Is it realistic to expect full Spectre fix in branch predictors of future CPUs?
Die space is abundant. The L1 cache is(/used to be) located on the same die with the CPU, and it takes up a lot of space. So I think the 20X could be afforded for the branch predictor expansion. (The L2 in my day, now L2+L3, was on a separate die attached via the backside bus.) But I believe it is still the case that they could trade off a little L1 for a large expansion of branch prediction and the die size stays the same. This doesn't even count the space for the ROB and functional units attached to the registration station. I think it could be done. – jonk Jan 5 at 16:48