Providing energy efficient turbo operation of a processor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354689-B2
Application number	US-201213997288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2012
Priority date	Mar 13, 2012
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

In one embodiment, a multicore processor includes cores that can independently execute instructions, each at an independent voltage and frequency. The processor may include a power controller having logic to prevent a first core from execution at a requested turbo mode frequency if the first core has a stall rate greater than a first stall threshold, and concurrently allow a second core to execute at a requested turbo mode frequency if the second core has a stall rate less than a second stall threshold. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processor comprising:
a plurality of cores to independently execute instructions; and
a power controller to control a frequency at which the processor is to operate, the power controller including first logic to prevent a first core of the plurality of cores from execution at a requested turbo mode frequency if the first core has a stall rate greater than a first stall threshold, the stall rate of the first core corresponding to a rate at which the first core has waited for memory loads/stores, and concurrently allow a second core of the plurality of cores to execute at a requested turbo mode frequency if the second core has a stall rate less than a second stall threshold, wherein the first logic is to generate a candidate performance state at a first lower frequency if an energy performance bias value is at an energy bias and at a second lower frequency if the energy performance bias value is at a performance bias, the second lower frequency greater than the first lower frequency.

2. The processor of claim 1 , wherein the first logic is to reduce a current performance state for the first core based on the energy performance bias value to generate the candidate performance state if the stall rate of the first core is greater than the first stall threshold.

3. The processor of claim 2 , wherein the first logic is to determine an updated performance state for the first core based on the candidate performance state and a plurality of constraints on the processor.

4. The processor of claim 3 , wherein the first logic is to apply the updated performance state to the first core.

5. The processor of claim 2 , wherein the first logic is to increase a current performance state for the second core based on the energy performance bias value to generate the candidate performance state if the stall rate of the second core is less than the second stall threshold.

6. The processor of claim 1 , wherein the first logic is to maintain a current turbo mode frequency of the first core if the stall rate of the first core is between the first and second stall thresholds.

7. A method comprising: obtaining a current performance state of a first core of a multicore processor, a core stall count of the first core during a first observation interval corresponding to cycles in which the first core was waiting for memory loads/stores, and an energy performance bias for the first core; determining if the core stall count is at least equal to a first stall threshold;
if so, reducing the current performance state of the first core based on the energy performance bias to obtain a candidate performance state; and determining if core active cycles of the first core during the first observation interval are less than a minimum threshold, and if so maintaining the current performance state of the first core for a next observation interval without further analysis.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining an updated performance state based on the candidate performance state and a plurality of processor constraint parameters.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising applying the updated performance state to the first core.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining if the current performance state of the first core is not in or not granted turbo mode, and if so maintaining the current performance state of the first core for a next observation interval without further analysis.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising if the core stall count is not at least equal to the first stall threshold, determining if the core stall count is less than or equal to a second stall threshold, and if so increasing the current performance state of the first core based on the energy performance bias to obtain the candidate performance state.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising if the core stall count is between the first and second stall thresholds, obtaining the candidate performance state from the current performance state of the first core.

13. A system comprising: a processor including a plurality of cores, a plurality of integrated voltage regulators each to independently provide a voltage to at least one of the plurality of cores, and a power control unit (PCU) to control the plurality of integrated voltage regulators to provide independent voltages to at least some of the plurality of cores, the PCU comprising a turbo mode control logic to control a frequency of the plurality of cores independently and to enable a first core of the plurality of cores to operate at an increased turbo mode frequency if a core stall metric of the first core at a current turbo mode frequency below the increased turbo mode frequency is less than a second stall threshold, wherein the turbo mode control logic is to enable a second core of the plurality of cores to operate at a reduced turbo mode frequency if a core stall metric of the second core at a current turbo mode frequency above the reduced turbo mode frequency is at least equal to a first stall threshold, wherein the first stall threshold is greater than the second stall threshold; and
a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) coupled to the processor.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the PCU is to receive the core stall metric of the first core from a stall sensor of the first core.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the turbo mode control logic is to increase a turbo mode frequency of the first core at a faster rate when the processor is in a performance mode than when the processor is in an energy mode.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the turbo mode control logic is to decrease the turbo mode frequency of the first core at a faster rate when the processor is in the energy mode than when the processor is in the performance mode.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the turbo mode control logic is to determine an updated performance state using a candidate performance state based on the core stall metric and a plurality of processor constraint parameters, and apply the updated performance state to the first core.

Assignees

• Bhandaru Malini K
• Dehaemer Eric J
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Bhandaru Malini K
• Dehaemer Eric J

Classifications

• G06F1/324 Primary

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/3234 Primary

  Power saving characterised by the action undertaken · CPC title

• Y02B60/1217

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title