archives

GPU for GC

GPUs as an Opportunity for Offloading Garbage Collection sounds kinda cool to me.

We investigate the challenges for offloading garbage collection to a GPU, by examining the performance trade-offs for the mark phase of a mark & sweep garbage collector. We present a theo- retical analysis and an algorithm that demonstrates the feasibility of this approach. We also discuss a number of algorithmic design trade-offs required to leverage the strengths and capabilities of the GPU hardware. Our algorithm has been integrated into the Jikes RVM and we present promising performance results.

Mainly I've been trying to learn from anybody who might know: can moving a GC (especially in things like Ocaml or whatever) off to another core have good results like making pauses less obvious in interactive apps?