Advanced Computer Architecture-June/July2014-VTU-Question Paper

1a) Define computer architecture. List and explain four important technologies, which lead to improvements in computer systems. 10M

b) Find the number of dies per 300 mm wafer for a die that is 1.5 cm on a side. 2M

c) Define Amdahls law. Derive an expression for CPU clock as a function of instruction count, clock per instruction and clock cycle time.-8M

2 a) List three major hurdles of pipelining. Explain the concept of minimizing data hazards stalls by forwarding. -10M

b) Briefly explain how the MIPS instructions can be implemented in at most five clock cycles. -5M

c) List and explain five different ways of classifying exceptions in a computer system.-5M

3a) What is instruction level parallelism? Explain control dependence using code fragment.-8M

3b) Explain the states in 2-bit prediction scheme used for dynamic branch prediction. -6M

3c) With a neat diagram, explain the basic structure of a MIPS floating point unit using Tomasulo's algorithm.-6M

4a) With a neat diagram, explain the four steps involved in executing instructions using hardware based speculation.-10M

b) What is branch target buffer? With a neat diagram, explain the steps when using branch target buffer for a simple five stage pipeline.-10M

5 a) To achieve a speedup of 80 with 100 processors what fraction of the original computation can be sequential?-4M

b) Explain the two cache coherence protocols used for enforcing coherence.-6M

c) Explain directory based cache coherence for a distributed memory multiprocessor system along with the state transition diagram.-10M

6 a) List and explain any four basic cache optimization techniques.-10M

b) With a neat diagram explain the translation buffer of fast address translation.-10M

7 a) List any five advanced optimizations of chache performance and explain briefly the compiler optimization to reduce miss rate.-10M

b) Explain briefly how memory protection is enforced via virtual memory and via virtual machines.-10M

8 a) Explain the architecture of IA64 intel processor and also the prediction and speculation support provided.-10M

b) Write short notes on benchmarks.-5M

c) Explain the internal organization of 64M bit RAM.-5M

Accuracy of the above question paper is not guaranteed.
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