Differences between NEON in Cortex-A8 and A9


        vld3.8      {d0-d2}, [r1]!   @ cycles 0-3, result in N2 of last cycle

        vmull.u8    q3, d0, d5       @ cycle 4 (can't dual issue due to previous result in N2)
        vmlal.u8    q3, d1, d4       @ cycle 5
        vmlal.u8    q3, d2, d3       @ cycle 6, result in N6

        vshrn.u16   d6, q3, #8       @ cycle 12 (value needed in N1, 5 cycle stall), result in N3
        vst1.8      {d6}, [r0]!      @ cycle 15 (value needed in N1, 2 cycle stall)

        subs        r2, r2, #1       @ overlaps w/NEON
        bne             .loop        @ overlaps w/NEON


So 16 cycles like predicted. Note that you'd get a lot better performance if you unrolled this loop to fill up the latency after the last multiply and shift. Doing it 4 times should be sufficient.

• In the vshrn.u16 instruction you said 5-sycle stall, which I agree on, however you counted 6 cycles. Same extra cycle is counted in the vst1.8 instruction which is supposed to stall for 2 cycle, yet stalls for 3. If this is correct than you analysis should have shown 14 cycles, not 16.
• Now, don't the vmlal.u8 instructions require q3 as source in N3 which would stall their execution by 3 cycles each?
• This is just an observation about the reasoning, but the fact that the vmull.u8 instruction is at cycle 4 has nothing to do with waiting for the result of the load instruction. The load instruction just takes 4 cycles to issue.