Processor Comparison Essays - Instruction Set Architectures

Processor Comparison 1. Investigate the instruction set and architectural features of a modern RISC processor such as the Digital Equipment Corporation Alpha or Motorola/IBM PowerPC. In what ways does it differ from the architecture of the Intel Pentium processor family? The main difference between the architectures of Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) Alpha and Intel's Pentium processors are the instruction sets. In this paper I intend on defining both RISC and CISC processors. In doing this I will be comparing DEC's Alpha 21164 (a microprocessor that implements the Alpha architecture) and also Intel's Pentium processors (from the Pentium-R through the Pentium II). Reduced Instruction Set Computing or RISC processing is a CPU architecture with an instruction set that eliminates some (but not all) complex instructions by pairing down and reducing them in complexity so that instructions can be performed in a single processor cycle. This is accomplished through high-level compilers that breakdown the more complex, less frequently used instructions into simpler instructions. Thus, allowing the RISC architecture to im-plement a smaller instruction set that utilizes more registers and eliminating the need for microcode. The Alpha architecture is a 64-bit load and store RISC architecture designed with particular emphasis on speed, multiple instruction issue, multiple processors, and software migration from many operating systems. (1, pg. 1-1) Most recent CPU designs are superscalar and superpipelined. Superscalar means that the architecture provides two pipelines for executing multiple instructions in parallel. Superpipelining increases the number of pipeline stages, allowing for results from either pipeline to be simultaneously used to avoid stalls thus, improving data flow by removing data dependency. The 21164 microprocessor is a superscalar pipelined processor manufactured using 0.5-micron CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semi-conductor) technology. (1, pg.1-3) The Alpha 21164 can issue four instructions in a single clock cycle. This combined with the low-latency and/or high-throughput features in the instruction issue unit and the on-chip components of the memory subsystem reduce the average cycl es per instruction. All data manipulation is done between registers. The registers are 64 bits in length and all instructions are 32 bits in length. Memory operations are either load or store operations. Since many early computers had extremely limited memory and processing power, complex instruction sets were developed. Complex instruction computing or CISC processing is a CPU architecture in which a large number of instructions are hardcoded into the chip. Intel's Pentium processors still adhere to this philosophy. The Pentium processor was Intel's first CPU to employ superscalar architecture. With its 3.3 million transistors it is able to execute two instructions per clock cycle resulting in twice the integer performance relative of an Intel 486 CPU running at the same frequency. Pentium also employed on-chip dual-processing support as well as an onboard interrupt controller. Next came the Pentium Pro, which introduced dynamic execution technology that pre-dicts the program flow through multiple branches. Multiple branch prediction lets the CPU pre-fetch possible next instructions rather than waiting for the outcome. This technology can actually change the order of executed instructions based on analyzed data dependencies, which in turn provides optimum execution speed. However, the Pentium Pro was only available in speeds from 150MHz to 200MHz and has only 16KB of internal cache (half as much as the MMX). In 1997 Intel introduced the Pentium MMX processor. The MMX processor added1.2 million more transistors (4.5 million total) and also SIMD technology (Single Instruction, Multiple Data). SIMD technology included 57 new instructions, 4 new data types and eight 64-bit registers. As in the original Pentium, the MMX Pentium provides both a fixed-point integer data path that allows up to two operations to be executed simultaneously, and a floating point data path that allows one operation to be performed at a time. In addition, the MMX Pentium provides a new MMX data path that allows up to two MMX operations to execute simultaneously, or up to one MMX operation and one integer operation (in the integer data path) to execute simultaneously. The inte-ger data path includes two ALUs and supports operations on 8-, 16-, and 32-bit integers. (4) The MMX processor is available in speeds from 166MHz to 333MHz. Finally the Pentium II processor combines the best features of both the Pentium Pro and Pentium MMX on one chip. Including a 64-bit dual

Assignment F m Essays - Articles, Education, Educational Psychology

Assignment F m Essays - Articles, Education, Educational Psychology Name: Mitesh Kumar Solanki Module: PMILSC Assignment F "TED ED the way to improve the language skills" Description TED EDis a combined presentation video on current topics and events. The full form of TED is technology, entertainment and design. It was first launched in the year 1984 by Richard Saul Wurmans and Harry Marks ( Elk 2014). Today most of the UK universities added ted talk activities in their courses so students could expand their knowledge and also develop their language skills ( Writer, 2014). I am a student of pre master at UNIC. We have four modules in our whole pre master course among the four modules the most important module is ILSC and the whole module is based on developing the listening and writing skills in English language. Academic listening is one of the assignments on this module which was assignment and TED ED was used as independent online listening practice. In the assignment E the lecturer played a ted talk video and the presenter of the video was Dr.Zieng after watching the video we had to write summary and critical evaluation of it. I never had an online lear ning experience in my past studies. Therefor to achieve high grades we performed TED ED activities at home which was available on the module, the only thing we had to do was that we had to access the module and then we had do the TED ED activity. It was so easy i never thought that online learning is this much easier than theoretical learning and i experienced that TED ED activities are effective way to develop our English language skills such as listening skills ,writing skills and motivates us to think critically. Critical Evaluation and Analysis The language use in ted talk is English language. Therefore it's a major benefit for the students to develop their English language skills. In my past life I never heard about the ted talk. We had lot of TED ED activities in the ILSC modules for that I want to give thanks to her because if she didn't includes the TED ED activities in our module then I could never understand the importance of English language skills in my life. TED ED activities were an online activity which was categorised into two stages so students can easily understand that what they have to do. The first stage was held in the classroom in which we received a short brief about what is TED ED and what are the benefits of it and also how to do TED ED activity in effective manner to which will help in developing our writing and listening skills. The second stage was TED ED homework which was uploaded on the module. Module is a website of the unic where students can login with their id and can get information about their module and also can do and submit their home activities and assignments on it. Therefore in the second stage we had to access on the module and then we had to watch and listen carefully the ted talk video which was uploaded by the lecturer and after that we had to write critical evaluation of the video and also we had to read and comments on others critical evaluation. Ted ed activity was an good experience for me because it was an online activity which was benefit for me to do complete the activity at any time and also this activity developed my knowledge towards online learning. The biggest problem which I faced in the whole activity was accent problem because we all know that English is most spoken language in this world and every country people have different English accent and in ted talk it includes presenter from all over the world therefore it was challenge for me to understand clearly what the presenter is saying. Action plan In the end I can confidently say that ted talk activity helps me a lot in improving my listening ,speaking and critical thinking skills of English language and also improve my knowledge on some topics such as diversity in workplace and to overcome form from the accent problem I will carry out the ted talk activity for future benefits