Cache Calculator

Overview

This cache calculator implements a write-back cache with a write-allocate policy, designed to simulate and analyze cache behavior for different configurations. It calculates various performance metrics, such as the number of cache hits, misses, and dirty write-backs, allowing users to study the impact of cache configurations on performance.

Features

• Simulates a write-back cache with write-allocate policy and LRU replacement strategy.
• Configurable cache size, line size, and associativity.
• Calculates performance metrics including hit rate, misses, and dirty write-backs.
• Supports loading from trace files containing memory access patterns.

Running the Program

To run the cache calculator, use the following command line syntax:

$ ./calc [-a <associativity>] [-l <line size>] [-s <cache size>] [-p <miss penalty>] [-d <dirty wb penalty>] <trace file>

• -a <associativity>: Set the cache's associativity. Default is 1 (direct-mapped).
• -l <line size>: Set the cache line size in bytes. Default is 16 bytes.
• -s <cache size>: Set the total cache size in kilobytes. Default is 16 KB.
• -p <miss penalty>: Set the penalty for a cache miss in cycles. Default is 30 cycles.
• -d <dirty wb penalty>: Set the penalty for writing back a dirty line in cycles. Default is 2 cycles.
• <trace file>: Path to the memory access trace file.

Example Usage

$ ./calc -a 4 -l 32 -s 64 -p 50 -d 5 traces/gcc.trace
CACHE SETTINGS
     Associativity:    4
        Cache Size:   64 kilobyte
        Block Size:   32 byte
      Miss Penalty:   50 cycles
  Dirty WB Penalty:    5 cycles

CACHE ACCESS STATS
   Memory Accesses:   515683
             Loads:   318197
            Stores:   197486

CACHE HIT-MISS STATS
         Miss Rate:  1.23681%
      Cache Misses:     6378
        Cache Hits:   509305

CACHE CPI STATS
Cycles/Instruction:  1.32827
      Instructions:  1024481
            Cycles:  1360786
 Dirty Write-Backs:     3481