In accordance with one aspect, a method and system for determining the effectiveness of operation of a branch unit in a processing system, {HEAD ~ the processing system} including {TAIL ~ at least one performance} monitor counter and at least one monitor mode control register to configure the operations of the at least one PMC, includes accumulating count data during branch unit operation with the at least one PMC during a predetermined sampling period, and determining branch prediction effectiveness based on the accumulated count data 
including
In accordance with one aspect , a method and system for determining the effectiveness of operation of a branch unit in a processing system , { HEAD ~ the processing system } including { TAIL ~ at least one performance } monitor counter and at least one monitor mode control register to configure the operations of the at least one PMC , includes accumulating count data during branch unit operation with the at least one PMC during a predetermined sampling period , and determining branch prediction effectiveness based on the accumulated count data
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