On inlining and other compiler optimizations
Jul 19 2010, by shay@eembc.org
CoreMark run rules allow for any compiler optimizations. Unlike Dhrystone, CoreMark relies on a design that forces any computation to happen at compile time by tracing any computation chain from a value that is not available at compile time and ends with an output. While compilers can find more efficient ways of implementing those computations, the computations cannot be done at compile time, and thus actual operation cannot be "optimized away". Dhrystone for example was split to multiple fil... more»
CoreMark Analytic Evaluation - Interview
Jun 07 2010, by shay@eembc.org
Recently Van Smith of Canalabs submitted several scores to the CoreMark website. We asked him about his choices for run parameters... [NOTE: To put this blog into context, refer to the scores submitted on April 12 forĀ Intel Atom N450, VIA Nano L3050, AMD Mobile Athlon XP-M (Barton), and Freescale i.MX515 at http://coremark.org/benchmark/index.php?pg=benchmark) Why did you use FORK rather then PTHREADS? Answer: I used the same set of CoreMark compiler flags and settings as I h... more»
On CPU and Memory tangles
Mar 08 2010, by shay@eembc.org
Two CoreMark scores for the TI Stellaris were submitted recently. It is interesting to note that while the only difference between the submissions is the frequency, the CoreMark/MHz has changed (1.9 at 50MHz vs. 1.6 at 80MHz; a 16% drop). Since the device does not have cache, the CPU frequency to memory frequency ratio may come into effect, and indeed we find that the flash used on the device can only scale 1:1 with the CPU frequency up to 50MHz. Once frequency goes above 50MHz, the memory frequ... more»
EEMBC Director of Software Engineering takes on sumo wrestler with EEMBC power
Mar 06 2010, by Markus Levy
Shay Gal-On always wins when it comes to wrestling with EEMBC benchmarks. But he's no match for sumo wrestler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njBGUzAExo4... more»
Data types
Jan 12 2010, by shay@eembc.org
People often ask about the applicability of CoreMark for 8-, 16-, and 32-bit processors. They wonder if it provides a realistic measure of performance for an 8-bit micro when it does calculations based on 32-bit data (and vice versa). CoreMark will work on any architecture, though 8b handling is most efficient on 8b processors, 16b data types are handled optimally on 16b processors, and similarly 32b processors are the best at handling 32b data. Realistically though, all of those data types a... more»