What if I want to subdivide a microarchitectural block into sub-components, like different parts of an ALU or cache?
The block model in HotSpot models temperature at the functional block granularity. If you would like to use the block model, then the way to do this would be to specify a floorplan with a separate block for each sub-component. Note that the power simulator should then provide power numbers for these individual sub-blocks. However, if the sub-components are very small, the grid model might be a better solution in terms of accuracy. In that case, you can inspect the grid temperatures by using the ‘-grid_steady_file’ option of the grid model. When using the block model for such a purpose, it is to be noted that some inaccuracy could occur due to spatial discretization if the modeled floorplan has blocks with high aspect ratios. Hence, versions 4.x provide scripts to convert such floorplans into ones with nearly square-shaped blocks. It is to be noted that being a finite-element solver, HotSpot cannot avoid discretization errors altogether. However, they can be dealt with effectively as a
