Reply To: Prediction

Turning the question of branch prediction on its head. Would it be possible to have a CPU that does not need any branch prediction?
For example, the EBB has a single entry with multiple exit branches.
What about if one included in the EBB the first few instructions after each branch.
So, if a branch was taken, the CPU would already have the post branch instructions to execute before it needed the next EBB.
So, say we added 5 instructions after each branch to the EBB. While executing those 5 instructions, one could retrieve the next EBB. Once the next is retrieved, we could start offset by 5 instructions into the new EBB.
Ok, so there is a little duplication for those 5 instructions, but could one drop the whole need for prediction as a result?
Note “5 instructions” is arbitrary. Probably best to match the pipeline size or something like that.
This sort of approach is really only possible for a CPU that knows about the concept of a EBB, instead of individual instructions.