Computer Architecture - Week 1
Terms
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- What is computer architecture? (3 things)
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1. instruction-set architecture (hw/sw interface)
2. high-level organization
3. detailed hardware implementation (microarchitecture) - What is the role of the computer architect?
- To design the various levels of a computer system to maximize performance & programmability within the limits of technology and cost.
- What 4 things must a computer architect be aware of?
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1. measures of cost & performance
2. application characteristics & benchmarks
3. importance of memory hierarchies
4. high-performance design methods - What is CMOS VLSI?
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CMOS = Complimentary-Symmetry /metal-oxide semiconductor. A major class of integrated circuits. Microprocessor, Micro controller...
VLSI = Very Large-Scale Integration. Creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistor-based circuits into a single chip. - What is Moore's Law?
- Complexity of integrated circuits, w/ respect to minimum component cost, doubles every 24 months.
- What are 2 techniques for using more transistors?
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1. parallelism in processing
2. locality in data access - What are approaches to solving the problem of larger memories being slower while processors are faster?
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1. transfer more data in parallel
2. deeper cache hierarchies - What is execution time?
- It is wall-clock or elapsed time.
- Why is there CPU time in addition to execution time?
- Because multiprogrammed operating systems run other programs which could slow down the execution time of a program.
- What two categories can CPU time be divided into?
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1. user time
2. system time - What does SPEC stand for?
- Standard Performance Evaluation Consortium