Computer Architecture: Clock Cycles and Memory Access

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Questions and Answers

What is the primary function of the ID stage in the pipeline?

Execute the instruction in the Execution Unit

Decode the instruction and generate control signals (correct)

Write back results to registers

Fetch instruction from memory

What is the cause of pipeline stalling in the given pipeline diagram?

Clock cycle mismatches between stages

Resource contention in the Memory Access stage (correct)

Dependent instructions in the execution unit

Instruction decoding errors in the ID stage

Which stage is responsible for loading data from memory?

Execution Unit (EX) stage

Instruction Fetch (IF) stage

Memory Access (MEM) stage (correct)

Decode (ID) stage

What is the sequence of stages an instruction goes through in the pipeline?

IF -> ID -> EX -> MEM -> WB Signup and view all the answers

Which stage writes back results to registers?

Write Back (WB) stage Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Execution Unit (EX) stage?

Execute the instruction and perform calculations Signup and view all the answers

What happens when the instruction in the Instruction Fetch (IF) stage is not available in the cache?

The pipeline stalls until the instruction is fetched from memory Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Decode Stage (ID)?

To generate the address of the operand Signup and view all the answers

What occurs when there is a dependency between two instructions in the pipeline?

The pipeline stalls until the dependency is resolved Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Memory Access pattern?

To access the memory location Signup and view all the answers

What happens when an instruction is sent to the Execution Unit (EX)?

The instruction is executed Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Write Back (WB) stage?

To write the result to memory or register Signup and view all the answers

What occurs when the pipeline is stalled due to a cache miss?

The pipeline waits until the cache miss is resolved Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Instruction Fetch (IF) stage?

To fetch the instruction from memory Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of the Instruction Fetch (IF) stage in the pipeline?

To retrieve the instruction from memory Signup and view all the answers

What happens during the Decode (ID) stage?

The opcode is decoded and operands are read from registers Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the Execution (EX) stage?

To execute the instruction using the operands Signup and view all the answers

What type of stall occurs when the pipeline needs to wait for memory access?

Memory access stall Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the Memory Access (MEM) stage?

To access memory for load/store operations Signup and view all the answers

What happens during the Write Back (WB) stage?

The results are written back to the register file Signup and view all the answers

What is the instruction ordering constraint shown in the diagram?

In-order execution Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the register 'Im' in the diagram?

To store the instruction opcode Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Instruction Execution Pipeline

The pipeline consists of 5 stages: IF (Instruction Fetch), ID (Instruction Decode), EX (Execution), MEM (Memory Access), and WB (Write Back)
Each stage takes one clock cycle to complete

Instruction Order

Instructions are executed in a specific order: Inst.#1, Inst.#2, Inst.#3, etc.
Each instruction goes through the 5 stages of the pipeline

Load Instructions

Load instructions have a separate pipeline: Load, Mem, Reg, L, Mem, Reg
Load instructions also take 5 clock cycles to complete

Instruction Timing

The time taken for an instruction to complete is measured in clock cycles
Each stage of the pipeline takes one clock cycle
The total time taken for an instruction to complete depends on the number of stages it has to go through

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Description

This quiz covers the concepts of clock cycles, instruction fetch, decode, execute, and memory access stages in computer architecture. Test your understanding of the different stages involved in processing instructions.