The effects of mispredicted-path execution on branch prediction structures

Branch prediction accuracies determined using trace-driven simulation do not include the effects of executing branches along a mispredicted path. However, branches along a mispredicted path will pollute the branch prediction structures if no recovery mechanisms are provided. Without recovery mechanisms, prediction roles will suffer. In this paper, we determine the appropriateness of recovery mechanisms for the four structures of the Two-Level Adaptive Branch Predictor: the Branch Target Buffer (BTB), the Branch History Register (BHR), the Pattern History Tables (PHTs), and the Return Address Stack (RAS). We then propose cost-effective recovery mechanisms for these branch prediction structures. Far five benchmarks from the SPECint92 suite we show that performance is not affected if recovery mechanisms are not provided for the BTB and the PHTs. On the other hand, without any recovery mechanisms for the BHR and RAS, performance drops by an average of and 29%.