Hardware-based tick counters for high-precision benchmarks

• x86_64: executes RDTSC CPU instruction to read the time-stamp counter.
• AArch64: reads value of the CNTVCT_EL0 counter-timer register.

The brief description: https://sheroz.com/pages/blog/rust-tick-counter.html

Tested on platforms

x86_64 (Intel® Core™ i7)
AArch64 (Apple M1 Pro)

Usage

For usage samples please look at src/bin/sample.rs

Basic usage

let start = tick_counter::start();
// ... lines of code to benchmark
let elapsed_ticks = tick_counter::stop() - start;
println!("Number of elapsed ticks: {}", elapsed_ticks);

Basic usage with helper

use tick_counter::TickCounter;
 
let tick_counter = TickCounter::current();
// ... lines of code to benchmark
let elapsed_ticks = tick_counter.elapsed();
println!("Number of elapsed ticks: {}", elapsed_ticks);

Extended usage

println!("Environment: {}/{} {}", consts::OS, consts::FAMILY, consts::ARCH);

let (counter_frequency, accuracy) = tick_counter::frequency();
let frequency_base = match accuracy {
    tick_counter::TickCounterFrequencyBase::Hardware => "hardware provided".to_string(),
    tick_counter::TickCounterFrequencyBase::Measured(duration) => format!("software estimated in {:?}", duration)
};
println!("Tick frequency, MHZ: {:.2} ({})", counter_frequency as f64 / 1e6_f64, frequency_base);

let counter_accuracy = tick_counter::precision_nanoseconds(counter_frequency);
println!("Tick accuracy, nanoseconds: {:.2}", counter_accuracy);

let counter_start = tick_counter::start();
thread::sleep(time::Duration::from_secs(1));
let counter_stop = tick_counter::stop();

println!("Tick counter start: {}", counter_start);
println!("Tick counter stop: {}", counter_stop);

let elapsed_ticks = counter_stop - counter_start;
println!("Elapsed ticks count in 1 seconds: {}", elapsed_ticks);

let elapsed_nanoseconds = (elapsed_ticks as f64) * counter_accuracy;
println!("Elapsed nanoseconds according to elapsed ticks: {:.2}", elapsed_nanoseconds);

Outputs

1. Macbook Pro 16 2021 / Apple Silicon

Apple M1 Pro
MacOS Ventura 13.5.1, Darwin Kernel Version 22.6.0

Output

Basic usage:
Number of elapsed ticks in 1s: 24120997

Basic usage with helper:
Number of elapsed ticks in 1s: 24122097

Extended usage:
Environment: macos/unix aarch64
Tick frequency, MHZ: 24.00 (hardware provided)
Tick accuracy, nanoseconds: 41.67
Tick counter start: 103684134140
Tick counter stop: 103708255194
Elapsed ticks count in 1 seconds: 24121054
Elapsed nanoseconds according to elapsed ticks: 1005043916.67

Comparing the measurement methods using 100 samples:
Elapsed time in nanoseconds, using std::time::Instant
  Mean = 60.34
  Min  = 41.00
  Max  = 167.00
  Standard deviation = 23.92 (39.64 %)
Elapsed time in nanoseconds, using tick_counter
  Mean = 42.41
  Min  = 42.00
  Max  = 83.00
  Standard deviation = 4.08 (9.62 %)

2. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / Intel® Core™ i7

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Linux 6.2.0-31-generic #31~22.04.1-Ubuntu

Output

Basic usage:
Number of elapsed ticks in 1s: 3430864159

Basic usage with helper:
Number of elapsed ticks in 1s: 3430866807

Extended usage:
Environment: linux/unix x86_64
Tick frequency, MHZ: 3430.87 (software estimated in 1s)
Tick accuracy, nanoseconds: 0.29
Tick counter start: 14959335168548
Tick counter stop: 14962766085156
Elapsed ticks count in 1 seconds: 3430916608
Elapsed nanoseconds according to elapsed ticks: 1000013467.72

Comparing results, using 100 samples:
Elapsed time in nanoseconds, using std::time::Instant
  Mean = 46.35
  Min  = 42.00
  Max  = 262.00
  Standard deviation = 21.70 (46.82 %)
Elapsed time in nanoseconds, using tick_counter
  Mean = 17.40
  Min  = 15.00
  Max  = 18.00
  Standard deviation = 0.95 (5.45 %)

Disclaimer

This project was created for research purposes and is not intended for use in production systems.