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Asked: 2026-05-15T01:12:18+00:00

Sometimes I encounter code that reads TSC with rdtsc instruction, but calls cpuid right

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Sometimes I encounter code that reads TSC with rdtsc instruction, but calls cpuid right before.

Why is calling cpuid necessary? I realize it may have something to do with different cores having TSC values, but what exactly happens when you call those two instructions in sequence?

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  1. Editorial Team

    It’s to prevent out-of-order execution. From a link that has now disappeared from the web (but which was fortuitously copied here before it disappeared), this text is from an article entitled "Performance monitoring" by one John Eckerdal:

    The Pentium Pro and Pentium II processors support out-of-order execution instructions may be executed in another order as you programmed them. This can be a source of errors if not taken care of.

    To prevent this the programmer must serialize the the instruction queue. This can be done by inserting a serializing instruction like CPUID instruction before the RDTSC instruction.

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