Two-bit saturating counter

Tag: two-bit-counter

Aliases: 2-bit predictor, bimodal predictor

A four-state counter (strongly/weakly taken, weakly/strongly not-taken) used as a per-branch direction predictor. Resists single-mispredict flips.

Lecture references

• L04 · Hazards — p.55
• L10 · Branch Prediction — p.24 , p.29 , p.31 , p.32 , p.33 , p.34 , p.35 , p.49 , p.51
• L11 · Advanced Branch Prediction — p.12 , p.14 , p.29

Exam references

• Final — Spring 2024 — Q2(a) , Q2(c)
• Midterm — Spring 2024 — Q3(i) , Q3(ii)