Static and dynamic co-optimizations for blocks mapping in hybrid caches

Abstract

In this paper, a combined static and dynamic scheme is proposed to optimize the block placement for endurance and energy-efficiency in a hybrid SRAM and STT-RAM cache. With the proposed scheme, STT-RAM endurance is maximized while performance is maintained. We use the compiler to provide static hints to guide initial data placement, and use the hardware to correct the hints based on the run-time cache behavior. Experimental results show that the combined scheme improves the endurance by 23.9x and 5.9x compared to pure static and pure dynamic optimizations respectively. Furthermore, the system energy can be reduced by 17% compared to pure dynamic optimization through minimizing STT-RAM writes.