Evaluating the performance of multi-core processors - Part 2

By Max Domeika, Intel
Embedded.com (09/16/09, 12:03:00 PM EDT)

One common question when customers review data from microprocessor benchmarks such as those discussed in Part 1 is "How well will benchmark performance predict my particular application's performance if I employ your new processor or new compiler?"

In other words, if a new processor or different compiler increases the performance of benchmark X by Y%, how much will the processor or compiler benefit my application?

Of course, the answer is: it depends. Your application is not exactly like the benchmark program, and while the processor architects and compiler engineers may use the benchmark to assess the performance of features they are adding during development, they do not necessarily have access to or tune specifically for your application.

Therefore, you should be skeptical if someone claims that you will see the same performance benefit from using a new processor or compiler as what is shown from the benchmark data.

That said, you should expect some performance improvement and there are a couple of statistical techniques that can be employed to help improve the degree of confidence you have in benchmark data in estimating your end application performance.

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