×86 computer architecture simulators: A comparative study

The significance of computer architecture simulators in advancing computer architecture research is widely acknowledged. Computer architects have developed numerous simulators in the past few decades and their number continues to rise. This paper explores different simulation techniques and surveys many ×86 simulators. Comparing simulators with each other and validating their correctness has been a challenging task. In this paper, we compare and contrast ×86 simulators in terms of flexibility, level of details, user friendliness and simulation models. In addition, we measure the experimental error and compare the speed of four contemporary ×86 simulators: gem5, Multi2sim, PTLsim and Sniper. We also discuss the strengths and limitations of these simulators. We believe that this paper provides insights into different simulation strategies and aims to help computer architects understand the differences among existing simulation tools.