InteractionPolicieswithMainMemory

Readsdominateprocessorcacheaccesses.Allinstructionaccesses

arereads,andmostinstructionsdonotwritetomemory.Theblock
canbereadatthesametimethatthetagisreadandcompared,so
theblockreadbeginsassoonastheblockaddressisavailable.Ifthe
readisamiss,thereisnobenefit-butalsonoharm;justignorethe
valueread.
Thereadpoliciesare:

ReadThrough-readingawordfrommainmemorytoCPU

NoReadThrough-readingablockfrommainmemorytocache

andthenfromcachetoCPU

Suchisnotthecaseforwrites.Modifyingablockcannotbeginuntil
thetagischeckedtoseeiftheaddressisahit.Alsotheprocessor
specifiesthesizeofthewrite,usuallybetween1and8bytes;only
thatportionoftheblockcanbechanged.Incontrast,readscan
accessmorebytesthannecessarywithoutaproblem.
Thewritepoliciesonwritehitoftendistinguishcachedesigns:

WriteThrough-theinformationiswrittentoboththeblockinthe

cacheandtotheblockinthelower-levelmemory.

Advantage:

-readmissneverresultsinwritestomainmemory
-easytoimplement
-mainmemoryalwayshasthemostcurrentcopyofthedata

(consistent)

Disadvantage:

-writeisslower
-everywriteneedsamainmemoryaccess
-asaresultusesmorememorybandwidth

Writeback-theinformationiswrittenonlytotheblockinthe

cache.Themodifiedcacheblockiswrittentomainmemoryonlywhen
itisreplaced.Toreducethefrequencyofwritingbackblockson

replacement,adirtybitiscommonlyused.Thisstatusbitindicates

whethertheblockisdirty(modifiedwhileinthecache)orclean(not
modified).Ifitiscleantheblockisnotwrittenonamiss.

Advantage:

-writesoccuratthespeedofthecachememory
-multiplewriteswithinablockrequireonlyonewritetomain
memory
-asaresultuseslessmemorybandwidth

Disadvantage:

-hardertoimplement
-mainmemoryisnotalwaysconsistentwithcache
-readsthatresultinreplacementmaycausewritesofdirtyblocks
tomainmemory
Therearetwocommonoptionsonawritemiss:

WriteAllocate-theblockisloadedonawritemiss,followedby

thewrite-hitaction.

NoWriteAllocate-theblockismodifiedinthemainmemoryand

notloadedintothecache.

Althougheitherwrite-misspolicycouldbeusedwithwritethroughor
writeback,write-backcachesgenerallyusewriteallocate(hopingthat
subsequentwritestothatblockwillbecapturedbythecache)and
write-throughcachesoftenuseno-writeallocate(sincesubsequent
writestothatblockwillstillhavetogotomemory).
Table1showsallpossiblecombinationsofinteractionpolicieswith
mainmemoryonwrite,thecombinationsusedinpracticeareinbold
case.

Writehit
policy

Writemiss

policy

WriteThrough WriteAllocate
WriteThrough

NoWrite
Allocate

WriteBack

WriteAllocate

WriteBack

NoWriteAllocate

Table1.Possiblecombinationsof
interactionpolicieswithmain
memoryonwrite.

WriteThroughwithNoWriteAllocate:

onhitsitwritestocacheandmainmemory;

onmissesitupdatestheblockinmainmemorynotbringingthat
blocktothecache;
Subsequentwritestotheblockwillupdatemainmemorybecause
WriteThroughpolicyisemployed.So,sometimeissavednot

bringingtheblockinthecacheonamissbecauseitappearsuseless
anyway.

WriteBackwithWriteAllocate:

onhitsitwritestocachesettingdirtybitfortheblock,main

memoryisnotupdated;
onmissesitupdatestheblockinmainmemoryandbringsthe
blocktothecache;
Subsequentwritestothesameblock,iftheblockoriginallycaused
amiss,willhitinthecachenexttime,settingdirtybitfortheblock.
Thatwilleliminateextramemoryaccessesandresultinveryefficient
executioncomparedwithWriteThroughwithWriteAllocate
combination.

WriteBackwithNoWriteAllocate:

onhitsitwritestocachesettingdirtybitfortheblock,main

memoryisnotupdated;
onmissesitupdatestheblockinmainmemorynotbringingthat
blocktothecache;

Subsequentwritestothesameblock,iftheblockoriginallycaused

amiss,willgeneratemissesallthewayandresultinveryinefficient
execution.
Thefollowingappletshowsthedynamicsofinteractionpolicies.By
clickingonwhitesquaresoftheappletonecanchosethepolicyto

testdependingonwhetheritisreadorwrite,hitormiss.Onreadhit
thereisnotmuchchoiceofpolicies.Theblockisjustreadfrom
cachetoCPU.
Thefollowingappletwillshowyouthedynamicsofinteractionpolicies.

Example on interaction with

main memory

Consideracomputerwiththefollowingfeatures:
90%ofallmemoryaccessesarefoundinthecache(hitratio=0.9);
Theblocksizeis2wordsandthewholeblockisreadonanymiss;

TheCPUsendsreferencestothecacheattherateof107wordspersecond;
25%oftheabovereferencesarewrites(writes=25%,reads=75%);

Thebuscansupport107wordspersecond,readorwrites(totalbusbandwidth=107);

Thebusreadsorwritesasinglewordatatime;

Assumeatanyonetime,30%oftheblockframesinthecachehavebeenmodified;

Thecacheuseswriteallocateonawritemiss.

Youareconsideringaddingaperipheraltothebus,andyouwanttoknowhowmuchofthe

busbandwidthisalreadyused.Calculatethepercentageofthebusbandwidthusedonthe

averageinthetwocasesbelow.Thispercentageiscalledthetrafficratio.Stateanyfurther

assumptionsyouneed,ifany.

a)Thecacheiswritethrough.

Bus

BandwidthReasoning
Used

Read
hit

Read
miss

Hitmeansreferenceisfoundincache,sonobusbandwidthused

107*0.1 missratio=1-hitratio=1-0.9=0.1

*0.75* readsare75%oftotalnumberofreferences
2

blocksize=2words

Write
hit

Write
miss

107*0.9
*0.25*
1

Becausewehavewritethroughpolicywehavetowritetomainmemory

oneveryhit.Butwehavetowriteonly1word.
Writesare25%oftotalnumberofreferences,
hitratio=0.9

Oneverywritemisswehavetoloadablock(2words)tocachebecause

10 *0.1 ofwriteallocatepolicy,andwrite1word(thewordtowritefromCPU)

*0.25* becauseofwritethroughpolicy.
(2+1)

Writesare25%oftotalnumberofreferences,
hitratio=0.9

TotalBandwidthUsed=BWusedonReadhit

;+BWusedonReadmiss

;+BWusedonWritehit

;+BWusedonwritemiss

;=0+107*0.1*0.75*2+107*0.9*0.25*
1+107*0.1*0.25*(2+1)

;=107*0.45
TotalBandwidthUsed107*0.45

----------------------------=-------------=0.45

TotalBandwidth107

b)Thecacheiswriteback.

BusBandwidth
Used

Readhit0

Reasoning
Hitmeansreferenceisfoundincache,sonobusbandwidth
used

missratio=1-hitratio=1-0.9=0.1

readsare75%oftotalnumberofreferences

Read
miss

writesare25%oftotalnumberofreferences
107*0.1*0.75*
blocksize=2words
[2*0.3+2]
*Theterm2*0.3referstoreplacingthedirtyblock(0.3isthe

probabilityoftheblocktobedirty).Wewritebackthedirtyblock
(2words)andreadneededblock(another2words).

Writehit0
Write
miss

Writehitdoesnotgenerateanytrafficonthebus,justmakesthe
blockincachedirty.

Onawritemisswehavetoloadablock(2words)tocache
107*0.1*0.25*
becauseofwriteallocatepolicy,
[2*0.3+2]
andwriteadirtyblocktomainmemory(2*0.3).

TotalBandwidthUsed=BWusedonReadhit

;+BWusedonReadmiss

;+BWusedonWritehit

;+BWusedonwritemiss

;=0+107*0.1*0.75*[2*0.3+2]+0+107
*0.1*0.25*[2*0.3+2]

;=107*0.26

TotalBandwidthUsed107*0.26

----------------------------=-------------=0.26

TotalBandwidth107