16 Aoû 2013

Intel VTune Performance Analyzer

16 Aoû 2013

Intel VTune Performance Analyzer is a commercial application for software performance analysis which detects performance bottlenecks (hotspots) in an application and performs optimization for systems running on Intel processors.

It is the software development rate which is brought to the forefront nowadays. However, we should not forget about optimization which, despite the common belief, has always been highly important too. Intel VTune Performance Analyzer is one among a number of tools designed to assist developers in software optimization. The tool can detect and locate performance issues through the following techniques:

Collecting a wide range of performance data about the operating system on which the application is running.
Different ways of data processing and visual representation - from general-system view to source view and displaying of processor instructions.
Detecting probable performance issues and offering ways of their solution.

Intel VTune Performance Analyzer allows the user to collect data about inside events of Intel processors, analyze them and find the most loaded code fragments called hotspots. It also provides features for call graph profiling, gathering time characteristics of calls and detecting fragments that can be parallelized with the highest efficiency by using available processor cores to the full extent.

The tool employs the Sampling technology to evaluate performance issues caused by the most loaded functions. While executing the application, the utility measures time spent in modules, functions, code lines, and samples processor events (those related to branch prediction, efficiency of micro-op fusion, partial outages) associated with a particular module or function.

Thus you can analyze all the processes in the program and locate hotspots which lead to performance issues. For that purpose Sampling counts the number of processor ticks, executed instructions, processor cache misses and branch mispredictions. Running a Sampling collection attached to your application, you will get a diagram showing distribution of processor events among modules executed in the system, as well as relative evaluations of the application's performance.

To find out which lines have caused hotspots you just need to drill down to the Source View to see code lines associated with particular events. You can use these data to determine which computations have caused processor events responsible for performance losses and optimize the program in the most efficient way.

The new version of Intel VTune Amplifier XE 2013 was released in 2013. You can download the utility here: Intel® VTune™ Amplifier XE 2013.