CS60003 : High Performance Computer Architecture (LTP: 4 0 0, Credits 4)


Detailed Syllabus:

Introduction: review of basic computer architecture, quantitative techniques in computer design

Measuring and reporting performance. CISC and RISC processors.

Pipelining: Basic concepts, instruction and arithmetic pipeline, data hazards, control hazards, and structural hazards, techniques for handling hazards.

Exception handling. Pipeline optimization techniques.

Compiler techniques for improving performance.

Hierarchical memory technology: Inclusion, Coherence and locality properties;

Cache memory organizations, Techniques for reducing cache misses; Virtual memory organization

Mapping and management techniques, memory replacement policies.

Instruction-level parallelism: basic concepts, techniques for increasing ILP, superscalar, super-pipelined and VLIW processor architectures.

Array and vector processors.

Multiprocessor architecture: taxonomy of parallel architectures.

Centralized shared-memory architecture: synchronization, memory consistency, interconnection networks.

Distributed shared-memory architecture. Cluster computers.

Non von Neumann architectures: data flow computers, reduction computer architectures, systolic architectures.


Text Books:

Microprocessor Architecture, Jean Loup Baer

Computer Organization and Design, 4th Ed, D. A. Patterson and J. L. Hennessy

Computer Architecture, Berhooz Parhami

John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Morgan Kaufmann.

John Paul Shen and Mikko H. Lipasti, Modern Processor Design: Fundamentals of Superscalar Processors, Tata McGraw-Hill.

M. J. Flynn, Computer Architecture: Pipelined and Parallel Processor Design, Narosa Publishing House.

Kai Hwang, Advanced Computer Architecture: Parallelism, Scalability, Programmability, McGraw-Hill.


Evaluation Procedure

Class Test : 20 marks

Mid Semester Examination : 30 marks

End Term Examination : 50 marks


Presentations for the class:



Important Link

The SPIM Tutorial


Quiz Questions and Solutions:

Quiz 1 (Foundations of Computer Architecture) Solutions-Quiz 1