Assignment 1 (Chapter 1) (Section 2 & 3 ONLY)

Type of submission: hard copy (handwritten or typing)

Submission due date: 17th Feb. -2017 (Before 5 pm)

Q1: Explain briefly how interrupt-driven I/O works? Why interrupt-driven is better than
Programmed I/O technique?

Q2: What are the trade-offs that determine the size of the cache memory? Explain them in
details

Q3: What is the difference between a multiprocessor and a multicore system? Explain them in
details and discuss the impact of the multicore/multiprocessor on the performance f the
computer system

Q4: Consider a hypothetical 64-bit microprocessor having 64-bit instructions composed of two
fields. The first two bytes contains the opcode and the reminder an immediate operandor an
operand address.

a. What is the maximum directly addressable memory capacity (in byte)?

b. Discuss the impact on the system speed if the microprocessor bus has
1. A 64-bit local address bus and a 16-bit local data bus.
2. A 32-bit local address bus and a 16-bit local data bus
c. How many bits are needed for the program counter and the instruction register?

Q5: Consider a hypothetical microprocessor generating a 32-bit address (e.g., assume that the
program counter and the address registers are 32 bits wide) and having a 32-bit data bus.

a. What is the maximum memory address space that the processor can access directly if it
is connected to a 32-bit memory?
b. What is the maximum memory address space that the processor can access directly if it
is connected to an 16-bit memory?

End of the Questions