Project Report Guidelines

A basic, content-oriented, framework for the final report. This document uses the “Branch Predictor Project” as its running example. If you have chosen another implementation project, you can follow the same framework, focusing only on the technique you implemented but in detail. Follow the format given in the class website, under Projects, to write this report. For students who have chosen to write a survey paper, please follow the ISCA formatting guidelines. In either case, try to limit your report to 4-6 pages. Make sure you complete all the subheadings given below. You are welcome to add more if appropriate.

Introduction

Give a brief introduction about [branch prediction], explain why it is used, how it works, its advantages, its disadvantages, and current trends in [predictor] design.

(Example)

For each of the branch predictors below, write down how it works, its advantages, its disadvantages, and how this technique has evolved over time. Be sure you explanation of evolution includes why things changed how they did, not just what changed.

(i) G-Share

(ii) Tournament

(iii) Custom Predictor

Implementation

Include a high-level description of what specifically you implemented/researched/did in this project. This may be included in the introduction or split into its own section, whichever is more appropriate for your report.

Observation

How does what you have chosen to study behave in practice? What factors seem important to its performance? How do the designs your report discusses compare?

Example

Tabulate your results based on the accuracy numbers you obtained, for every address trace, for each of the predictors. Perform a brief comparative study with the 3 implementations, draw conclusions on what you observed, and give reasons to explain them. You can plot graphs and charts to make your report visually appealing.

Results and Conclusion

Write down the final results obtained, give a brief interpretation of the observation, and conclude by summarizing the entire work done in completing this project.

References

Cite all the sources that helped you to complete this project.

Points Breakdown for implementation-based projects (100 points in total)

1) Project Implementation – 50 points a. G-Share – 10 points b. Tournament – 10 points c. Custom – 30 points.

Note: The maximum memory usage of your predictor is 64K + 256bits. You need to show how much space your predictor actually uses in your report.

i. 15 points for beating G-Share 13 in all 6 traces (7.5 points for beating 3 traces)

ii. 15 points for beating Tournament 9:10:10 in 6 all traces (7.5 points for beating 3 traces)

2) Final Report – 50 points

a. Cover all sub-headings given above

b. Make sure to include the right accuracy numbers obtained for each predictor. The 50 points for project implementation will be based on this.