diff --git a/src/BenchmarkTools.jl b/src/BenchmarkTools.jl
index c373d3b0..4539dce0 100644
--- a/src/BenchmarkTools.jl
+++ b/src/BenchmarkTools.jl
@@ -49,6 +49,14 @@ export BenchmarkGroup,
        addgroup!,
        leaves
 
+##########################
+# Low-level benchmarking #
+##########################
+
+include("lowlevel.jl")
+export clobber,
+       escape
+
 ######################
 # Execution Strategy #
 ######################
diff --git a/src/lowlevel.jl b/src/lowlevel.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6c4858fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lowlevel.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+##########################
+# Low-level benchmarking #
+##########################
+import Base: llvmcall
+
+"""
+    clobber()
+
+Force the compiler to flush pending writes to global memory.
+Acts as an effective read/write barrier.
+"""
+@inline function clobber()
+    llvmcall("""
+        call void asm sideeffect "", "~{memory}"()
+        ret void
+    """, Void, Tuple{})
+end
+
+"""
+    _llvmname(type::Type)
+
+Produce the string name of the llvm equivalent of our Julia code.
+Oh my. The preferable way would be to use LLVM.jl to do this for us.
+"""
+function _llvmname(typ::Type)
+    isboxed_ref = Ref{Bool}()
+    llvmtyp = ccall(:julia_type_to_llvm, Ptr{Void},
+                    (Any, Ptr{Bool}), typ, isboxed_ref)
+    name = unsafe_string(
+        ccall(:LLVMPrintTypeToString, Cstring, (Ptr{Void},), llvmtyp))
+    return (isboxed_ref[], name)
+end
+
+"""
+    escape(val)
+
+The `escape` function can be used to prevent a value or
+expression from being optimized away by the compiler. This function is
+intended to add little to no overhead.
+See: https://youtu.be/nXaxk27zwlk?t=2441
+"""
+@generated function escape(val::T) where T
+    # If the value is `nothing` then a memory clobber
+    # should have the same effect.
+    if T == Void
+        return :(clobber())
+    end
+    # We need to get the string representation of the LLVM type to be able to issue a
+    # fake call.
+    isboxed, name = _llvmname(T)
+    if isboxed
+        # name will be `jl_value_t*` which we can't use since string based llvmcall can't handle named structs...
+        # Ideally we would issue a `bitcast jl_value_t* %0 to i8*`
+        Base.warn_once("Trying to escape a boxed value. Don't know how to handle that.")
+    else
+        ir = """
+            call void asm sideeffect "", "X,~{memory}"($name %0)
+            ret void
+        """
+        quote
+            llvmcall($ir, Void, Tuple{T}, val)
+        end
+    end
+end
+
+################
+# Count cycles #
+################
+
+# Only implemented on x86_64 and needs cpuflags:
+# rdtscp, tsc, nonstop_tsc, tsc_known_freq, constant_tsc
+# See https://github.com/dterei/gotsc for a good discussion.
+
+"""
+    bench_start()
+
+Issues the instructions `cpuid,rdtsc` to get a precise cycle counter at the beginning of a code segment.
+"""
+@inline function bench_start()
+    llvmcall("""
+        %a = call {i32, i32} asm sideeffect "CPUID\nRDTSC\nMOV %edx, \$0\nMOV %eax, \$1", "=r,=r,~{rax},~{rbx},~{rcx},~{rdx}"()
+        %a.0 = extractvalue { i32, i32 } %a, 0
+        %a.1 = extractvalue { i32, i32 } %a, 1
+        %b0 = insertvalue [2 x i32] undef, i32 %a.0, 0
+        %b  = insertvalue [2 x i32] %b0  , i32 %a.1, 1
+        ret [2 x i32] %b
+    """, Tuple{UInt32, UInt32}, Tuple{})
+end
+
+"""
+    bench_end()
+
+Issues the instructions `rdtscp,cpuid` to get a precise cycle counter at the end of a code segment.
+"""
+@inline function bench_end()
+    llvmcall("""
+        %a = call {i32, i32} asm sideeffect "RDTSCP\nMOV %edx, \$0\nMOV %eax, \$1\nCPUID", "=r,=r,~{rax},~{rbx},~{rcx},~{rdx}"()
+        %a.0 = extractvalue { i32, i32 } %a, 0
+        %a.1 = extractvalue { i32, i32 } %a, 1
+        %b0 = insertvalue [2 x i32] undef, i32 %a.0, 0
+        %b  = insertvalue [2 x i32] %b0  , i32 %a.1, 1
+        ret [2 x i32] %b
+    """, Tuple{UInt32, UInt32}, Tuple{})
+end
+
+function cyc_convert(c::Tuple{UInt32, UInt32})
+    a, b = c
+    ((a % UInt64) << 32) | b
+end
+
+macro elapsed_cyc(ex)
+    quote
+        local c0 = bench_start()
+        escape($(esc(ex)))
+        local c1 = bench_end()
+        cyc_convert(c1)-cyc_convert(c0)
+    end
+end
+
+##########
+# Timers #
+##########
+struct TimeSpec
+    tv_sec  :: UInt64 # time_t
+    tv_nsec :: UInt64
+end
+maketime(ts) = ts.tv_sec + ts.tv_nsec * 1e-9
+
+const CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID = Cint(2)
+const CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID  = Cint(3)
+
+@inline function clock_gettime(cid)
+    ts = Ref{TimeSpec}()
+    ccall(:clock_gettime, Cint, (Cint, Ref{TimeSpec}), cid, ts)
+    return ts[]
+end
+
+"""
+    getProcessTime()
+
+Per-process  CPU-time  clock  (measures CPU time consumed by all
+threads in the process).
+"""
+@inline function getProcessTime()
+    maketime(clock_gettime(CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME_ID))
+end
+
+"""
+    getThreadTime()
+
+Thread-specific CPU-time clock.
+"""
+@inline function getThreadTime()
+    maketime(clock_gettime(CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID))
+end