Analyzing allocation behavior for multi-level memory

Abstract

Managing multi-level memories will require different policies from those used for cache hierarchies, as memory technologies differ in latency, bandwidth, and volatility. To this end we analyze application data allocations and main memory accesses to determine whether an application-driven approach to managing a multi-level memory system comprising stacked and conventional DRAM is viable. Our early analysis shows that the approach is viable, but some applications may require dynamic allocations (i.e., migration) while others are amenable to static allocation.