System-level computer architecture simulation: an experiment report

It is important to capture performance trade-offs of various design options early in a design process. The system architects must get reliable performance projections for a design with very little detail. This information must be updated with greater accuracy as more details of the design are determined. There is an increasing demand for architectural tools which assist in making rapid decisions between performance and cost. We have experimented with modeling and simulating a rather complex computer system using such a tool. After putting together a list of requirements for the desired software tool, we explored the existing platforms. The selected package had the most coverage of our stipulated requirements. After choosing our platform, we modeled our system and ran some test inputs. The results were quite encouraging, especially given our short design cycle. This paper discusses our experience in modeling and simulating a rather complex system. We describe the requirements of our system level simulation platform, present an example of what is available, and discuss the available and desirable features.