ECG Final Runs

This page records the current ECG / gem5 final-paper run workflow. It is the place to check before starting long cache-policy runs.

For UVA Slurm runs where each graph/benchmark/policy shard runs independently and results are aggregated later, see ECG Slurm runs.

Current Scope

Supported final-run benchmarks:

pr
bfs
sssp

These are the kernels with the best current replacement-policy and P-OPT current-vertex validation. Other gem5 wrappers may have graph hints, but do not use them for final P-OPT claims until their matrix export and sideband paths are audited.

ROI And Sidebands

gem5 wrappers load/build the graph, allocate property arrays, export sideband metadata, and export the P-OPT matrix before the measured kernel ROI. The measured region is the graph algorithm loop between GEM5_WORK_BEGIN and GEM5_WORK_END.

Runner-launched gem5 jobs set per-run sideband paths:

GEM5_GRAPHBREW_CTX
GEM5_POPT_MATRIX
GEM5_GRAPHBREW_OUT_EDGES
GEM5_GRAPHBREW_IN_EDGES

Rows record these as gem5_context_path, gem5_popt_matrix_path, gem5_out_edges_path, gem5_in_edges_path, and gem5_sideband_dir. This keeps gem5 aligned with the Sniper sideband discipline and avoids shared /tmp metadata when jobs are sharded.

Policy Labels

Replacement-only final profile:

LRU
SRRIP
GRASP
POPT_CHARGED
POPT
ECG_DBG_ONLY
ECG_DBG_PRIMARY_CHARGED
ECG_DBG_PRIMARY
ECG_POPT_PRIMARY

DROPLET final profile:

LRU + DROPLET
GRASP + DROPLET
POPT_CHARGED + DROPLET
POPT + DROPLET
ECG_DBG_PRIMARY_CHARGED + DROPLET
ECG_DBG_PRIMARY + DROPLET
ECG_POPT_PRIMARY + DROPLET

ECG_PFX cache_sim profile:

LRU + ECG_PFX
GRASP + ECG_PFX
POPT + ECG_PFX
ECG_DBG_ONLY + ECG_PFX
ECG_DBG_PRIMARY + ECG_PFX
ECG_POPT_PRIMARY + ECG_PFX

ECG_PFX is currently a first-class cache_sim prefetch path. It is exposed in roi_matrix.py as --prefetcher ECG_PFX with POPT-ranked defaults matching the proof-matrix path. gem5 has an experimental x86 m5ops hint path behind --allow-gem5-ecg-pfx; Sniper has an experimental ecg_pfx prefetcher path behind tracked overlays and a Sniper common/standalone relink. Neither timing backend should be used for final performance claims until larger rows show stable issued/useful prefetch counters.

Current gem5 ECG_PFX smoke status: PR/BFS/SSSP all issue prefetches with the experimental path. Useful prefetches have appeared on ad hoc BFS g6 smokes, but the reproducible tiny profile currently proves issued hints rather than stable useful-prefetch benefit. Do not use these rows for performance claims yet.

RISC-V ecg.extract scaffold status: the tracked custom-0 decoder now strips the low 32-bit real vertex ID, decodes the fixed paper DBG/POPT/PFX fields, and stores the decoded metadata/PFX target in GraphBrew hint storage. A RISC-V gem5 build now passes and verifies at bench/include/gem5_sim/gem5/build/RISCV/gem5.opt. A RISC-V benchmark wrapper run is still blocked locally by the missing riscv64-linux-gnu-gcc/g++ cross toolchain, so do not use this as a timing claim path yet.

Validated local smoke outputs:

/tmp/graphbrew-gem5-ecg-pfx-tiny-profile: 6/6 ok rows, PR/BFS/SSSP all pf_issued>0
/tmp/graphbrew-gem5-ecg-pfx-pr-lookahead-smoke:   PR g7,   pf_issued=3, pf_useful=0, pf_late=3 per section
/tmp/graphbrew-gem5-ecg-pfx-bfs-lookahead-smoke:  BFS g6,  pf_issued=2, useful varies on tiny graph reruns
/tmp/graphbrew-gem5-ecg-pfx-sssp-lookahead-smoke: SSSP g6, pf_issued=2, pf_useful=0, pf_late=2 per section
/tmp/graphbrew-sniper-ecg-pfx-pr-smoke:           PR g6 SIFT, ecg_pfx_hints=338, ecg_pfx_issued=1, pf_issued=1, pf_useful=1
/tmp/graphbrew-sniper-ecg-pfx-profile:            PR/BFS/SSSP SIFT, 3/3 ok rows with pf_issued>0
/tmp/graphbrew-sniper-file-ecg-pfx-profile:       email PR/BFS/SSSP SIFT, 3/3 ok rows with pf_issued>0
/tmp/graphbrew-paper-pipeline-sniper-ecg-pfx:     aggregate CSVs plus generic prefetch_* figures

Validated available-local cache_sim ECG_PFX output:

/tmp/graphbrew-available-cache-sim-ecg-pfx: 6/6 jobs ok, 36/36 ok rows
/tmp/graphbrew-paper-pipeline-available-ecg-pfx: aggregate CSVs plus generic prefetch_* figures

This run covers email-Eu-core and cit-Patents for PR/BFS/SSSP with LRU, GRASP, POPT, ECG_DBG_ONLY, ECG_DBG_PRIMARY, and ECG_POPT_PRIMARY, all under ECG_PFX with encoded mode 2 (popt), window 16, and lookahead 4. Every row issued runtime ECG_PFX requests.

Interpret the available-local result as mechanism validation, not a universal win claim. On cit-Patents, ECG_POPT_PRIMARY+ECG_PFX slightly improves over POPT+ECG_PFX for PR and BFS and nearly ties it for SSSP, but LRU is still better on cit-Patents PR/BFS at this tiny 4kB L3 point. On email-Eu-core, ECG_POPT_PRIMARY+ECG_PFX improves or matches POPT on PR/BFS and SSSP is saturated at the same small miss count across policies.

Use the repo venv for figure generation; system Python may not have matplotlib. ECG_PFX smoke aggregation writes generic prefetch_* figures, not DROPLET-only figure names.

Interpretation:

Label	Meaning
`POPT`	Uncharged oracle P-OPT ceiling. Rereference matrix lookup is host-side metadata.
`POPT_CHARGED`	Honest P-OPT prior-method baseline. Same dynamic lookup, but effective L3 data ways/size are reduced to reserve current+next rereference matrix columns.
`ECG_DBG_ONLY`	GRASP-equivalence mode. Same insertion/hit behavior and plain SRRIP victim selection.
`ECG_DBG_PRIMARY`	Main oracle-assisted ECG hybrid: DBG first, dynamic P-OPT as tiebreak.
`ECG_DBG_PRIMARY_CHARGED`	Same dynamic ECG mode, but with P-OPT reserved-way overhead charged.
`ECG_POPT_PRIMARY`	P-OPT-equivalence / oracle validation mode: dynamic P-OPT first, DBG as tiebreak.

POPT_CHARGED and *_CHARGED are runner-level labels in scripts/experiments/ecg/roi_matrix.py. They map to the underlying gem5/cache_sim P-OPT or ECG policies while changing effective L3 geometry and output metadata. Do not pass CACHE_POLICY=POPT_CHARGED directly to a sim binary.

Charged P-OPT Model

The P-OPT paper stores current and next rereference matrix columns in reserved LLC ways. GraphBrew models that overhead for charged rows by:

estimating the vertex-property cache-line count,
reserving enough LLC ways for 2 * num_cache_lines bytes by default,
keeping the same number of cache sets,
reducing effective L3 data associativity and size,
recording estimated matrix-stream traffic in the output CSV.

Important CSV fields:

popt_overhead_charged
popt_requested_l3_size
popt_effective_l3_size
popt_effective_l3_ways
popt_reserved_ways
popt_reserved_bytes
popt_matrix_stream_bytes
popt_matrix_stream_cache_lines
popt_charged_total_memory_traffic              # cache_sim rows
popt_charged_l3_misses_plus_matrix_stream      # gem5 rows

Current smoke validation:

results/ecg_experiments/roi_matrix/popt_charged_gem5_smoke/roi_matrix.csv

On PR g10, L3=4kB, POPT_CHARGED reserved one way, used effective L3 3840B / 15 ways, and was slower / higher-miss than uncharged POPT, as expected.

Commands

Check graph availability:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile final_replacement \
  --check-graphs \
  --allow-missing-graphs

Dry-run the available local graph profile:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile available_replacement \
  --list \
  --dry-run

List one Slurm-friendly shard:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile final_replacement \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/slurm_dryrun \
  --graph soc-pokec \
  --benchmark pr \
  --policy ECG_DBG_PRIMARY_CHARGED \
  --list \
  --dry-run \
  --allow-missing-graphs \
  --skip-validation-gate

Run the charged P-OPT smoke:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/roi_matrix.py \
  --suite gem5 \
  --benchmark pr \
  --options "-g 10 -k 16 -o 5 -n 1 -i 1" \
  --policies POPT_CHARGED POPT ECG:DBG_PRIMARY_CHARGED ECG:DBG_PRIMARY \
  --l3-sizes 4kB \
  --out-dir results/ecg_experiments/roi_matrix/popt_charged_gem5_smoke \
  --timeout-gem5 900 \
  --no-build

Run the full rehearsal before any multi-day job:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py --profile rehearsal

Run a real profile on currently available local graphs:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile available_replacement \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/available_replacement_001

Run final replacement once graph checks pass:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile final_replacement \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/replacement_final_001

Run cache_sim ECG_PFX once graph checks pass:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile available_cache_sim_ecg_pfx \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/available_cache_sim_ecg_pfx_001

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile final_cache_sim_ecg_pfx \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/cache_sim_ecg_pfx_final_001

Run the bounded Sniper ECG_PFX synthetic smoke:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile sniper_sift_ecg_pfx_smoke \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/sniper_ecg_pfx_smoke_001 \
  --no-build --force

Run the bounded file-backed email-Eu-core Sniper ECG_PFX smoke:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile sniper_sift_file_ecg_pfx_smoke \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/sniper_file_ecg_pfx_smoke_001 \
  --no-build --force

Run a focused ECG_PFX cache_sim smoke:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/roi_matrix.py \
  --suite cache-sim \
  --benchmark pr \
  --options "-g 12 -k 16 -o 5 -n 1 -i 2" \
  --policies LRU POPT ECG:POPT_PRIMARY \
  --prefetcher ECG_PFX \
  --ecg-pfx-mode popt \
  --ecg-pfx-window 16 \
  --ecg-pfx-lookahead 4 \
  --l3-sizes 4kB \
  --no-build

Run final DROPLET after replacement is stable:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --profile final_droplet \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/droplet_final_001

Check an existing run directory:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/final_paper_run.py \
  --status \
  --run-dir results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/replacement_final_001

Run the one-command paper pipeline:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/paper_pipeline.py \
  --profiles rehearsal \
  --run-root results/ecg_experiments/paper_pipeline/rehearsal_001

Aggregate existing CSVs and generate figures/tables without launching runs:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/paper_pipeline.py \
  --skip-run \
  --input-csv results/ecg_experiments/roi_matrix/popt_charged_gem5_smoke/roi_matrix.csv \
  --run-root results/ecg_experiments/paper_pipeline/charged_smoke_figures

Aggregate Slurm shard run directories:

python3 scripts/experiments/ecg/paper_pipeline.py \
  --skip-run \
  --input-run-glob "results/ecg_experiments/final_paper_runs/slurm/<run_tag>/*" \
  --run-root "results/ecg_experiments/paper_pipeline/<run_tag>_aggregate"

Pipeline outputs:

aggregate/roi_matrix_all.csv
aggregate/roi_policy_summary.csv
aggregate/roi_relative_metrics.csv
aggregate/roi_relative_policy_summary.csv
aggregate/popt_charged_overhead.csv
aggregate/faithfulness_summary.csv
aggregate/popt_storage_overhead_summary.csv
aggregate/ecg_mode_overhead_summary.csv
aggregate/prefetch_quality_summary.csv
aggregate/policy_label_map.csv
figures/replacement_speedup_vs_lru.svg        # PNG preview also written
figures/replacement_l3_miss_reduction_vs_lru.svg
figures/replacement_speedup_by_benchmark.svg
figures/replacement_l3_miss_reduction_by_benchmark.svg
figures/droplet_speedup_vs_lru.svg            # written when DROPLET rows exist
figures/droplet_l3_miss_reduction_vs_lru.svg  # written when DROPLET rows exist
figures/droplet_speedup_by_benchmark.svg
figures/droplet_l3_miss_reduction_by_benchmark.svg
figures/prefetch_l3_miss_reduction_vs_lru.svg  # written for non-DROPLET prefetch rows
figures/prefetch_l3_miss_reduction_by_benchmark.svg
figures/component_memory_traffic_reduction_vs_lru.svg
figures/component_memory_traffic_reduction_by_benchmark.svg
figures/droplet_prefetch_accuracy_by_benchmark.svg
figures/charged_overhead.svg                  # charged vs oracle overhead
tables/roi_policy_summary.tex
tables/popt_charged_overhead.tex
tables/faithfulness_summary.tex
tables/popt_storage_overhead_summary.tex
tables/ecg_mode_overhead_summary.tex
tables/prefetch_quality_summary.tex
tables/cache_sim_prefetch_quality_summary.tex

Guardrails

Do not run multiple GraphBrew gem5 jobs concurrently; runtime sideband files under /tmp are shared.
final_paper_run.py serializes jobs and writes a lock file.
Final profiles require focused faithfulness CSVs for GRASP, P-OPT, and DROPLET unless --skip-validation-gate is explicitly used.
ECG PFX timing is not a final gem5 claim yet. Cache_sim PFX proves the mechanism; gem5 timing-visible PFX still needs the x86/RISC-V hint path.
Missing graph files must be fixed before full final_replacement or final_droplet runs.

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ECG Final Runs

ECG Final Runs

Current Scope

ROI And Sidebands

Policy Labels

Charged P-OPT Model

Commands

Guardrails

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