VALLIAMMAI ENGINEERING COLLEGE Department of Information TechnologyCS6303 COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE Question BankYear :II year (2014-15) ODD SEMESTERUNIT-1 OVERVIEW AND INSTRUCTIONSPART- AWhat are the eight great ideas in computer architecture?What are the five classic components of a computer?What is the function of data path and control path?What is instruction set Architecture?

An instruction set, or instruction set architecture (ISA), is the part of thecomputerarchitecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes,memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and externalI/O.Define application binary interface

In computer software, anapplication binary interface(ABI) is theinterfacebetween two program modules, one of which is often a library or operating system, at the level of machine code.

Differentiate DRAM and SRAM.

DRAMSRAMDRAM is dynamicSRAM is staticDRAM makes use of capacitors to store bits in the form of charge.SRAM essentially uses latches to store charge.

It is slowerIt is FasterLess expensive per bitMore expensive per bitPower consumption is morePower consumption is LessMore memory per chipLess memory per chip

Compare Volatile and nonvolatile memory.

VOLATILE MEMORYNON VOLATILE MEMORYMemory units that loose the stored information when power is turned off are said to be volatile.Memory units that retain the stored information even when the power is turned off are said to be non-volatile.Many semiconductor memories are volatile.Magnetic memories and some semiconductor memories are non-volatile.RAMis an example of volatile memory.ROMis an example of non-volatile memory.Volatile memory is very fast in data processingslow in speed.

List the advantages of Network Computer.

Increased Communication CapabilitiesAvoid File Duplication and CorruptionAll computers in the network can share resources such as printers, fax machines, modems, and scanners.Networks offer a quick and easy way to share files directly.

Define VLSI

Very-large-scale integration(VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip.VLSIbegan in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed.Differentiate Throughput and Response Time

THROUGHPUTRESPONSE TIMEThroughput measures quantity of queries completed during a time intervalResponse Time measures the average duration of queriesThroughput measures is the number of queries executed in an hourResponse Time is the elapsed time per queryThroughput is a measure of the amount of work processedResponse Time is a measure of process completion

Write the CPU performance equation.

T=N*S/RT=processor time N=no of instructions S=no of steps R=clock rateIf computer A runs a program in 10 seconds, and computer B runs the same program in 15 seconds, how much faster is A over B.

PerformanceA/PerformanceB=nPerformance ratio: 15/10 = 1.5A is 1.5 times faster than BWhat are the basic components of performance?Write the formula for CPU execution time for a programWrite the formula for CPU clock cycles required for a program.How will you measure the dynamic power dissipation?Define - Stored Program Concepts

Stored program concept is one in which first the program and data are stored in the main memory and then the processor fetches instructions and executes them, one after another. What are the fields in an MIPS instruction?Write an example for immediate operand

Animmediate operandis aconstant valueor the result of aconstant expression.[Eg] mov cx, 20 ; Load constant to register add var, 1Fh ; Add hex constant to variable sub bx, 25 * 80 ; Subtract constant expression

Write operations to perform sum of four variables b,c,d,e and store the result in a.List the advantages of multiprocessor over uniprocessor.

A uniprocessor system has a single computer processor, while multiprocessor systems have two or more.For uniprocessors, memory is consistent. For multiprocessors multiprocessor performance, memory consistency is relaxed.What are the different types of operands? Give examplesList the different addressing modes

Addressing modesExample InstructionMeaningWhen usedRegisterAdd R4,R3R4