Least critical used replacement with critical cache

An article comprising:

• a storage medium, said storage medium having stored thereon instructions, that, when executed by a computing device, result in:
• receiving a data request;
• receiving an instance score for the data request;
• determining if the data request can be satisfied by the cache, the cache including a cache line, the cache line including an assigned critical score;
• and
• using the instance score for the data request to update the critical score for the cache line if the data request resulted in a cache miss or a cache hit.

An apparatus comprising:

• a computer including a processor and a memory;
• a load classifier to identify critical load instructions and assign an instance score to a data request;
• a cache including a plurality of cache lines, each cache line including an associated critical score;
• and
• a critical score updater to update the critical scores associated with the cache lines in the cache in response to a data request.

An apparatus comprising:

• a computer including a processor and a memory, the memory including a plurality of cache lines, each cache line including at least one memory address;
• a critical load ordering unit to identify critical load instructions executed by the processor;
• and
• a cache to satisfy data requests from the processor.