Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
MEMORY REQUEST PRIORITY ASSIGNMENT TECHNIQUES FOR PARALLEL PROCESSORS

Abstract:

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for implementing memory request priority assignment techniques for parallel processors are disclosed. A system includes at least a parallel processor coupled to a memory subsystem, where the parallel processor includes at least a plurality of compute units for executing wavefronts in lock-step. The parallel processor assigns priorities to memory requests of wavefronts on a per-work-item basis by indexing into a first priority vector, with the index generated based on lane-specific information. If a given event is detected, a second priority vector is generated by applying a given priority promotion vector to the first priority vector. Then, for subsequent wavefronts, memory requests are assigned priorities by indexing into the second priority vector with lane-specific information. The use of priority vectors to assign priorities to memory requests helps to reduce the memory divergence problem experienced by different work-items of a wavefront.