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1. Top 25 Computer Architecture Interview Questions (and Example
Answers)

Top 25 Computer Architecture

Interview Questions (and Example
Answers)
Indeed Editorial Team
Updated March 11, 2023

If you're looking for a job in the field of computer engineering, you

might consider becoming a computer architect. Computer architects
use specialized knowledge of computer software and hardware
structure to improve the performance of computer systems. To
increase your chances of getting hired, you need to prepare for the
interview. In this article, we take a look at some of the common
computer architecture interview questions, including their answers.

Top 25 computer architecture interview

questions
Here are some important computer architecture interview questions
and answers that can help you ace your interview:

1. What is computer architecture?

2. What are the three categories of computer architecture?
3. What are some of the components of a microprocessor?
4. What is MESI?
5. What are the different hazards?
6. What is pipelining?
7. What is a cache?
8. What is a snooping protocol?
9. What are the different types of interrupts in a microprocessor
system?
10. What is the easiest way to determine cache locations in
which to store memory blocks?
11. What is a virtual memory on a computer?
12. Can you state some of the common rules of assembly
language?
13. What is a RAID system?
14. What are the two hardware methods to establish a priority?
Explain each method.
15. What are flip-flops?
16. What's the difference between interrupt service routine and
subroutine?
17. What are the different types of fields that are part of
instruction?
18. What are the steps involved in an instruction cycle?
19. What are the five stages in a DLX pipeline?
20. What are the types of micro-operations?
21. What is the write-through method?
22. What is associate mapping?
23. What does wait state mean?
24. What is a DMA?
25. What is a horizontal microcode?

1. What is computer architecture?

Example: "Computer architecture refers to hardware instructions,

software standards and technology infrastructure that define how
computer platforms, systems and programs operate. This means that
computer architecture outlines the system's functionality, design and
compatibility."

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2. What are the three categories of computer architecture?

Example: "Computer architecture has three categories. These include:

System design

This includes all the hardware components in the system such as the
data processors, direct memory access and graphics processing unit.
It also includes data paths, memory controllers and miscellaneous
things such as virtualization and multiprocessing.

Instruction Set Architecture

This is a part of the central processing unit that is visible to the

compiler writer and programmer. It defines the CPU's capabilities and
functions based on what programming it can process and perform.
This includes the data formats, memory addressing modes, processor
register types, word size and the instruction set that programmers
use.

Microarchitecture

Also known as "computer organization," this kind of architecture

defines storage elements, data processing and data paths, as well as
how they should be implemented in the ISA."

3. What are some of the components of a microprocessor?

Example: "Some of the components of a microprocessor include the

arithmetic and logic unit, which performs math computations such as
division, addition and subtraction and Boolean functions; registers,
which act as the temporary data holding places of microprocessors;
control units, which receive signals from the CPU and move data from
one microprocessor to another; and memory caches, which accelerate
the computing process, as the CPU doesn't have to use the slower
RAM to retrieve data."
4. What is MESI?

Example: "MESI stands for the four states of the cache blocks, which
are Modified, Exclusive, Shared and Invalid. It's also known as the
"Illinois protocol". It's used to maintain cache coherency in
hierarchical memory systems. MESI is the most common protocol that
supports write-back cache. Its use in personal computers became
common with the introduction of Intel's Pentium processor."

5. What are the different hazards?

Example: "Hazards have three classes. These include the structural

hazards, which occur from resource conflicts when the hardware can't
support all possible combinations of instructions in synchronized
overlapped execution; data hazards, which occur when instructions
that manifest data dependence change data in different stages of a
pipeline; and control hazards, which occur from the pipelining of
branches and other instructions that modify the PC."

6. What is pipelining?

Example: "Pipelining, also known as "pipeline processing", is the

process of collecting instruction from the processor through a
pipeline. It stores and executes instructions in an orderly process."

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7. What is a cache?

Example: "A cache is a small amount of memory, which is a part of

the CPU. It's placed closer to the CPU than the RAM. It temporarily
holds data and instructions that the CPU is likely to reuse."

8. What is a snooping protocol?

Example: "A snooping protocol, also referred to as a "bus-snooping

protocol," maintains cache coherency in symmetric multiprocessing
environments. All caches on the bus snoop or monitor the bus to
determine if they have a copy of the block of data that is requested on
the bus. Each cache holds a copy of the sharing status of every block
of physical memory it has. Typically, several copies of a file in a
multiprocessing environment can be read without any problem of
coherence. However, a processor should have exclusive access to the
bus to write."

9. What are the different types of interrupts in a

microprocessor system?

Example: "Interrupts can either be internal or external. Internal

interrupts, which are also referred to as "software interrupts", are
caused by software instruction and operate similar to a branch or jump
instruction. An external interrupt, which is also referred to as a
"hardware interrupt," is caused by an external hardware module."

10. What is the easiest way to determine cache locations in

which to store memory blocks?

Example: "Direct mapping is the easiest way to define cache

locations in which to store memory blocks. It maps each block of the
main memory into only one possible cache line. The cache in a direct-
mapped cache structure is organized into several sets, with a single
line per set. Based on the memory block's address, it can only use a
single cache line. The cache can be framed as a column matrix."

11. What is a virtual memory on a computer?

Example: "A virtual memory is an operating systems' memory

management feature that uses software and hardware to allow
computers to compensate for the shortages of physical memory by
temporarily moving data from RAM to disk storage."

12. Can you state some of the common rules of assembly

language?

Example: "Some of the common rules of assembly language include

the following:

 In assembly language, the label field can either be empty or may

define a symbolic address.
 Instruction fields can specify machine pseudo instructions.
 Comment fields can be commented with or left empty.
  In the case of symbolic addresses, up to four characters are only
allowed.
 The comment field begins with a forward slash while the
symbolic addresses field is terminated by a comma."

13. What is the RAID system?

Example: "RAID, which stands for Redundant Array of Independent

Disks, refers to the hard drives connected and set up in ways to help
accelerate or protect the performance of a computer's disk storage. It
is typically used on servers and high-performance computers."

14. What are the two hardware methods to establish a priority?

Explain each method.

Example: "The two different ways to establish hardware priority are

the parallel priority and daisy-chaining. Daisy-chaining is a method that
involves connecting all the devices that can request an interrupt in a
serial manner. This setting is governed by the priority of the devices,
in which the device with the highest priority is placed first.

Parallel priority, on the other hand, uses a register for which bits are
configured separately by the interrupt signal from each device. It may
also come with a mask register, which is used to control the status of
each interrupt request."

15. What are flip-flops?

Example: "Flip-flops, also called "latches", are electronic circuits that

have two stable states used to store binary data. The data stored in
the states can be modified by using varying inputs. Flip-flops are
fundamental components of digital electronic systems used in
communications, computers and many other kinds of systems."

16. What's the difference between interrupt service routine

and subroutine?

Example: "Subroutine is a part of code within a larger program, which

performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining
code. Interrupt service routines deal with hardware interrupts. They
are not independent threads, but more like signals. They are used if an
interrupt suspends any thread. Unlike subroutine, which runs when we
call it, ISR runs whenever there's a signal from either the software or
hardware. The big difference is we can determine where the
subroutine runs while we can't determine when the ISR will be
executed."

17. What are the different types of fields that are part of
instruction?

Example: "An instruction is like a command to a computer to perform

a particular operation. The instruction format is composed of various
fields in them such as:

 Operation code field. Also called the "op-code field", this field is
used to specify the operation to be performed for the instruction.
 Address field. As the term implies, this field is used to designate
the various addresses, such as memory address and register
address.
 Mode field. This field specifies as to how an operand performs or
how effective an address is."

18. What are the steps involved in an instruction cycle?

Example: "A program that resides in the memory contains a set of

instructions that the computer needs to perform sequentially. The
cycle for every instruction is called the instruction cycle, which
consists of the following steps:

 Fetch instruction. The CPU fetches the instruction from the

memory. The computer gets loaded with the address of the
instruction.
 Decode. This allows the CPU to determine what instruction must
be performed and how many operands are needed to fetch to
perform an instruction.
 Execute. At this step, the instruction is performed. If the
instruction has logic or arithmetic, the ALU is utilized. This is the
only step of the instruction cycle that's useful from the end
user's perspective."

19. What are the five stages in a DLX pipeline?

Example: "Each DLX instruction has five stages. These include:

1. Instruction fetch
2. Instruction decode and register fetch
3. Execution
4. Memory access
5. Writeback"

20. What are the types of micro-operations?

Example: "Micro-operations are executed on data stored in registers.

They are basic math operations performed on the information stored in
one or more registers. The types of micro-operations are:

 Shift micro-operations: They perform shift operations on data

stored in registers.
 Logic micro-operations: They execute bit manipulation
operations on nonnumerical data saved in registers.
 Arithmetic micro-operations: They perform arithmetic
operations, such as subtractions and additions, on digital data
stored in registers.
 Register transfer micro-operations: They transfer binary
information between registers."

21. What is the write-through method?

Example: "Write-through is the preferred method of data storage in

many applications, especially in banking and medical device control,
as it's good at preventing data loss. In less critical applications, and
especially when the volume of data is large, an alternative method
known as "write-back" speeds up system performance because
updates are typically written exclusively to the cache and are saved in
the main memory only under certain conditions or at specified
intervals."

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22. What is associative mapping?

Example: "The associative mapping technique uses several mapping

functions to transfer data from the main memory to the cache memory.
This means that any main memory is mapped into any line of the
cache. As a result, the cache memory address is not in use. The
associative cache controller processes and interprets the request by
utilizing the main memory address format."

23. What does wait state mean?

Example: "A wait state means that the computer processor

experiences a delay when accessing a device or an external memory
that is slow in its response. Wait states are considered wasteful in
processor performance, which is why modern-day designs try to either
minimize or eliminate wait states. These include pipelines, instruction
pre-fetch and pipelines, caches, branch prediction and simultaneous
multithreading. While these techniques can't eliminate wait states,
they can significantly minimize the problem when they work together."

24. What is DMA?

Example: "DMA, which stands for Direct Memory Access, is a feature

of computer systems that allows an input/output device to receive or
send data directly from or to the main memory, bypassing the CPU to
boost memory operations. The process is performed by a chip known
as the DMA controller."

25. What is a horizontal microcode?

Example: "Horizontal microcode, which is usually contained in a fairly

wide control store, comes with several discrete micro-operations that
are combined into one micro-instruction for simultaneous operation."