What is a Warm-Up Cache?

Question

I am working with some multicore simulators such as GEMS or M5. In all of them there is an option to "Warm up the cache". What does that term mean?

Squama

Also see what does it mean by cold cache and warm cache concept?. – Heedful

Does this answer your question? What does it mean by cold cache and warm cache concept? – Sartin

Answer 1

The warm up is just the period of loading a set of data so that the cache gets populated with valid data. If you're doing performance testing against a system that usually has a high frequency of cache hits, without the warm up you'll get false numbers because what would normally be a cache hit in your usage scenario is not and will drag your numbers down.

Curlicue