Generation of 3D graphics workload for system performance analysis

Generation of representative workloads for system performance models has been a challenge for PC system architects who are using trace-driven models. Unlike processor performance models that typically only use a single CPU instruction trace, system models in most cases require traces of CPU, Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), PCI and other bus mastering devices that can access memory. A common approach is to collect bus traces with a logic analyzer. Although this allows the generation of realistic traces, typical analyzer buffer sizes seriously limit the length of contiguous traces. Another problem is that traces collected in a specific system configuration may not be representative of other systems, especially future systems with different timings and/or bus protocols. This paper presents an overview of an approach that can be used to generate long bus traces for performance model stimulus. We describe methods for the characterization of system behavior and for the generation of accurate synthetic graphics traces based on real traces, and give examples of correlated CPU and AGP traces that are synthetic but reflect the characteristics of real CPU/AGP traces.