High Performance Computer Architecture

Lesson 1: Introduction and Trends

- Computer Architecture & Tech Trends- Moore's Law- Processor Speed, Cost, Power- Power Consumption- Fabrication Yield

Lesson 2: Performance Metrics and Evaluation

- Measuring Performance- Benchmarks Standards- Iron Law of Performance- Amdahl's Law- Lhadma's Law

Lesson 3: Pipelining Review

- Pipeline CPI- Processor Pipeline Stalls- Data Dependencies- Pipelining Outro

Lesson 4: Branches

- Branch Prediction- Direction Predictor- Hierarchical Predictors - PShare

Lesson 5: Predication

- If Conversion- Conditional Move- MOVc Summary

Lesson 6: Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP)

- ILP Intro- RAW Dependencies - WAW Dependencies - Duplicating Register Values - Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP)

Lesson 7: Instruction Scheduling

- Improving IPC- Tomasulo's Algorithm - Load and Store Instructions

Lesson 8: ReOrder Buffer

- Exceptions in Out Of Order Execution - Branch Misprediction - Hardware Organization with ROB

Lesson 9: Memory Ordering

- Memory Access Ordering- When Does Memory Write Happen - Out of Order Load Store Execution - Store to Load Forwarding - LSQ, ROB, and RS

Lesson 9: Memory

- How Memory Works- One Memory Bit SRAM - One Memory Bit DRAM - Fast Page Mode - Connecting DRAM To The Processor

Lesson 10: Multi-Processing

- Flynn's Taxonomy of Parallel Machines - Multiprocessor Needs Parallel Programs! - Centralized Shared Memory - Distributed Shared Memory - Message Passing Vs Shared Memory - Shared Memory Hardware - SMT Hardware Changes - SMT and Cache Performance