Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!mcnc!gbyrd From: gbyrd@mcnc.org (Gregory T. Byrd) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: cache pre-load/no-load instructions Summary: no-load = SANF? Keywords: cache, fetch-on-write, HP-PA no-load Message-ID: <7762@alvin.mcnc.org> Date: 17 Mar 91 19:44:44 GMT References: Reply-To: gbyrd@mcnc.org (Gregory T. Byrd) Followup-To: comp.arch Organization: Digital and MCNC; RTP, NC Lines: 32 In article jonathan@cs.pitt.edu (Jonathan Eunice) writes: >Two of the tweaks of the forthcoming "Snake" (HP-PA 1.1) systems from >HP are: > >1) cache pre-load instructions [...] > >2) cache no-load hints as a part of store instructions (useful to avoid >useless cache loading for initialization statements, for faster program >startup, and perhaps in other situations too) > >[...] I just want to make sure I understand what (2) means. Is this a way to implement a Store-Allocate-No-Fetch (SANF) policy for a give cache block, rather than the default behavior (fetch-on-store?)? Would this work with shared data in a multiprocessor system? Does HP-PA say anything about cache coherence, or is that up to the system implementor? ...Greg Byrd Digital Equipment Corp./MCNC gbyrd@mcnc.org P.O. Box 12889 (919)248-1439 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 -- ...Greg Byrd MCNC/Digital Equipment Corp. gbyrd@mcnc.org P.O. Box 12889 (919)248-1439 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709