EE328: Modern Microprocessor System Assignment # 1 Submission date: (As a quiz on 13-02-17)

Marks: 10 points

Question # 1:
Reading Assignment from Chapter 1 of following topics:
• Memory map of IBM PC
• More about RAM
• Video RAM
• More about ROM
• Function of BIOS ROM

Question # 2:

What kind of RAM and ROM are used in latest computers/laptops? Briefly study about technologies.

Ans: DDR4(double data rate fourth-generation synchronous dynamic random-access memory)

What kind of memory element is used in your USB (Flash memory)?

EE328: Modern Microprocessor System Assignment # 1 Submission date: (As a quiz on 13-02-17)
Marks: 10 points

NAND Flash

Question # 3:

What is the enhancement in the Intel chips after i series i.e. after i7 processor? What kind of latest
processor in used in super computers these days?

The TaihuLight is comprised of some 41,000 chips, each with 260 processor cores.

More significantly than its specs, though, is the fact that the TaihuLight is built from
Chinese semiconductors. "It’s not based on an existing architecture. They built it
themselves," Jack Dongarra, a professor at the University of Tennessee and creator
of the measurement system used to rank the world's
supercomputers, told Bloomberg. "This is a system that has Chinese processors."

The previous fastest supercomputer, China's Tianhe-2, was built using US-made
Intel processors. There were plans to upgrade the Tianhe-2's performance last year,
but in April 2015 the US government placed an export ban on all high-performance
computing chips to China.

Processor Type:
The Sunway TaihuLight uses a total of 40,960 Chinese-designed SW26010 manycore 64-bit RISC
processors based on the Sunway architecture.[5] Each processor chip contains 256 processing cores, and an
additional four auxiliary cores for system management (also RISC cores, just more fully featured) for a total of
10,649,600 CPU cores across the entire system.

Question # 4:

What is the difference between MIPS processor (which you studied in COAL) and x86 processor (which is
going to be our main topic in MMS)?

RISC vs CISC: This is the classic difference between ARM/MIPS and x86. RISC stands for Reduced
Instruction Set Computer and CISC is Complete ISC. x86 is a CISC processor and both ARM/MIPS are
RISC.
Power vs Performance: Simpler instructions tend to consume lesser power. x86 processors are
typically designed for high performance applications like servers, while RISC processors are used in
mobile applications where performance is sometimes compromised for better power efficiency
Security and virtualization: Not sure about MIPS here, but ARM has something called TrustZone and
Intel has vPro