Multicore ICs: Recent Trends in Developing Methodologies and Frameworks for Simulation

High Performance Computing Chips are expected to deliver several GFLOPs of computing power in the near future. Parallelism inherent in modern algorithms boosts the motivation for building multicore architectures. Design-space exploration and performance estimation has to be done before finding an optimal design point for a multicore IC. Role of a good multicore simulator is to provide the developer a holistic insight about the operation of proposed multicore system. In this paper we present the types and aspects of multicore simulators with an analysis of the key qualities a good multicore simulator should possess, and thereby to shed light on existing simulators from a critical angle.