Active Pages: a computation model for intelligent memory

Abstract

Microprocessors and memory systems suffer from a growing gap in performance. We introduce Active Pages, a computation model which addresses this gap by shifting data-intensive computations to the memory system. An Active Page consists of a page of data and a set of associated functions which can operate upon that data. We describe an implementation of Active Pages on RXDram (Reconfigurable Architecture DRAM), a memory system based upon the integration of DRAM and reconfigurable logic. Results from the SimpleScalar simulator demonstrate up to 1000X speedups on several applications using the RADram system versus conventional memory systems. We also explore the sensitivity of our results to implementations in other memory technologies.