BW_MEM(8)

NAME
bw_mem - time memory bandwidth

SYNOPSIS
bw_mem [ -P <parallelism> ] [ -W <warmups> ] [ -N <repetitions> ] size rd|wr|rdwr|cp|fwr|frd|bzero|bcopy [align]

DESCRIPTION
bw_mem allocates twice the specified amount of memory, zeros it, and then times the copying of the first half to the second half. Results are reported in megabytes moved per second.

The size specification may end with ``k'' or ``m'' to mean kilobytes (* 1024) or megabytes (* 1024 * 1024).

OUTPUT
Output format is "%0.2f %.2f\n", megabytes, megabytes_per_second, i.e.,

8.00 25.33

There are nine different memory benchmarks in bw_mem. They each measure slightly different methods for reading, writing or copying data.

rd  measures the time to read data into the processor. It computes the sum of an array of integer values. It accesses every fourth word.

wr  measures the time to write data to memory. It assigns a constant value to each memory of an array of integer values. It accesses every fourth word.

rdwr
    measures the time to read data into memory and then write data to the same memory location. For each element in an array it adds the current value to a running sum before assigning a new (constant) value to the element. It accesses every fourth word.

cp  measures the time to copy data from one location to another. It does an array copy: dest[i] = source[i]. It accesses every fourth word.

frd measures the time to read data into the processor. It computes the sum of an array of integer values.

fwr measures the time to write data to memory. It assigns a constant value to each memory of an array of integer values.

fcp measures the time to copy data from one location to another. It does an array copy: dest[i] = source[i].

bzero
    measures how fast the system can bzero memory.

bcopy
    measures how fast the system can bcopy data.

MEMORY UTILIZATION
This benchmark can move up to three times the requested memory. Bcopy will use 2-3 times as much memory bandwidth: there is one read from the source and a write to the destionation. The write usually results in a cache line read and then a write back of the cache line at some later point. Memory utilization might be reduced by 1/3 if the processor architecture implemented ``load cache line'' and ``store cache line'' instructions (as well as ``getcachelinesize'').

SEE ALSO
lmbench(8).

AUTHOR
Carl Staelin and Larry McVoy

Comments, suggestions, and bug reports are always welcome.