System and method for out-of-order prefetch instructions in an in-order pipeline

A system, comprising:

• one or more processing units, comprising,
• a first type of in-order pipeline to receive at least one data prefetch instruction;
• at least one of a second type of in-order pipeline having issues slots to receive a plurality of instructions;
• and
• a data prefetch queue to receive the at least one data prefetch instruction and to issue the at least one data prefetch instruction to at least one of the second type of in-order pipeline upon at least one execution slot of the at least one of the second type of in-order pipeline being available or if desirable to preempt another instruction.

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

• determining whether to issue a data prefetch instruction to a first in-order pipeline or to a second in-order pipeline based on availability of one or more issue slots of the second in-order pipeline;
• receiving the data prefetch instruction with the first in-order pipeline based on one or more factors;
• issuing the data prefetch instruction to a data prefetch queue;
• and
• issuing the data prefetch instruction to the second in-order pipeline upon at least one execution slot of the second in-order pipeline being available.

A machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether to issue a data prefetch instruction to a first in-order pipeline or to a second in-order pipeline based on availability of one or more issue slots of the second in-order pipeline;
• receiving the data prefetch instruction with the first in-order pipeline based on one or more factors;
• issuing the data prefetch instruction to a data prefetch queue;
• and
• issuing the data prefetch instruction to the second in-order pipeline upon at least one execution slot of the second in-order pipeline being available.