[SOLVED] ECE 331 - HW1

Description

Regarding the 6 classes of computers:

• Please provide one example computer for each class.
• Please discuss what additional features we care about in each class of computers, in addition to fast speed. (Hint: the additional features may include energy efficiency, cost, form factor, etc.).
• Please discuss an additional class of computers you can think of and why you think they are “computers”; alternatively, you can discuss a specific computer example, which belongs to 1 of the 6 classes but was not discussed in the lecture, and explain why you think it belongs to that class.

2. [25 points] Please answer the following questions regarding the 5-component generic computer architecture:

• What are the 5 components and their relationship?
• The textbook provided an example of disassembled smartphone. Can you please describe what parts of the smartphone are corresponding to the 5 components?
• In addition to the smartphone, can you please describe the 5 components for another class of computer? In that case, which of the 5 components are dramatically different from the smartphone and why?

3. [25 points] Suppose you have two processors that have the following parameters for frequency and CPI.

(1) If you are asked to execute a program with the following instruction mix, which processor would be faster? Please justify your answer quantitatively.

• ALU Instructions: 40%
• Branch Instructions: 20%
• Memory Load Instructions: 40%

(2) Suppose you can double the performance of branch instructions by using a dynamic branch prediction scheme for both processors. How much faster is each processor when executing the above program?

4. [25 points] Regarding the “7 great ideas in computer architecture”, please note that the 1^st edition of the textbook actually had the 8^th great idea listed as “Designing for Moore’s Law”.

• What is Moore’s law?
• Please comment on why the 2^nd edition of the textbook removed this 8^th great idea.
• What impacts does this new situation of Moore’s Law pose on the advancements of memory and processor, and what might be the possible solutions?