This is the source code for the Sniper multicore simulator originally developed by the Performance Lab research group at Ghent University, Belgium. Please refer to the NOTICE file in the top-level directory for licensing and copyright information.
Sniper is a next-generation parallel, high-speed, and accurate x86 simulator. This multi-core simulator is based on the interval core model and the Graphite simulation infrastructure, allowing for fast and accurate simulation and trading off simulation speed for accuracy to allow a range of flexible simulation options when exploring different homogeneous and heterogeneous multi-core architectures.
The Sniper simulator allows one to perform timing simulations for both multi-program workloads and multi-threaded, shared-memory applications with 10s to 100+ cores at a high speed when compared to existing simulators. The main feature of the simulator is its core model which is based on interval simulation, a fast mechanistic core model. Interval simulation raises the level of abstraction in architectural simulation, which allows for faster simulator development and evaluation times; it does so by 'jumping' between miss events, called intervals. Sniper has been validated against multi-socket Intel Core2 and Nehalem systems, and provides average performance prediction errors within 25% at a simulation speed of up to several MIPS.
This simulator and the interval core model are useful for uncore and system-level studies that require more detail than the typical one-IPC models, but for which cycle-accurate simulators are too slow to allow workloads of meaningful sizes to be simulated. As an added benefit, the interval core model allows the generation of CPI stacks, which show the number of cycles lost due to different characteristics of the system, like the cache hierarchy or branch predictor, and leads to a better understanding of each component's effect on total system performance. This extends the use of Sniper to application characterization and hardware/software co-design.
For additional information, please see our website: https://snipersim.org
A good starting point is https://snipersim.org/w/Getting_Started, and for more information about building the simulator and usage, please see https://snipersim.org/w/Manual.
If you are using Sniper, please let us know by posting a message on our user forum. If you use Sniper 6.0 or later in your research, (if you are using the Instruction-Window Centric core model, etc.), please acknowledge us by referencing our TACO 2014 paper:
Trevor E. Carlson, Wim Heirman, Stijn Eyerman, Ibrahim Hur, Lieven Eeckhout, "An Evaluation of High-Level Mechanistic Core Models". In ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO), Volume 11, Issue 3, October 2014, Article No. 28 http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2629677
If you are using earlier versions of Sniper, please acknowledge us by referencing our SuperComputing 2011 paper:
Trevor E. Carlson, Wim Heirman, Lieven Eeckhout, "Sniper: Exploring the Level of Abstraction for Scalable and Accurate Parallel Multi-Core Simulation". Proceedings of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC), pages 52:1--52:12, November 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2063384.2063454
More information on Sniper benchmarks and tutorials can be found at https://github.com/snipersim/benchmarks and https://snipersim.org/w/Sniper_Tutorials. Also, check out https://looppoint.github.io/ for our efforts on sampled simulation.
Given below are some of the most common channels that we provide for users and developers to get help, report bugs, request features, or engage in community discussions.
- Google Groups: A Google Groups page that can be used to start discussions or ask questions. Available at https://groups.google.com/g/snipersim.
- GitHub Issues: A GitHub Issues page for reporting bugs or requesting features. Available at https://github.com/snipersim/snipersim/issues.