Where are the Joules? Energy Demand Analysis of Heterogeneous Memory Technologies

Preisner T, Nguyen DT, Vögele M, Szymanski M, Hönig T, Kapitza R, Schröder-Preikschat W (2025)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution

Publication year: 2025

Event location: Rotterdam, Netherlands NL

ISBN: 979-8-4007-1470-2/25/03

DOI: 10.1145/3723851.3723857

Open Access Link: https://doi.org/10.1145/3723851.3723857

Abstract

New heterogeneous memory architectures are emerging with the increasing availability of different memory technologies. The growing number of byte-addressable memory technologies (e.g., NVRAM and CXL) make the selection of components for concrete systems increasingly difficult, as each memory technology has specific advantages and disadvantages. Currently, decisions are made based on a variety of performance measurements and recommendations with respective implementation guidelines. However, traditional performance metrics often overlook the unique energy-demand dynamics of each specific memory technology, especially with diverse memory access patterns and workloads.

This paper highlights the importance of memory utilization with different technologies and their environmental impact (i.e., energy demand). To this end, we present meBench – a benchmark generator that systematically quantifies the (non-uniform) energy demand of different memory types. We reveal the relevance of the generated results by contrasting them with the assumptions made in previous research on carbon-aware memory allocation.

Authors with CRIS profile

Thomas Preisner Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Systemsoftware) Dustin Tien Nguyen Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Systemsoftware) Rüdiger Kapitza Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 (Systemsoftware) Wolfgang Schröder-Preikschat Technische Fakultät

Related research project(s)

SUSTAINET-inNOvAte: Nachhaltige Technologien für fortschrittliche resiliente und energieeffiziente Netze - Reibungslose, sichere und widerstandsfähige Netze für die dynamische digitale Welt (SUSTAINET-inNOvAte) Sustainable Technologies for Advanced Resilient and Energy-Efficient Networks - Frictionless, secure, and resilient communication networks for the dynamic digital world Jan. 1, 2025 - Dec. 31, 2027 Power-fail aware byte-addressable virtual non-volatile memory (PAVE) SPP 2377: Disruptive Memory Technologies April 5, 2021 - May 14, 2026 Non-volatility in energy-aware operating systems (NEON) Jan. 1, 2022 - Jan. 1, 2025

Involved external institutions

Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Preisner, T., Nguyen, D.T., Vögele, M., Szymanski, M., Hönig, T., Kapitza, R., & Schröder-Preikschat, W. (2025). Where are the Joules? Energy Demand Analysis of Heterogeneous Memory Technologies. In Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Heterogeneous Composable and Disaggregated Systems. Rotterdam, Netherlands, NL.

MLA:

Preisner, Thomas, et al. "Where are the Joules? Energy Demand Analysis of Heterogeneous Memory Technologies." Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Heterogeneous Composable and Disaggregated Systems, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2025.

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