https://jasper-aa64.github.io/tags/pipeline/Recent content in Pipeline on JasperHugoen-usFri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://jasper-aa64.github.io/posts/branch-prediction-branch-optimization/Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://jasper-aa64.github.io/posts/branch-prediction-branch-optimization/The front end has to fetch instructions every cycle, but a branch isn’t resolved until a dozen-plus cycles later, so the CPU guesses. A right guess costs almost nothing; a wrong one throws away everything after it, about 15–20 cycles. The same if is predictable when the data has a pattern and a coin flip when it’s random, and the compiler may already have turned it into a cmov.