Effects of cache coherence on the performance of parallel PDE algorithms in multiprocessors

Results are presented of a study conducted to determine how the degradation resulting from cache coherence maintenance affects the performance of parallel PDE algorithms. A high-performance, shared-memory multiprocessor system is assumed, and a multiprocessor trace-driven simulator is used. The results show that implementing the coherence protocol studied degrades the overall performance of the algorithms evaluated by 10% to 30%.