An energy saving cache algorithm

Traditional caches have fixed number of sets. This paper proposes cache architecture with variable number of cache sets. The cache is assumed to be of fixed size. The cache operates assuming one set. On conflict, the number of sets is doubled selectively enabling the cache sets. An algorithm for address mapping is defined. The sets that are unoccupied are put in off mode. The occupied sets operate in high power mode. The proposed model is simulated with SPEC2K benchmark. An energy saving of 10% is observed with improvement in average memory access time by 76% compared with set associative cache of same size.