Performance Considerations
A-2
A.1 Performance Considerations
The ceil( ) is used in some benchmark formulas to accurately describe the
number of cycles. It returns a number rounded up, away from zero, to the
nearest integer. For example, ceil(1.1) returns 2.
Although DSPLIB can be used as a first estimation of processor performance
for a specific function, you should be aware that the generic nature of DSPLIB
might add extra cycles not required for customer specific usage.
Benchmark cycles presented assume best case conditions, typically
assuming all code and data are placed in L1 memory. Any extra cycles due to
placement of code or data in L2/external memory or cache-associated effects
(cache-hits or misses) are not considered when computing the cycle counts.
You should also be aware that execution speed in a system is dependent on
where the different sections of program and data are located in memory. You
should account for such differences when trying to explain why a routine is
taking more time than the reported DSPLIB benchmarks.
For more information on additional stall cycles due to memory hierarchy, see
the Signal Processing Examples Using TMS320C64x Digital Signal
Processing Library (SPRA884). The TMS320C6000 DSP Cache User’s Guide
(SPRU656A) presents how to optimize algorithms and function calls for better
cache performance.