Dynamically reconfiguring an out-of-order processing circuit in a processing unit to process instructions in order based on power consumption of a workload

A method for dynamically reconfiguring out-of-order processing circuits in a first processing unit, comprising:

• decoding a plurality of instructions in a first order into a plurality of decoded instructions;
• processing the plurality of decoded instructions out of order of the first order;
• measuring over a bounded sampling window, a retired-instruction throughput of the first processing unit;
• measuring a dynamic power consumption of the first processing unit during the bounded sampling window;
• determining whether an instruction-throughput-per-power efficiency metric computed based on the retired-instruction throughput normalized by the measured dynamic power consumption satisfies a threshold condition;
• and
• selectively processing at least a subset of the plurality of instructions in the first processing unit in the first order while remaining within the first processing unit, in response to determining that the instruction-throughput-per-power efficiency metric satisfies the threshold condition.

A processor-based system for dynamically reconfiguring out-of-order processing circuits in a first processing unit, comprising:

• means for decoding a plurality of instructions in a first order into a plurality of decoded instructions;
• means for processing the plurality of decoded instructions out of order of the first order;
• means for measuring over a bounded sampling window, a retired-instruction throughput of the first processing unit;
• means for measuring a dynamic power consumption of the first processing unit during the bounded sampling window;
• means for determining whether an instruction-throughput-per-power efficiency metric, computed based on the retired-instruction throughput normalized by the measured dynamic power consumption, satisfies a threshold condition;
• and
• means for selectively processing at least a subset of the plurality of instructions in the first processing unit in the first order while remaining within the first processing unit, in response to determining that the instruction-throughput-per-power efficiency metric satisfies the threshold condition.