COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

MEASURING PERFORMANCE
Azhi A. Faraj
 Performance
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When we say one computer is faster than another

is, what do we mean?
The computer user is interested in reducing response
time
 Performance: Latency vs. Throughput
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Latency(execution time): time to finish a fixed task

Throughput (bandwidth): number of tasks per unit time
Example: move people 10 miles
Car: capacity = 5, speed = 60 miles/hour
Bus: capacity = 60, speed = 20 miles/hour
Latency:
car = 10 min,
bus = 30 min
Throughput:
car= 30 PPH ,
bus = 120 PPH

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 Measuring Performance
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Execution time:
Time between start and completion of a task (including
disk accesses, memory accesses )
Throughput:
Total amount of work done in a given time

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 Performance of a Computer
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Two Computer X and Y;

Performance of (X) > Performance of (Y)

Execution Time (Y) > Execution Time (X)

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 Performance of difference 2 Computer
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X is n Times faster than Y

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 CPU Time
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Time CPU spends on a task

User CPU time
CPU time spent in the program
System CPU time
CPU time spent in OS performing tasks on behalf of the
program

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 CPU Time (Example)
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User CPU time = 90.7s

System CPU time 12.9s
Execution time 2m 39 s 159s

% of CPU time =
User CPU Time + System CPU Time
X 100 %
Execution time

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 CPU Time
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% CPU time = (90.7 + 12.9 ) x 100

159
= 65 %

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 Amdahls law
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Performance improvement that can be gained from

some faster mode of execution is limited by fraction
of the time the faster mode can be used

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 Amdahls law
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Speedup depends on
Fraction of computation time in original machine that
can be converted to take advantage of the
enhancement
(Fraction Enhanced)
Improvement gains by enhanced execution mode
(Speedup Enhanced)

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 Example
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Total execution time of a Program = 50 s

Execution time that can be enhanced = 30 s

FractionEnhanced = 30 /50 = 0.6

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 Speedup
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 Example
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Normal mode execution time for some portion of a

program = 6s
Enhances mode execution time for the same program
= 2s

Speedup Enhanced = 6/2

=3

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 Execution Time
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 Example
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Suppose we consider an enhancement to the processor of a

server system used for Web serving.
New CPU is 10 times faster on computation in Web application
than original CPU. Assume original CPU is busy with
computation 40% of the time and is waiting for I/O 60% of
time.

What is the overall speedup gained from

enhancement?

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 Answer
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 Remark
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Ifan enhancement is only usable for fraction of a

task, we cannot speedup by more than

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 Example
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A common transformation required in graphics

engines is square root implementation of floating-
point (FP). square root vary significantly in
performance, especially among processors designed
graphics
Suppose FP square root (FPSQR) is responsible for
20% of execution time of a critical graphics program
Design alternative
1. Enhance FPSQR hardware and speed up this operation by
a factor of 10
2. Make all FP instruction run faster by a factor of 1.6

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 Example
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FP instruction are responsible for a total of 50% of

execution time. Design team believes they can make
all fp instruction run 1.6 times faster with same
effort as required for fast square root.

Compare these two design alternatives

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 Computer Clock Times
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Computers run according to a clock that runs at a

steady rate
The time interval is called a clock cycle (eg, 10ns).
The clock rate is the reciprocal of clock cycle - a
frequency, how many cycles per sec (eg, 100MHz).
10 ns = 1/100,000,000 (clock cycle), same as:-
1/10ns = 100,000,000 = 100MHz (clock rate).
 Cycles Per Instruction
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The execution time of a program clearly must depend on the

number of instructions
but different instructions take different times
An expression that includes this is:-
CPU clock cycles = N * CPI
N = number of instructions
CPI = average clock cycles per instruction
 CPU performance equation
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CPU time = CPU clock cycles for a program x Clock cycle time

= CPU clock cycles / Clock rate

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 Example
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A program runs in 10s (CPU time) on computer A

having 400 MHz clock rate.
A new machine B, which could run the same
program in 6s, has to be designed.
Further, B should have 1.2 times as many clock
cycles as A.

What should be the clock rate of B?

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 Answer
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 CPU Clock Cycles
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CPI (clock cycles per instruction)

average no. of clock cycles each instruction takes to
execute
IC (instruction count)
no. of instructions executed in the program

CPU clock cycles = CPI x IC

Note: CPI can be used to compare two different

implementations of the same instruction set architecture
(as IC required for a program is same)
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 Example
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Consider two implementations of same instruction set

architecture. For a certain program, details of time
measurements of two machines are given below

Which machine is faster for this program and by how

much?

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 Answer
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 Measuring components of CPU performance
equation
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CPU Time: by running the program

Clock Cycle Time: published in documentation
IC: by a software tools/simulator of the architecture
((more difficult to obtain)
CPI: by simulation of an implementation (more
difficult to obtain)

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 CPU clock cycles
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Suppose n different types of instruction
Let
ICi No. of times instruction i is executed in a program
CPIi Avg. no. of clock cycles for instruction i

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 Example
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Suppose we have made the following measurements:

Frequency of all FP operation = 25%
Average CPI of FP operations excluding FPSQR = 4.0
Average CPI of all other (non-FP) instructions = 1.33
Frequency of FPSQR = 3%
CPI of FPSQR = 20

Design alternatives:
1. decrease CPI of FPSQR to 2
2. decrease average CPI of all FP operation to 2.5

Compare these two design alternatives using CPU

performance equation
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 Answers
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CPI original = 1.33 * (0.75) + 4 * (0.25 - 0.03) + 20 * (0.03)= 2.4775

CPI new FPSQR = 1.33 * (0.75) + 4 * (0.22) + 2 * (0.03) = 1.9375

CPI new FP = 1.33 * (1- 0.25) + 2 * (0.22) + 2 * (0.03) = 1.4975

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