I don't think your version 1 memcpy is doing what you think it is doing.

On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 12:35 PM Ranier Vilela <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi.
>
> Em seg., 9 de mar. de 2026 às 14:02, Bryan Green <[email protected]>
> escreveu:
>
>> I performed a micro-benchmark on my dual epyc (zen 2) server and version
>> 1 wins for small values of n.
>>
>> 20 runs:
>>
>> n       version       min  median    mean     max  stddev  noise%
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> n=1     version1     2.440   2.440   2.450   2.550   0.024    4.5%
>> n=1     version2     4.260   4.280   4.277   4.290   0.007    0.7%
>>
>> n=2     version1     2.740   2.750   2.757   2.880   0.029    5.1%
>> n=2     version2     3.970   3.980   3.980   4.020   0.010    1.3%
>>
>> n=4     version1     4.580   4.595   4.649   4.910   0.094    7.2%
>> n=4     version2     5.780   5.815   5.809   5.820   0.013    0.7%
>>
>> But, micro-benchmarks always make me nervous, so I looked at the actual
>> instruction cost for my
>> platform given the version 1 and version 2 code.
>>
>> If we count cpu cycles using the AMD Zen 2 instruction latency/throughput
>> tables:  version 1 (loop body)
>> has a critical path of ~5-6 cycles per iteration.  version 2 (loop body)
>> has ~3-4 cycles per iteration.
>>
>> The problem for version 2 is that the call to memcpy is ~24-30 cycles due
>> to the stub + function call + return
>> and branch predictor pressure on first call.  This probably results in
>> ~2.5 ns per iteration cost for version 2.
>>
>> So, no I wouldn't call it an optimization.  But, it will be interesting
>> to hear other opinions on this.
>>
> I made dirty and quick tests with two versions:
> gcc 15.2.0
> gcc -O2 memcpy1.c -o memcpy1
>
> The first test was with keys 10000000 and 10000000 loops:
> version1: on memcpy call
> done in 1873 nanoseconds
>
> version2: inlined memcpy
> not finish
>
> The second test was with keys 4 and 10000000 loops:
> version1: one memcpy call
> version2: inlined memcpy call
>
> version1: done in 1519 nanoseconds
> version2: done in 104981851 nanoseconds
> (1.44692e-05 times faster)
>
> version1: done in 1979 nanoseconds
> version2: done in 110568901 nanoseconds
> (1.78983e-05 times faster)
>
> version1: done in 1814 nanoseconds
> version2: done in 108555484 nanoseconds
> (1.67103e-05 times faster)
>
> version1: done in 1631 nanoseconds
> version2: done in 109867919 nanoseconds
> (1.48451e-05 times faster)
>
> version1: done in 1269 nanoseconds
> version2: done in 111639106 nanoseconds
> (1.1367e-05 times faster)
>
> Unless I'm doing something wrong, one call memcpy wins!
> memcpy1.c attached.
>
> best regards,
> Ranier Vilela
>

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