Performance Estimation: IPC

Performance estimation of a processor can easily lead to a large saving in time, which would otherwise be spent on time consuming simulations. Poor choice of processor can lead to an expensive design due to either the choice of an expensive processor or due to a large hardware as the selected processor severely under performs. In this work, we estimate the IPC (instructions per cycle) of the processor for a particular application. We propose a technique to estimate the upper and lower limit of IPC for a given application. Experimental results indicate that IPC can be estimated within about 20% accuracy without using time consuming instruction set simulators.