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Operating Systems · Problem type

Effective access time with a TLB

Use this for “A TLB lookup takes 10 ns, memory takes 100 ns, and 90% of lookups hit. What is the effective access time?”
This is an example. Type your own values to start a new problem.
EAT (ns)
=
h
×
(
t (ns)
+
m (ns)
)
+
(1
−
h
)
×
(
t (ns)
+
2
×
m (ns)
)

Formulas

EAT
=
h
×
(
t
+
m
)
+
(1
−
h
)
×
(
t
+
2
×
m
)
120 = 0.9 × (10 + 100) + (1 − 0.9) × (10 + 2 × 100)

Assumptions

•
A TLB miss reads the page table in memory once, then the data: a one-level table.
•
The TLB is searched before every access, hit or miss; type t = 0 if your course ignores it.
•
Every page is in memory: no page faults.

Step-by-step

WE KNOW
h = 0.9, t = 10 ns, m = 100 ns
FIND
effective access time (EAT)
Step 1 · Find effective access time (EAT)
Use EAT = h × (t + m) + (1 − h) × (t + 2 × m)
Weigh each case’s time by how often it happens: hits read memory once, misses twice.
EAT = 0.9 × (10 + 100) + (1 − 0.9) × (10 + 2 × 100)
EAT = 0.9 × 110 + 0.1 × (10 + 200)
EAT = 0.9 × 110 + 0.1 × 210
EAT = 99 + 21
EAT = 120 ns
Check
Put the numbers back in. Both sides should match.
120 = 0.9 × (10 + 100) + (1 − 0.9) × (10 + 2 × 100) ✓
Topic check
See what you know: 5 questions on this topic
New questions each time. Pass to mark it complete.

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