In general, no, because branch predictors often ignore or override hints like this. It's hard to say without knowing this architecture specifically, of course.

In general, no, because branch predictors often ignore or override hints like this. It's hard to say without knowing this architecture specifically, of course. Keep in mind that it's possible for a branch predictor to predict with "high confidence" a branch it's never seen before, because many branches may overlap into the same memory region of the predictor. The article touches on this.