Multilevel-Cache-Simulator-with-Prefetch

A C++ simulator for L1/L2 cache levels with a configurable stream-buffer prefetch unit, implementing the WBWA policy.

Project Overview

This project implements a configurable cache simulator that can model different levels of memory hierarchy with stream buffer prefetching capabilities. The simulator provides insights into cache performance metrics and memory traffic patterns.

Key Implementation Features

1. Configurable Cache Module

   • Flexible cache size, associativity, and block size
   • Supports multiple cache levels (L1, L2)
   • LRU replacement policy
   • Write-back and write-allocate policies

2. Stream Buffer Prefetching

   • Configurable number of stream buffers (N)
   • Configurable buffer depth (M blocks per buffer)
   • LRU replacement for stream buffers
   • Intelligent prefetch stream management

3. Memory Hierarchy Configurations

   • Single-level cache (L1)
   • Two-level cache (L1 + L2)
   • Cache with prefetch unit
   • Multiple cache levels with prefetch unit

Technical Details

Cache Parameters

• SIZE: Total bytes of data storage
• ASSOC: Cache associativity
• BLOCKSIZE: Number of bytes per block
• PREF_N: Number of stream buffers
• PREF_M: Blocks per stream buffer

Configurations supported

Figure 1: Configurations Supported

Simulator Usage

./sim <BLOCKSIZE> <L1_SIZE> <L1_ASSOC> <L2_SIZE> <L2_ASSOC> <PREF_N> <PREF_M> <trace_file>

Example:

./sim 32 8192 4 262144 8 3 10 gcc_trace.txt

Performance Metrics

• Cache read/write hits and misses
• Miss rates for each cache level
• Number of writebacks
• Prefetch statistics
• Total memory traffic

Input Format

Traces follow the format:

r|w <hex address>
r|w <hex address>
...

Where:

• 'r': Read operation
• 'w': Write operation
• <hex address>: 32-bit memory address in hex

Implementation Notes

• Supports power-of-two block sizes
• Implements multi-level cache coherence
• Handles prefetch buffer management
• Tracks LRU information for both cache and stream buffers
• Maintains accurate performance statistics

Project Requirements

• C/C++ compiler
• Make build system
• Input trace files

Build Instructions

make clean
make

Testing

1. Prepare trace files in correct format
2. Run simulator with desired configuration
3. Analyze output metrics and cache contents