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.
View all units question bank(ACA from july2010 upto july2012).... here.
