The march toward developing relevant and robust CPU benchmarks continues with the introduction of SPEC CPU 2026, the next generation suite for measuring processor performance. This paper details the methodology behind its creation, showcasing a process centered on community collaboration and principled development. The suite is built upon a foundation of modern, open-source applications, selected and hardened through a process that emphasizes workload diversity, portability, and software longevity. A key contribution is Rolling-Round-Robin Rate, a novel and standardized approach to running heterogeneous, multiprogrammed workloads that addresses a long-standing gap in benchmarking practice. Additionally, the suite features an expanded set of multithreaded benchmarks and introduces workloads with distinct microarchitectural profiles, reflecting the demands of contemporary software. By detailing our principled approach to benchmark selection, adaptation, and validation, we demonstrate how the SPEC CPU 2026 suite sets the standard for performance evaluation in the next era of computer architecture research and development.

The computer-aided design tools created to accelerate the design of the i486 CPU are described. Emphasis is on the logic synthesis, layout synthesis, and timing verification programs. The impact of the state-of-the-art tools on the project schedule is described, and the built-in self-test features on the processor are detailed. The type of advanced tools that will be required to design and test future processors, which will be more complex, is considered.>