Evaluating SPEC CPU2026
Summary
Chips and Cheese analyzes SPEC CPU2026, noting its expansion to 52 workloads and a shift toward core throughput and cache footprint characteristics across Zen 5 and Lion Cove, with Ampere eMAG used as a reference. The piece discusses IPC, op-cache usage, branch prediction, and data-side caching, concluding that CPU2026 augments SPEC CPU2017 but remains focused on core throughput rather than broad low-IPC coverage.