Verification, Performance & Bring-up

Section goal

Verification strategy, observability counters, thermal stress tests, and first-silicon bring-up for GPU products.

How to study this section

1. Start with each topic hub and sketch the SIMT-to-silicon mechanism.

2. Use reports and debug pages to prove bottlenecks with evidence.

3. Practice worked examples and interview drills for design-review fluency.

4. Close with checklist and silicon impact before signoff claims.

Topics

1. gpu-verification-strategy/ - GPU Verification Strategy

2. performance-counters-debug/ - Performance Counters & Debug

3. power-virus-thermal-test/ - Power Virus & Thermal Test

4. silicon-bringup-gpu/ - Silicon Bring-up for GPU

Related topics

• GPU Design course hub

GPU deep dive

Performance claims need verification-grade reproducibility, not one-off profiler screenshots.

Concept diagram

PERF VERIFICATION LOOP

benchmark -> profile -> optimize -> verify correctness -> regress

Metric graph

RELEASE READINESS

benchmarks stable     █████████
accuracy gates pass   ████████
perf regressions open ███

Reports and artifacts

• golden benchmark suite

• deterministic replay log

• perf regression dashboard

• accuracy/perf gate status

Mini case study

A kernel passed microbenchmarks but failed production SLA due to host-device sync overhead hidden from isolated tests.

Debug branches

• Enforce end-to-end benchmarks alongside kernels

• Pair every speedup with accuracy diff checks

• Promote only reproducible profiler baselines

Senior review question

Ask: which metric and benchmark pairing proves this topic is truly closed in production context?