Identify the source of x264 performance gains and assess generalization

Identify the exact microarchitectural or program behavior that causes the observed performance gains in the Spec2017 benchmark 625.x264_s when applying LLVM-labeled "Predict No Dependency" load opcodes under the Store Sets predictor in Gem5, and ascertain whether this behavior generalizes to other general-purpose workloads or is an artifact of emergent behavior specific to Gem5.

Background

The evaluation shows performance gains for 625.x264_s when using PND labels, but the authors acknowledge they do not fully understand the source of these gains. They caution that the effect might be due to emergent behavior particular to Gem5 and may not generalize beyond the benchmark.

Resolving this uncertainty involves pinpointing the precise cause of the gains and determining whether similar improvements are expected across other workloads, thereby validating the broader applicability of the proposed static-analysis-driven labeling approach.