and higher cost compared to traditional off-chip DRAM DIMM due to the limited number of suppliers and the use of interposers. In this work, we performed design space exploration (DSE) to find design points using DDR memory with various L3 capacities, number of memory channels, and memory frequency with reasonable performance and cost compared to a system using HBM memory. The DSE is performed through an analytical model that estimates the performance, area, power, and cost of design points. Using a roofline model, we found regions where the system performance is constrained by bandwidth between compute core and L3 cache, bandwidth between the L3 cache and main memory, and compute throughput. We found, for the same L3 capacity, the HBM system has the highest memory cost and total cost but the lowest package cost compared to DDR systems. We demonstrated that, across a range of application profiles with different bandwidth requirements, the HBM system has the highest system cost but outperforms DDR systems in terms of compute die area, package area, and compute die power in isoperformance comparisons. Finally, we found design points using DDR memory that offer the same performance as the reference HBM system at a lower cost, even when lifetime energy costs are considered.

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

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