Contents : Multiprocessors: Characteristics of Multiprocessor, Structure of Multiprocessor-

Interprocessor Arbitration, Inter-Processor Communication and Synchronization. Memory

in Multiprocessor System, Concept of Pipelining, Vector Processing, Array Processing,
RISC And CISC, Study of Multicore Processor –Intel, AMD.

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Multiprocessor Systems
Most computer systems are single processor systems i.e they only have one processor.
However, multiprocessor or parallel systems are increasing in importance nowadays.
These systems have multiple processors working in parallel that share the computer
clock, memory, bus, peripheral devices etc. An image demonstrating the multiprocessor
architecture is:

Types of Multiprocessors
There are mainly two types of multiprocessors i.e. symmetric and asymmetric
multiprocessors. Details about them are as follows:

Symmetric Multiprocessors
In these types of systems, each processor contains a similar copy of the operating system
and they all communicate with each other. All the processors are in a peer to peer
relationship i.e. no master - slave relationship exists between them.
An example of the symmetric multiprocessing system is the Encore version of Unix for
the Multimax Computer.
Asymmetric Multiprocessors
In asymmetric systems, each processor is given a predefined task. There is a master
processor that gives instruction to all the other processors. Asymmetric multiprocessor
system contains a master slave relationship.
Asymmetric multiprocessor was the only type of multiprocessor available before
symmetric multiprocessors were created. Now also, this is the cheaper option.
Advantages of Multiprocessor Systems
There are multiple advantages to multiprocessor systems. Some of these are:

More reliable Systems

In a multiprocessor system, even if one processor fails, the system will not halt. This
ability to continue working despite hardware failure is known as graceful degradation.
For example: If there are 5 processors in a multiprocessor system and one of them fails,
then also 4 processors are still working. So the system only becomes slower and does not
ground to a halt.
Enhanced Throughput
If multiple processors are working in tandem, then the throughput of the system increases
i.e. number of processes getting executed per unit of time increase. If there are N
processors then the throughput increases by an amount just under N.
More Economic Systems
Multiprocessor systems are cheaper than single processor systems in the long run because
they share the data storage, peripheral devices, power supplies etc. If there are multiple
processes that share data, it is better to schedule them on multiprocessor systems with
shared data than have different computer systems with multiple copies of the data.

Disadvantages of Multiprocessor Systems

There are some disadvantages as well to multiprocessor systems. Some of these are:

Increased Expense
Even though multiprocessor systems are cheaper in the long run than using multiple
computer systems, still they are quite expensive. It is much cheaper to buy a simple
single processor system than a multiprocessor system.

Complicated Operating System Required

There are multiple processors in a multiprocessor system that share peripherals, memory
etc. So, it is much more complicated to schedule processes and impart resources to
processes.than in single processor systems. Hence, a more complex and complicated
operating system is required in multiprocessor systems.
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Large Main Memory Required
All the processors in the multiprocessor system share the memory. So a much larger pool
of memory is required as compared to single processor systems.
Characteristics of multiprocessors
1. A multiprocessor system is an interconnection of two or more CPUs with memory
and input-output equipment.
2. The term “processor” in multiprocessor can mean either a central processing unit
(CPU) or an input-output processor (IOP).
3. Multiprocessors are classified as multiple instruction stream, multiple data stream
(MIMD) systems
4. The similarity and distinction between multiprocessor and multicomputer are ``
 Similarity
 Both support concurrent operations
 Distinction
 The network consists of several autonomous computers that
may or may not communicate with each other.
 A multiprocessor system is controlled by one operating
system that provides interaction between processors and all
the components of the system cooperate in the solution of a
problem.
5. Multiprocessing improves the reliability of the system.
6. The benefit derived from a multiprocessor organization is an improved system
performance.
 Multiple independent jobs can be made to operate in parallel.
 A single job can be partitioned into multiple parallel tasks.
7. Multiprocessing can improve performance by decomposing a program into
parallel executable tasks.
o The user can explicitly declare that certain tasks of the program be executed
in parallel.
 This must be done prior to loading the program by specifying the
parallel executable segments.
o The other is to provide a compiler with multiprocessor software that can
automatically detect parallelism in a user’s program.
8. Multiprocessor are classified by the way their memory is organized.
o A multiprocessor system with common shared memory is classified as a
shared-memory or tightly coupled multiprocessor.
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 Tolerate a higher degree of interaction between tasks.
o Each processor element with its own private local memory is classified as a
distributed-memory or loosely coupled system.
 Are most efficient when the interaction between tasks is minimal

Interconnection Structures
1. The components that form a multiprocessor system are CPUs, IOPs connected
to input-output devices, and a memory unit.
2. The interconnection between the components can have different physical
configurations, depending on the number of transfer paths that are available
o Between the processors and memory in a shared memory system
o Among the processing elements in a loosely coupled system
3. There are several physical forms available for establishing an interconnection
network.
o Time-shared common bus
o Multiport memory
o Crossbar switch
o Multistage switching network
o Hypercube system

Time Shared Common Bus

1. A common-bus multiprocessor system consists of a number of
processors connected through a common path to a memory unit.
2. Disadv.:
o Only one processor can communicate with the memory or another
processor at any given time.
o As a consequence, the total overall transfer rate within the system is
limited by the speed of the single path
3. A more economical implementation of a dual bus structure is depicted in Fig.
below.
4. Part of the local memory may be designed as a cache memory attached to the
CPU.
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Fig: Time shared common bus organization

Fig: System bus structure for multiprocessorsa

Multiport Memory
1. A multiport memory system employs separate buses between each memory
module and each CPU.
2. The module must have internal control logic to determine which port will have
access to memory at any given time.
3. Memory access conflicts are resolved by assigning fixed priorities to each memory
port.
4. Adv.:
o The high transfer rate can be achieved because of the multiple paths.
5. Disadv.:
o It requires expensive memory control logic and a large number of
cables and connections

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 Fig: Multiport memory organization
Crossbar Switch
1. Consists of a number of crosspoints that are placed at intersections between
processor buses and memory module paths.
2. The small square in each crosspoint is a switch that determines the path from a
processor to a memory module.
3. Adv.:
o Supports simultaneous transfers from all memory modules
4. Disadv.:
o The hardware required to implement the switch can become quite large
and complex.
5. Below fig. shows the functional design of a crossbar switch connected to
one memory module.
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Fig: Crossbar switch

Fig: Block diagram of crossbar switch

Multistage Switching Network

1. The basic component of a multistage network is a two-input, two-output
interchange switch as shown in Fig. below.

2. Using the 2x2 switch as a building block, it is possible to build a

multistage network to control the communication between a number of
sources and destinations.

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o To see how this is done, consider the binary tree shown in Fig.

o Certain request patterns cannot be satisfied simultaneously. i.e., if P1

 000~011, then P2  100~111

3. One such topology is the omega switching network shown in Fig. below

Fig: 8 x 8 Omega Switching Network

4. Some request patterns cannot be connected simultaneously. i.e., any two sources
cannot be connected simultaneously to destination 000 and 001
5. In a tightly coupled multiprocessor system, the source is a processor and
the destination is a memory module.
6. Set up the path  transfer the address into memory  transferthe data

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7. In a loosely coupled multiprocessor system, both the source
and destination are processing elements.

Hypercube System
1. The hypercube or binary n-cube multiprocessor structure is a loosely coupled
system composed of N=2n processors interconnected in an n-dimensional binary
cube.
o Each processor forms a node of the cube, in effect it contains not only a
CPU but also local memory and I/O interface.
o Each processor address differs from that of each of its n neighbors by exactly
one bit position.
2. Fig. below shows the hypercube structure for n=1, 2, and 3.
3. Routing messages through an n-cube structure may take from one to n links from a
source node to a destination node.
o A routing procedure can be developed by computing the exclusive-OR of the
source node address with the destination node address.
o The message is then sent along any one of the axes that the resulting binary
value will have 1 bits corresponding to the axes on which the two nodes differ.
4. A representative of the hypercube architecture is the Intel iPSC computer
complex.
o It consists of 128(n=7) microcomputers, each node consists of a CPU, a
floating-point processor, local memory, and serial communication interface
units.

Fig: Hypercube structures for n=1,2,3

Inter processor Communication and Synchronization

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1. The various processors in a multiprocessor system must be provided
with a facility for communicating with each other.
o A communication path can be established through a portion of memory or
a common input-output channels.
2. The sending processor structures a request, a message, or a procedure, and places
it in the memory mailbox.
o Status bits residing in common memory
o The receiving processor can check the mailbox periodically.
o The response time of this procedure can be time consuming.
3. A more efficient procedure is for the sending processor to alert the receiving
processor directly by means of an interrupt signal.
4. In addition to shared memory, a multiprocessor system may have other
shared resources. e.g., a magnetic disk storage unit.
5. To prevent conflicting use of shared resources by several processors there must be
a provision for assigning resources to processors. i.e., operating system.
6. There are three organizations that have been used in the design of operating
system for multiprocessors: master-slave configuration, separate operating
system, and distributed operating system.
7. In a master-slave mode, one processor, master, always executes the operating
system functions.
8. In the separate operating system organization, each processor can execute the
operating system routines it needs. This organization is more suitable for
loosely coupled systems.
9. In the distributed operating system organization, the operating system routines are
distributed among the available processors. However, each particular operating
system function is assigned to only one processor at a time. It is also referred to
as a floating operating system.

Loosely Coupled System

1. There is no shared memory for passing information.
2. The communication between processors is by means of message passing through
I/O channels.
3. The communication is initiated by one processor calling a procedure that resides
in the memory of the processor with which it wishes to communicate.
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4. The communication efficiency of the interprocessor network depends
on the communication routing protocol, processor speed, data link speed, and
the topology of the network.

Interprocess Synchronization
1. The instruction set of a multiprocessor contains basic instructions that are used to
implement communication and synchronization between cooperating processes.
o Communication refers to the exchange of data between different
processes.
o Synchronization refers to the special case where the data used
to communicate between processors is control information.

2. Synchronization is needed to enforce the correct sequence of processes and to

ensure mutually exclusive access to shared writable data.
3. Multiprocessor systems usually include various mechanisms to deal with
the synchronization of resources.
o Low-level primitives are implemented directly by the hardware.
o These primitives are the basic mechanisms that enforce mutual
exclusion for more complex mechanisms implemented in software.
o A number of hardware mechanisms for mutual exclusion have been
developed.
4. A binary semaphore

Mutual Exclusion with Semaphore

1. A properly functioning multiprocessor system must provide a mechanism that
will guarantee orderly access to shared memory and other shared resources.
o Mutual exclusion: This is necessary to protect data from being changed
simultaneously by two or more processors.
o Critical section: is a program sequence that must complete
execution before another processor accesses the same shared resource.
2. A binary variable called a semaphore is often used to indicate whether or not a
processor is executing a critical section.
3. Testing and setting the semaphore is itself a critical operation and must be
performed as a single indivisible operation.
4. A semaphore can be initialized by means of a test and set instruction in
conjunction with a hardware lock mechanism.
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5. The instruction TSL SEM will be executed in two memory cycles (the
first to read and the second to write) as follows: R  M[SEM], M[SEM]  1
6. Note that the lock signal must be active during the execution of the test-and-set
instruction.

Memory in multiprocessor Systems

Data and code in a parallel program are stored in the main memory accessible for processors of
the executive system.

Regarding the way in which the main memory is used by processors in a multiprocessor system,
we divide parallel systems onto shared memory system and distributed memory systems. See
the figures below.

A multiprocessor system with shared memory (tightly coupled system)

In a shared memory system, all processors can access all the main memory address space.
Fragments of the address space are usually located in separate memory modules, which are
supplied with separate address decoders. Communication between processors (program code
fragments) is done by means of shared variables access in the main memory. It is
called communication through shared variables. Fetching instructions for execution in
processors is also done from a shared memory. The efficiency of accesing memory modules
depends on the structure and properties of the interconnection network. This network is a factor,
which limitates the memory access throughput for a larger number of processors. It sets a limit
on the number of processors in such systems, with which good efficiency of a parallel system is
achieved. Multiprocessor systems with shared memory are called tightly coupled
systems or multiprocessors. Due to symmetric access of all processors to all memory modules,
the computations in such systems are called Symmetric Multiprocessing - SMP.
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A multiprocessor system with a distributed memory (loosely coupled system)

In a distributed memory multiprocessor system, each processor has its local memory with the
address space available only for this processor. Processors can exchange data through the
interconnection network by means of communication through the message passing.

The instructions "send message" and "receive message" are used in programs for this purpose.
The communication instructions send or receive messages with the use of identifiers of special
elements (variables) are called communication channels.

The channels represent the use of connections that exist permanently (or are created in the
interconnection network) between processors. There exist processors that are specvially adapted
for sending and receiving messages by the existance of communication links. Communication
links can be serial or parallel. The number of communication links in such processors is from 4
to 6 (ex. transputer - 4 serial links, SHARC - a DSP (Data Signal Processor) from Analog
Devices - 6 parallel links). Each link is supervised by an independent processor controller that
organizes external data transmissions over the link. When a message is sent, it is fetched from
the processor main memory. A message received from a link is next sent to the main memory.
Multiprocessor systems that have distributed memory are called in the literature loosely coupled
systems. In such systems, it is possible to organize many inter-processor connections at the same
time. It provides high communication efficiency and, as a consequence, high efficiency of
parallel computations in processors (due to distribution of memory accesses), which gives rise to
calling computations in such systems the Massively Parallel Processing - MPP.

Communication by message passing in such systems can be executed according to

the synchronous or asynchronous communication model.

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In the synchronous communication model, the partner processes (programs) - the
sending and the receiving one, get synchronized on communication instructions in a given
channel. It means that the sending process can start transmitting data only if the receiving
process in another processor has reached execution of the receive instruction in the same channel
as the sending one. Since the communication is performed with the use of send and receive
instructions in both processors simultaneously, there is no need of buffering of messages, and so,
they are sent as if they were sent directly from the main memory of one processor to the memory
of the other one. All this is done under supervision of link controllers in both processors.

With the asynchronous communication model, the sending and receiving processes (programs)
do not synchronize communication execution in the involved channels. A message is sent to a
channel at any time and it is directed to the buffer for messages in a given channel in the
controller at the other side of the interconnection between the processors. The receiving process
reads the message from the buffer of the given channel at any convenient time.

The third type of multiprocessor systems are systems with the distributed shared memory
called also the virtual shared memory. In such systems, which currently show strong
development, each processor has a local main memory. However, each memory is placed in a
common address space of the entire system. It means that each processor can have access to the
local memory of any other processor. In this type of the system, communication between
processors is done by accessing sahred variables. It involves execution of a simple read or write
instruction converning the shared variables in the memory of another processor. In each
processor, a memory interface unit egzamines addresses used in current processor memory
access instructions. As a result, it directs instruction execution to the local main memory bus or it
sends the address together with the operation code to the local memory interface of another
processor. Sending the address and later the data is performed through the network that connects
all processors (their local main memory interface units).

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A multiprocessor system with the distributed shared memory

This type of the system is called in the literature the system with the Scalable Parallel Processing
- SPP, since with the increase of the number of processors in the system, used to perform a given
parallel program, the parallel program speedup in the system increases proportionally to the
increase of the number of processors. Such a property is called parallel system scalability.

Pipelining in Computer Architecture

Pipelining organizes the execution of the multiple instructions simultaneously. Pipelining
improves the throughput of the system. In pipelining the instruction is divided into the subtasks.
Each subtask performs the dedicated task.

The instruction is divided into 5 subtasks: instruction fetch, instruction decode, operand
fetch, instruction execution and operand store. The instruction fetch subtask will only perform
the instruction fetching operation, instruction decode subtask will only be decoding the fetched
instruction and so on the other subtasks will do.

In this section, we will discuss the types of pipelining, pipelining hazards, its advantage. So let us
start.

1. Introduction
2. Types of Pipelining
3. Pipelining Hazards
4. Advantages
5. Key Takeaways

Introduction

Have you ever visited an industrial plant and see the assembly lines over there? How a product
passes through the assembly line and while passing it is worked on, at different phases
simultaneously. For example, take a car manufacturing plant. At the first stage, the automobile
chassis is prepared, in the next stage workers add body to the chassis, further, the engine is
installed, then painting work is done and so on.

The group of workers after working on the chassis of the first car don’t sit idle. They start
working on the chassis of the next car. And the next group take the chassis of the car and add
body to it. The same thing is repeated at every stage, after finishing the work on the current car
body they take on next car body which is the output of the previous stage.
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Here, though the first car is completed in several hours or days, due to the assembly
line arrangement it becomes possible to have a new car at the end of an assembly line in every
clock cycle.

Similarly, the concept of pipelining works. The output of the first pipeline becomes the input for
the next pipeline. It is like a set of data processing unit connected in series to utilize processor up
to its maximum.

An instruction in a process is divided into 5 subtasks likely,

1. In the first subtask, the instruction is fetched.

2. The fetched instruction is decoded in the second stage.
3. In the third stage, the operands of the instruction are fetched.
4. In the fourth, arithmetic and logical operation are performed on the operands to execute
the instruction.
5. In the fifth stage, the result is stored in memory.

ction into subtasks. Let us understand, how the n number of instructions in a process, are pipelined.

e pipelined. The first instruction gets completed in 5 clock cycle. After the completion of first instruction, in every new clock cyc
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Observe that when the Instruction fetch operation of the first instruction is completed
in the next clock cycle the instruction fetch of second instruction gets started. This way the
hardware never sits idle it is always busy in performing some or other operation. But, no two
instructions can execute their same stage at the same clock cycle.

Types of Pipelining

In 1977 Handler and Ramamoorthy classified pipeline processors depending on their

functionality.

1. Arithmetic Pipelining

It is designed to perform high-speed floating-point addition, multiplication and division. Here,

the multiple arithmetic logic units are built in the system to perform the parallel arithmetic
computation in various data format. Examples of the arithmetic pipelined processor are Star-100,
TI-ASC, Cray-1, Cyber-205.

2. Instruction Pipelining

Here, the number of instruction are pipelined and the execution of current instruction is
overlapped by the execution of the subsequent instruction. It is also called instruction
lookahead.

3. Processor Pipelining

Here, the processors are pipelined to process the same data stream. The data stream is
processed by the first processor and the result is stored in the memory block. The result in the
memory block is accessed by the second processor. The second processor reprocesses the result
obtained by the first processor and the passes the refined result to the third processor and so on.

4. Unifunction Vs. Multifunction Pipelining

The pipeline performing the precise function every time is unifunctional pipeline. On the other
hand, the pipeline performing multiple functions at a different time or multiple functions at the
same time is multifunction pipeline.

5. Static vs Dynamic Pipelining

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The static pipeline performs a fixed-function each time. The static pipeline is
unifunctional. The static pipeline executes the same type of instructions continuously. Frequent
change in the type of instruction may vary the performance of the pipelining.

Dynamic pipeline performs several functions simultaneously. It is a multifunction pipelining.

calar vs Vector Pipelining

ar pipelining processes the instructions with scalar operands. The vector pipeline processes the instruction with vector opera

pelining Hazards

henever a pipeline has to stall due to some reason it is called pipeline hazards. Below we have discussed four pipelining hazar

Data Dependency

nsider the following two instructions and their pipeline execution:

In the figure above, you can see that result of the Add instruction is stored in the register R2 and
we know that the final result is stored at the end of the execution of the instruction which will
happen at the clock cycle t4.

But the Sub instruction need the value of the register R2 at the cycle t3. So the Sub instruction
has to stall two clock cycles. If it doesn’t stall it will generate an incorrect result. Thus
depending of one instruction on other instruction for data is data dependency.
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2. Memory Delay

When an instruction or data is required, it is first searched in the cache memory if not found then
it is a cache miss. The data is further searched in the memory which may take ten or more
cycles. So, for that number of cycle the pipeline has to stall and this is a memory delay hazard.
The cache miss, also results in the delay of all the subsequent instructions.

3. Branch Delay

branch instruction and its target instruction is Ik. Now, processing starts and instruction I1 is fetched, decoded and the target a

ddress is computed. As I1 is found to be a branch instruction, the instructions I2, I3, I4 has to be discarded because the instructi

Prefetching the target branch address will reduce the branch delay. Like if the target branch is
identified at the decode stage then the branch delay will reduce to 1 clock cycle.
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4. Resource Limitation

If the two instructions request for accessing the same resource in the same clock cycle, then one
of the instruction has to stall and let the other instruction to use the resource. This stalling is due
to resource limitation. However, it can be prevented by adding more hardware.

Advantages

1. Pipelining improves the throughput of the system.

2. In every clock cycle, a new instruction finishes its execution.
3. Allow multiple instructions to be executed concurrently.

Key Takeaways

 Pipelining divides the instruction in 5 stages instruction fetch, instruction decode,

operand fetch, instruction execution and operand store.
 The pipeline allows the execution of multiple instructions concurrently with the
limitation that no two instructions would be executed at the same stage in the same clock cycle.
 All the stages must process at equal speed else the slowest stage would become the
bottleneck.
 Whenever a pipeline has to stall for any reason it is a pipeline hazard.

This is all about pipelining. So, basically the pipelining is used to improve the performance of
the system by improving its efficiency.

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Vector Processing
Vector processing performs the arithmetic operation on the large array of integers or floating-
point number. Vector processing operates on all the elements of the array in parallel providing
each pass is independent of the other.

Vector processing avoids the overhead of the loop control mechanism that occurs in general-
purpose computers.

In this section, we will have a brief introduction on vector processing, its characteristics, about
vector instructions and how the performance of the vector processing can be enhanced? So lets
us start.

Content: Vector Processing in Computer Architecture

1. Introduction

2. Characteristics

3. Vector Instruction

4. Improving Performance

5. Key Takeaways

Introduction

We need computers that can solve mathematical problems for us which include, arithmetic
operations on the large arrays of integers or floating-point numbers quickly. The general-purpose
computer would use loops to operate on an array of integers or floating-point numbers. But, for
large array using loop would cause overhead to the processor.

To avoid the overhead of processing loops and fasten the computation, some kind of parallelism
must be introduced. Vector processing operates on the entire array in just one operation i.e. it
operates on elements of the array in parallel. But, vector processing is possible only if the
operations performed in parallel are independent.

Look at the figure below, and compare the vector processing with the general computer
processing, you will notice the difference. Below, instructions in both the blocks are set to add
two arrays and store the result in the third array. Vector processing adds both the array in parallel
by avoiding the use of the loop.
Operating on multiple data in just one instruction is also called Single Instruction Multiple
Data (SIMD) or they are also termed as Vector instructions. Now, the data for vector
instruction are stored in vector registers.

Each vector register is capable of storing several data elements at a time. These several data
elements in a vector register is termed as a vector operand. So, if there are n number of
elements in a vector operand then n is the length of the vector.

Supercomputers were evolved to deal with billions of floating-point operations/second.

Supercomputer optimizes numerical computations (vector computations).

But, along with vector processing supercomputers are also capable of doing scalar processing.
Later, Array processor was introduced which particularly deals with vector processing, they do
not indulge in scalar processing.

Characteristics of Vector Processing

Each element of the vector operand is a scalar quantity which can either be an integer, floating-
point number, logical value or a character. Below we have classified the vector instructions in
four types.
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Here, V is representing the vector operands and S represents the scalar operands. In
the figure below, O1 and O2 are the unary operations and O3 and O4 are the binary operations.

Most of the vector instructions are pipelined as vector instruction performs the same operation
on the different data sets repeatedly. Now, the pipelining has start-up delay, so longer vectors
would perform better here.

The pipelined vector processors can be classified into two types based on from where the
operand is being fetched for vector processing. The two architectural classifications are
Memory-to-Memory and Register-to-Register.

In Memory-to-Memory vector processor the operands for instruction, the intermediate result
and the final result all these are retrieved from the main memory. TI-ASC, CDC STAR-100,
and Cyber-205 use memory-to-memory format for vector instructions.

In Register-to-Register vector processor the source operands for instruction, the intermediate
result, and the final result all are retrieved from vector or scalar registers. Cray-1 and Fujitsu
VP-200 use register-to-register format for vector instructions.

Vector Instruction

A vector instruction has the following fields:

1. Operation Code

Operation code indicates the operation that has to be performed in the given instruction. It
decides the functional unit for the specified operation or reconfigures the multifunction unit.

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2. Base Address

Base address field refers to the memory location from where the operands are to be fetched or to
where the result has to be stored. The base address is found in the memory reference instructions.
In the vector instruction, the operand and the result both are stored in the vector registers. Here,
the base address refers to the designated vector register.

3. Address Increment

A vector operand has several data elements and address increment specifies the address of the
next element in the operand. Some computer stores the data element consecutively in main
memory for which the increment is always 1. But, some computers that do not store the data
elements consecutively requires the variable address increment.

4. Address Offset

Address Offset is always specified related to the base address. The effective memory address is
calculated using the address offset.

5. Vector Length

Vector length specifies the number of elements in a vector operand. It identifies

the termination of a vector instruction.

Improving Performance

In vector processing, we come across two overheads setup time and flushing time. When the
vector processing is pipelined, the time required to route the vector operands to the functional
unit is called Set up time. Flushing time is a time duration that a vector instruction takes right
from its decoding until its first result is out from the pipeline.

The vector length also affects the efficiency of processing as the longer vector length would
cause overhead of subdividing the long vector for processing.
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For obtaining the better performance the optimized object code must be produced in
order to utilize pipeline resources to its maximum.

1. Improving the vector instruction

We can improve the vector instruction by reducing the memory access, and maximize resource
utilization.

2. Integrate the scalar instruction

The scalar instruction of the same type must be integrated as a batch. As it will reduce the
overhead of reconfiguring the pipeline again and again.

3. Algorithm

Choose the algorithm that would work faster for vector pipelined processing.

4. Vectorizing Compiler

A vectorizing compiler must regenerate the parallelism by using the higher-level programming
language. In advance programming, the four-stage are identified in the development of the
parallelism. Those are

Parallel Algorithm(A)

High-level Language(L)

Efficient object code(O)

Target machine code (M)

You can see a parameter in the parenthesis at each stage which denotes the degree of parallelism.
In the ideal situation, the parameters are expected in the order A≥L≥O≥M.

Summary

 Computers having vector instruction are vector processors.

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 Vector processor have the vector instructions which operates on the large
array of integer or floating-point numbers or logical values or characters, all elements in
parallel. It is called vectorization.

 Vectorization is possible only if the operation performed in parallel are independent of

each other.

 Operands of vector instruction are stored in the vector register. A vector register stores
several data elements at a time which is called vector operand.

 A vector operand has several scalar data elements.

 A vector instruction needs to perform the same operation on the different data set. Hence,
vector processors have a pipelined structure.

 Vector processing ignores the overhead caused due to the loops while operating on an
array.

So, this is how vector processing allows parallel operation on the large arrays and fasten the
processing speed.

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Vector Processing
Vector processing performs the arithmetic operation on the large array of integers or floating-
point number. Vector processing operates on all the elements of the array in parallel providing
each pass is independent of the other.

Vector processing avoids the overhead of the loop control mechanism that occurs in general-
purpose computers.

In this section, we will have a brief introduction on vector processing, its characteristics, about
vector instructions and how the performance of the vector processing can be enhanced? So lets
us start.

Content: Vector Processing in Computer Architecture

6. Introduction

7. Characteristics

8. Vector Instruction

9. Improving Performance

10. Key Takeaways

Introduction

We need computers that can solve mathematical problems for us which include, arithmetic
operations on the large arrays of integers or floating-point numbers quickly. The general-purpose

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computer would use loops to operate on an array of integers or floating-point
numbers. But, for large array using loop would cause overhead to the processor.

To avoid the overhead of processing loops and fasten the computation, some kind of parallelism
must be introduced. Vector processing operates on the entire array in just one operation i.e. it
operates on elements of the array in parallel. But, vector processing is possible only if the
operations performed in parallel are independent.

Look at the figure below, and compare the vector processing with the general computer
processing, you will notice the difference. Below, instructions in both the blocks are set to add
two arrays and store the result in the third array. Vector processing adds both the array in parallel
by avoiding the use of the loop.

Operating on multiple data in just one instruction is also called Single Instruction Multiple
Data (SIMD) or they are also termed as Vector instructions. Now, the data for vector
instruction are stored in vector registers.

Each vector register is capable of storing several data elements at a time. These several data
elements in a vector register is termed as a vector operand. So, if there are n number of
elements in a vector operand then n is the length of the vector.

Supercomputers were evolved to deal with billions of floating-point operations/second.

Supercomputer optimizes numerical computations (vector computations).

But, along with vector processing supercomputers are also capable of doing scalar processing.
Later, Array processor was introduced which particularly deals with vector processing, they do
not indulge in scalar processing.

Characteristics of Vector Processing

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Each element of the vector operand is a scalar quantity which can either be an
integer, floating-point number, logical value or a character. Below we have classified the vector
instructions in four types.

Here, V is representing the vector operands and S represents the scalar operands. In the
figure below, O1 and O2 are the unary operations and O3 and O4 are the binary
operations.

Most of the vector instructions are pipelined as vector instruction performs the same operation
on the different data sets repeatedly. Now, the pipelining has start-up delay, so longer vectors
would perform better here.

The pipelined vector processors can be classified into two types based on from where the
operand is being fetched for vector processing. The two architectural classifications are
Memory-to-Memory and Register-to-Register.

In Memory-to-Memory vector processor the operands for instruction, the intermediate result
and the final result all these are retrieved from the main memory. TI-ASC, CDC STAR-100,
and Cyber-205 use memory-to-memory format for vector instructions.

In Register-to-Register vector processor the source operands for instruction, the intermediate
result, and the final result all are retrieved from vector or scalar registers. Cray-1 and Fujitsu
VP-200 use register-to-register format for vector instructions.

Vector Instruction

A vector instruction has the following fields:

1. Operation Code

Operation code indicates the operation that has to be performed in the given instruction. It
decides the functional unit for the specified operation or reconfigures the multifunction unit.
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2. Base Address

Base address field refers to the memory location from where the operands are to be fetched or to
where the result has to be stored. The base address is found in the memory reference instructions.
In the vector instruction, the operand and the result both are stored in the vector registers. Here,
the base address refers to the designated vector register.

3. Address Increment

A vector operand has several data elements and address increment specifies the address of the
next element in the operand. Some computer stores the data element consecutively in main
memory for which the increment is always 1. But, some computers that do not store the data
elements consecutively requires the variable address increment.

4. Address Offset

Address Offset is always specified related to the base address. The effective memory address is
calculated using the address offset.

5. Vector Length

Vector length specifies the number of elements in a vector operand. It identifies

the termination of a vector instruction.

Improving Performance

In vector processing, we come across two overheads setup time and flushing time. When the
vector processing is pipelined, the time required to route the vector operands to the functional
unit is called Set up time. Flushing time is a time duration that a vector instruction takes right
from its decoding until its first result is out from the pipeline.

The vector length also affects the efficiency of processing as the longer vector length would
cause overhead of subdividing the long vector for processing.

For obtaining the better performance the optimized object code must be produced in order to
utilize pipeline resources to its maximum.
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1. Improving the vector instruction

We can improve the vector instruction by reducing the memory access, and maximize resource
utilization.

2. Integrate the scalar instruction

The scalar instruction of the same type must be integrated as a batch. As it will reduce the
overhead of reconfiguring the pipeline again and again.

3. Algorithm

Choose the algorithm that would work faster for vector pipelined processing.

4. Vectorizing Compiler

A vectorizing compiler must regenerate the parallelism by using the higher-level programming
language. In advance programming, the four-stage are identified in the development of the
parallelism. Those are

Parallel Algorithm(A)

High-level Language(L)

Efficient object code(O)

Target machine code (M)

You can see a parameter in the parenthesis at each stage which denotes the degree of parallelism.
In the ideal situation, the parameters are expected in the order A≥L≥O≥M.

Summary

 Computers having vector instruction are vector processors.

 Vector processor have the vector instructions which operates on the large array of integer
or floating-point numbers or logical values or characters, all elements in parallel. It is
called vectorization.
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 Vectorization is possible only if the operation performed in parallel
are independent of each other.

 Operands of vector instruction are stored in the vector register. A vector register stores
several data elements at a time which is called vector operand.

 A vector operand has several scalar data elements.

 A vector instruction needs to perform the same operation on the different data set. Hence,
vector processors have a pipelined structure.

 Vector processing ignores the overhead caused due to the loops while operating on an
array.

So, this is how vector processing allows parallel operation on the large arrays and fasten the
processing speed.

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RISC and CISC

Central Processing Unit Architecture operates the capacity to work from “Instruction Set
Architecture” to where it was designed. The architectural designs of CPU are RISC (Reduced
instruction set computing) and CISC (Complex instruction set computing). CISC has the ability
to execute addressing modes or multi-step operations within one instruction set. It is the design
of the CPU where one instruction performs many low-level operations. For example, memory
storage, an arithmetic operation and loading from memory. RISC is a CPU design strategy
based on the insight that simplified instruction set gives higher performance when combined
with a microprocessor architecture which has the ability to execute the instructions by using
some microprocessor cycles per instruction.

This article discusses about the RISC and CISC architecture with suitable diagrams.
 Hardware of the Intel is termed as Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)
 Apple hardware is Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC).


What is RISC and CISC Architecture

Hardware designers invent numerous technologies & tools to implement the desired architecture
in order to fulfill these needs. Hardware architecture may be implemented to be either hardware
specific or software specific, but according to the application both are used in the required
quantity. As far as the processor hardware is concerned, there are 2 types of concepts to
implement the processor hardware architecture. First one is RISC and other is CISC.

CISC Architecture

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The CISC approach attempts to minimize the number of instructions per program,
sacrificing the number of cycles per instruction. Computers based on the CISC architecture are
designed to decrease the memory cost. Because, the large programs need more storage, thus
increasing the memory cost and large memory becomes more expensive. To solve these
problems, the number of instructions per program can be reduced by embedding the number of
operations in a single instruction, thereby making the instructions more complex.

 MUL loads two values from the memory into separate registers in CISC.
 CISC uses minimum possible instructions by implementing hardware and executes
operations.
 Instruction Set Architecture is a medium to permit communication between the
programmer and the hardware. Data execution part, copying of data, deleting or editing is
the user commands used in the microprocessor and with this microprocessor the
Instruction set architecture is operated.
 The main keywords used in the above Instruction Set Architecture are as below

Instruction Set: Group of instructions given to execute the program and they direct the
computer by manipulating the data. Instructions are in the form – Opcode (operational code) and
Operand. Where, opcode is the instruction applied to load and store data, etc. The operand is a
memory register where instruction applied.

Addressing Modes: Addressing modes are the manner in the data is accessed. Depending upon
the type of instruction applied, addressing modes are of various types such as direct mode where
straight data is accessed or indirect mode where the location of the data is accessed. Processors
having identical ISA may be very different in organization. Processors with identical ISA and
nearly identical organization is still not nearly identical.

CPU performance is given by the fundamental law

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Thus, CPU performance is dependent upon Instruction Count, CPI (Cycles per instruction) and
Clock cycle time. And all three are affected by the instruction set architecture.

Instruction Count of the CPU

This underlines the importance of the instruction set architecture. There are two prevalent
instruction set architectures

Examples of CISC PROCESSORS

IBM 370/168 – It was introduced in the year 1970. CISC design is a 32 bit processor and
four 64-bit floating point registers.

VAX 11/780 – CISC design is a 32-bit processor and it supports many numbers of addressing
modes and machine instructions which is from Digital Equipment Corporation.

Intel 80486 – It was launched in the year 1989 and it is a CISC processor, which has
instructions varying lengths from 1 to 11 and it will have 235 instructions.

Characteristics of CISC Architecture

 Instruction-decoding logic will be Complex.

 One instruction is required to support multiple addressing modes.
 Less chip space is enough for general purpose registers for the instructions that are
0operated directly on memory.
 Various CISC designs are set up two special registers for the stack pointer, handling
interrupts, etc.
 MUL is referred to as a “complex instruction” and requires the programmer for storing
functions.

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Advantages of CISC architecture

 Microprogramming is easy assembly language to implement, and less expensive than

hard wiring a control unit.
 The ease of microcoding new instructions allowed designers to make CISC machines
upwardly compatible:
 As each instruction became more accomplished, fewer instructions could be used to
implement a given task.

Disadvantages of CISC architecture

 The performance of the machine slows down due to the amount of clock time taken by
different instructions will be dissimilar
 Only 20% of the existing instructions is used in a typical programming event, even
though there are various specialized instructions in reality which are not even used
frequently.
 The conditional codes are set by the CISC instructions as a side effect of each instruction
which takes time for this setting – and, as the subsequent instruction changes the
condition code bits – so, the compiler has to examine the condition code bits before this
happens.

RISC Architecture
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) is used in portable devices due to its power efficiency.
For Example, Apple iPod and Nintendo DS. RISC is a type of microprocessor architecture that
uses highly-optimized set of instructions. RISC does the opposite, reducing the cycles per
instruction at the cost of the number of instructions per program Pipelining is one of the unique
feature of RISC. It is performed by overlapping the execution of several instructions in a pipeline
fashion. It has a high performance advantage over CISC.

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RISC processors take simple instructions and are executed within a clock cycle

RISC Architecture Characteristics

 Simple Instructions are used in RISC architecture.

 RISC helps and supports few simple data types and synthesize complex data types.
 RISC utilizes simple addressing modes and fixed length instructions for pipelining.
 RISC permits any register to use in any context.
 One Cycle Execution Time
 The amount of work that a computer can perform is reduced by separating “LOAD” and
“STORE” instructions.
 RISC contains Large Number of Registers in order to prevent various number of
interactions with memory.
 In RISC, Pipelining is easy as the execution of all instructions will be done in a uniform
interval of time i.e. one click.
 In RISC, more RAM is required to store assembly level instructions.
 Reduced instructions need a less number of transistors in RISC.
 RISC uses Harvard memory model means it is Harvard Architecture.
 A compiler is used to perform the conversion operation means to convert a high-level
language statement into the code of its form.

The Advantages of RISC architecture

 RISC(Reduced instruction set computing)architecture has a set of instructions, so high-

level language compilers can produce more efficient code
 It allows freedom of using the space on microprocessors because of its simplicity.
 Many RISC processors use the registers for passing arguments and holding the local
variables.

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 RISC functions use only a few parameters, and the RISC processors cannot
use the call instructions, and therefore, use a fixed length instruction which is easy to
pipeline.
 The speed of the operation can be maximized and the execution time can be minimized.
Very less number of instructional formats, a few numbers of instructions and a few
addressing modes are needed.

The Disadvantages of RISC architecture

 Mostly, the performance of the RISC processors depends on the programmer or compiler
as the knowledge of the compiler plays a vital role while changing the CISC code to a
RISC code
 While rearranging the CISC code to a RISC code, termed as a code expansion, will
increase the size. And, the quality of this code expansion will again depend on the
compiler, and also on the machine’s instruction set.
 The first level cache of the RISC processors is also a disadvantage of the RISC, in which
these processors have large memory caches on the chip itself. For feeding the
instructions, they require very fast memory systems.

RISC & CISC Comparison

Comparison between CISC & RISC

MUL instruction is divided into three instructions

“LOAD” – moves data from the memory bank to a
register
“PROD” – finds product of two operands located within the registers
“STORE” – moves data from a register to the memory banks
The main difference between RISC and CISC is the number of instructions and its complexity.

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RISC Vs CISC

SEMANTIC GAP

Both RISC and CISC architectures have been developed as an attempt to cover the semantic gap.

Semantic Gap

With an objective of improving efficiency of software development, several

powerful programming languages have come up, viz., Ada, C, C++, Java, etc. They provide a
high level of abstraction, conciseness and power. By this evolution the semantic gap grows. To
enable efficient compilation of high level language programs, CISC and RISC designs are the
two options.

CISC designs involve very complex architectures, including a large number of instructions and
addressing modes, whereas RISC designs involve simplified instruction set and adapt it to the
real requirements of user programs.

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Multiplication of two Numbers in Memory

If the main memory is divided into areas that are numbered from row1:column 1 to row 5
:column 4. The data is loaded into one of four registers (A, B, C, or D). To find multiplication of
two numbers- One stored in location 1:3 and other stored in location 4:2 and store back result in
1:3.

Multiplication of Two Numbers

Multi Core Processor

Single-Core Processor
A single-core processor machine as shown in Figure 1, consists of one processor, two or more
levels of cache memory, main memory, hard disk, and Input/Output (I/O) devices. Levels of
cache relates to the size and distance from the processor as shown in Figure 2 which displays the
memory hierarchy, for example accessing data from Level 1 (L1) cache is faster than accessing it
from L2 cache, and so on. Consequently, the use of cache memory reduces the Memory Access
Time (MAT) resulting in a better performance.

According to Moor's law that was stated in 1965, the number of transistors on a chip will roughly
double each year, then he refined the period in 1975 to be two years. Moore's law is often quoted
as Dave House's revision that computer performance will double every 18 months. The problem
of adding more transistors on a chip in the amount of generated heat that exceeds the
advancements rate of the cooling techniques which is known as “the power wall” problem.

Figure 1. Single-core processor machine

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Figure 2. Memory hierarchy

Multi-core Processor
A multi-core processor is an integrated circuit (IC) to which two or more processors have been
attached for enhanced performance, reduced power consumption, and more efficient
simultaneous processing of multiple tasks, it is a growing industry trend as single-core
processors rapidly reach the physical limits of possible complexity and speed. A basic block
diagram of a generic multi-core processor is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Block diagram for a general Multi-Core processor

The high performance demand of users also motivated the shift from single-core to multi-core
processors. A comparison between a single-core and a multi-core processors that occupies the
same die area is shown in Figure 4.

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Figure 4. A comparison between single-core vs. multi-core processors

Issues in Developing Multi-Core Processors Machines

The first issue is the communication between core processors and the main memory in a
multicore processors' environment. This is done either by the use of a single communication bus
“shared memory model” or an interconnection network “distributed memory model” as shown in
Figure 5. The single bus approach has an upper limit of 32 cores, after that the bus will be
overfilled with transactions that lower the performance of the system.

Figure 5. Shared memory approach (right) vs. distributed memory model (left)

Since every core processor has its own memory in the distributed memory model, a copy of the
data might not be always the most updated version, which will result in a cache coherence
problem. For example, if we have a dual core processor, each core will get a portion of the
memory, if the first core writes a new value for a parameter and the second core had to read the
value of this parameter it will read its own value unless there is a coherence policy. Rreading a
non consistent value of this parameter may result in a program crash. There are two schemes that
forces cache coherence, the snooping protocol and a directory protocol. The snooping protocol is

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designed only for a bus based system, it uses a number of states to determine whether
or not there is a need to update the cache entries or not and also if it has control over writing to
the block. However, the directory protocol has the scalability to work on any arbitrary network.
A directory is used to hold information about which of the memory locations are being used
exclusively by one core, and which are shared among multiple cores.

The second issue that rise in order to fully utilize the multi-core processor technology is
parallelism, programs should have the characteristic of being executed in a parallel order. There
are three types of parallelism: Instruction level parallelism, thread level parallelism, and data
level parallelism. In the case of Instruction level parallelism, the execution of the instructions
could be done in a parallel way as well as in a sequential way. In the case of thread level
parallelism, multiple threads of the same task are presented to the processor to be executed
simultaneously as shown in Figure 6. In the case of data level parallelism, common data is being
shared among executing processes through memory coherence, which will improve performance
by reducing the time required to load and access memory. However, according to Amdahl's law
the performance of Parallel applications in a multi-core environment is limited by its non-parallel
part that form bottlenecks. So, for an optimal use of the multi-core processors the non-parallel
part has to be optimized by either parallelizing the non-parallel part or by making them faster
using more efficient algorithms.

Starvation is a problem that could occur if the program isn't designed in a parallel way, this is
because one or more cores might starve for data. For example, if a single-threaded application is
to be run in a multi-core processor machine. The thread will run in one of the cores while the
other cores remains idle. Another example could be seen in a multi-core processor machine with
a shared cache such as the Intel Core 2 Duo's shared L2 cache, unless a proper replacement
policy was placed one core may starve for cache usage and keeps making a costly calls out to
main memory. The replacement policy should have a mechanism for ejecting cache entries that
other cores have recently loaded. In the case where the number of cores is large, applying this
replacement policy becomes difficult to reduce the amount of ejected cache space without
increasing cache misses.

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Figure 6. Thread level parallelism

The third issue that rise in the development of multi-core processors is power dissipation. If we
allocate two cores on the same chip size a large amount of heat will be generated unless there is a
power control mechanism that shuts down the unused core or limits its power consumption.

Finally, the fourth issue that rise in the development of multi-core processors is whether to use
homogeneous or heterogeneous cores. Homogeneous cores are all exactly the same, they run on
an equivalent frequencies, have the same cache sizes and functionalities. However, eterogeneous
cores are different in their frequencies, memory models and functionalities. The choice will be
based on making a trade-off between processor complexity and customization. The production of
homogeneous cores are easier since all cores contains the same hardware and use the same
instruction set. While in the case of heterogeneous cores, each core could have a specific
function and run its own specialized instruction set. For example, the CELL processor has
heterogeneous cores, one Power Processing Element (PPE) and eight Synergistic Processing
Elements (SPE).

The PPE core is used as a large centralized processing unit, while the other PPEs are used for
different functionalities such as graphics, communications, enhanced mathematics, audio, and so
on. The heterogeneous model is more complex, but may have efficiency, power, and thermal
benefits that outweigh its complexity.

4. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF A PROCESSOR

There are many metrics which could be used in measuring processors performance such as:
throughput which is the average rate of how many processes were executed successfully;
response time which is the time between the time between the request time and time that the

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system starts working on this request; execution time which is the time needed to
finish the request, energy consumption, and the memory bandwidth which is the rate of data
sustained from
the CPU core to the RAM. All these metrics could be classified into three main categories:
higher is better, lower is better, and nominal is better. For example, higher throughput is better,
lower execution time is better, and nominal power consumption is better .

COMPARING TWO MULTI-CORE PROCESSORS MACHINES

In this section a comparison between two multi-core processors machines will be made, the Intel
core i7-4960X processor (Ivy Bridge E) and the AMD Phenom II X6 processor.

INTEL CORE I7-4960X PROCESSOR (IVY BRIDGE E)

Intel uses a naming scheme for its Core processors, the three brands are, Core i3, Core i5 and
Core i7, these brand names aren't related to specific technical features such as the number of
cores. Instead, they correspond to three, four and five stars in Intel's Intel Processor Rating from
low-level (Core i3), through mid-range (Core i5) to high-end performance (Core i7), following
on from the entry-level Celeron (one star) and Pentium (two stars) processors. The Intel brand
name of Intel Core i7 applies to several families of desktop and laptop 64-bit x86-64 processors
using the Nehalem, Westmere, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge and Haswell micro architectures. Both
the regular Core i7 and the Extreme Edition are advertised as five stars in the Intel Processor
Rating. A comparison of the Core i7 family can be found in. One of Intel's latest Core i7 models
in the market is the Core i7-4960X processor (Ivy Bridge E), its die details' diagram can be
found in , and its technical specifications are :

• 6 cores
• 12 threads
• Clock speed of 3.6 GHz
• Max turbo frequency is 4 GHz
• Level 1 cache (32 KB (code) / 32 KB (data)) per core
• Level 2 cache 256 KB
• Level 3 cache 15360 KB shared for all cores
• Instruction set of 64 bits
• Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 130W
• Max Temperature is 66.8 C
• Introduction date (September 10, 2013)
• Die size is 22nm
• supports 4 memory channels
• supports DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333, DDR3-1600, DDR3-1866

5.2. AMD PHENOM II X6 1100T

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Phenom II is a family of AMD's multi-core 45nm processors using the AMD K10
micro architecture, succeeding the original Phenom. Advanced Micro Devices released the
Socket. AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3
support, along with an initial batch of triple- and quad-core processors were released on February
9, 2009. Dual-processor systems require Socket F+ for the Quad FX platform. The second-
generation of Phenom II X6 was released on April 27, 2010.

One of the latest AMD Phenom processors in the market is AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, its
technical specifications are:
• 6 cores
• 6 threads
• Clock speed of 3.3 GHz
• Max turbo frequency is 3.7 GHz
• Level 1 cache (64 KB (code) / 64 KB (data)) per core
• Level 2 cache 512 KB per core
• Level 3 cache 6144 KB shared for all cores
• Instruction set of 64 bits
• Thermal Design power of 125W
• Max Temperature is 62 C
• Die size 45nm
• supports 2 memory channels
• supports DDR2-1066, DDR3-1333

Question Bank

1 (a) Write comparison of RISC and CISC Processor

(b) Explain vector Processing and array processing

2 (a) Give Definition of vector Processing and enlist the application

(b) Define Multiprocessor. Explain clearly the characteristics of multiprocessor.
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3 (a) With the help of suitable diagrams, explain simplex, half duplex and full duplex
transmission.
(b) What is pipelining? Draw a space time diagram for a six segment pipeline showing
the time it takes to process eight tasks.

4 (a) What is parallel Processing? What its advantage

(b) What are the advantages of pipelining?

5 (a) Why does pipeline improve performance?

(b) What are the pipeline hazards? How do they affect the speedup?

6 (a) Explain SIMD array processing along with the architectural diagram.
(b) What is Inter connection Network?

7 (a) Write down different characteristics on multiprocessor.

(b) What is cache coherence and why is it important in shared memory multiprocessor system?

8 (a) Draw a four segment pipeline.

(b) Differentiate Instruction and arithmetic pipeline

9 (a) Explain the operation of a multiprocessor system with multiport memory.

(b) Discuss the factors which affect the performance of pipelining processor based system

10. Write short notes

1. Structure of multiprocessor
2. AMD Processor
3. Intel Processor
4. superscalar processors.
5. Interprocessor
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