Since the complexity of embedded applications is continuously increasing, system designers are faced to a more and more difficult task of selecting and interconnecting the right system components to implement a system functionality such that time and design constraints are satisfied. The lack of methods and tools able to explore various system solutions contributes to increase the time to market. In this paper we present an efficient algorithm for a semi-automatic system design space exploration to aid the designers in the determination of the specifications of a cost-efficient system architecture that satisfies the performance and design constraints.