How to speed up my sparse matrix solver?

Question

I\'m writing a sparse matrix solver using the Gauss-Seidel method. By profiling, I\'ve determined that about half of my program\'s time is spent inside the solver. The perfo

Answer 1

I suggest putting in some prefetch statements and also researching "data oriented design":

void step_original() {
    size_t ic = d_ny + 1, iw = d_ny, ie = d_ny + 2, is = 1, in = 2 * d_ny + 1;
    float dw_ic, dx_ic, db_ic, de_ic, dn_ic, ds_ic;
    float dx_iw, dx_is, dx_ie, dx_in, de_ic, db_ic;
    for (size_t y = 1; y < d_ny - 1; ++y) {
        for (size_t x = 1; x < d_nx - 1; ++x) {
// Perform the prefetch
// Sorting these statements by array may increase speed;
//    although sorting by index name may increase speed too.
            db_ic = d_b[ic];
            dw_ic = d_w[ic];
            dx_iw = d_x[iw];
            de_ic = d_e[ic];
            dx_ie = d_x[ie];
            ds_ic = d_s[ic];
            dx_is = d_x[is];
            dn_ic = d_n[ic];
            dx_in = d_x[in];
// Calculate
            d_x[ic] = db_ic
                - dw_ic * dx_iw - de_ic * dx_ie
                - ds_ic * dx_is - dn_ic * dx_in;
            ++ic; ++iw; ++ie; ++is; ++in;
        }
        ic += 2; iw += 2; ie += 2; is += 2; in += 2;
    }
}

This differs from your second method since the values are copied to local temporary variables before the calculation is performed.