Advanced Computer Architecture (Fall 2015)

ECE6100/ECE4100/CS4290/CS6290 B

Fall 2015


Course Overview

This course is a study of the evolution of computer architecture and the factors influencing the design of hardware and software elements of computer systems. Topics may include: instruction set design; processor micro-architecture and pipelining; cache and virtual memory organizations; protection and sharing; I/O and interrupts; in-order and out-of-order superscalar architectures; VLIW machines; vector supercomputers; multithreaded architectures; symmetric multiprocessors; memory models and synchronization; embedded systems; and parallel computers.


Course Information

  Lectures
  Hours     Tue & Thu 3:05 – 4:25 pm
  Room     Van Leer W200
  Recitations
  Hours     Mon & Fri 6 – 7 pm
  Room      KACB 3100 (Mon), KACB 2447 (Fri)

 


Piazza

We will be using Piazza for class discussion. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TAs, and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza.

Find our class page at: https://piazza.com/gatech/fall2015/ece6100b/


Course Staff

 Instructor   Professor Tushar Krishna
Email   tushar.krishna@ece.gatech.edu
Office   KACB 2318
          Office Hours           Tue & Thu 4:30 – 5 pm [Van Leer W200 after class]  
  Wed 3 – 4 pm [KACB 2318]
  Teaching Assistants   Shravan Ramani Tushar Supe
Email    sramani9@gatech.edu   tusharsupe@gatech.edu
Office Hours Wed 12:30 – 1:30 pm    Thu 10:30 – 11:30 pm 
     [Next to KACB 2332]          [Next to KACB 2332]      

Course Material

There is no required textbook for this course, but we recommend Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by John Hennessy and David Patterson, 5th Edition, Morgan Kauffman, 2012. 

Selected readings from the book will be listed for each lecture in the course schedule.


Grading

  Lab 1     5%
  Lab 2   10%
  Lab 3   10%
  Lab 4   10%
  HW 1     2%
  HW 2     2%
  Participation       1%
  Midterm 1   20%
  Midterm 2   20%
  Final    20%

 


Schedule

  Week   Date Lecture   Background Readings   Due Dates
1   Aug 18  (Tu)   L01: Introduction
  Aug 21  (Th)   L02: History  H&P Ch1: p2-61, IBM 360   Lab 1 (Aug 21 Fri @1pm)
2   Aug 25  (Tu)   L03: Single Cycle MIPS Implementation  H&P App A: p2-32
  Aug 27  (Th)   L04: Simple Pipeline & Hazards  H&P App C: p2-25
 3   Sep 1  (Tu)   L05: Branch Prediction
  Sep 3  (Th)  L06: Branch Prediction + Superscalar Pipelines  Patel et al., “Critical Issues Regarding the Trace Cache
Fetch Mechanism
,” UMich TR 1997.
 4  Sep 8  (Tu)  L07: OoO Execution I :
Hazards and Register Renaming
H&P Ch 3: 167-170
 Sep 10  (Th)  L08: OoO Execution II: Tomasulo’s Algorithm  H&P Ch3: 170-183
5  Sep 15  (Tu)  L09: OoO Execution III: Reorder Buffer  H&P Ch3: 183-192, 197-201
 Sep 17  (Th)  L10: Speculative Execution  Lab 2 (Sep 18 Fri @ 11:55pm)
 6  Sep 22 (Tu)   L11: Midterm I Review  HW1 (Sep 21 Mon @ 11:55pm)
 Sep 24 (Th)   Midterm I
 7  Sep 29 (Tu)   L12: Caches I  H&P App B: p2-40, Ch2: 72-96

 Oct 1 (Th)   L13: Caches II
8  Oct 6 (Tu)   L14: Caches III
 Oct 8 (Th)   L15: Virtual Memory I  Ch 2: p105-131; App B: p40-60
9  Oct 13 (Tu)  Fall Break  Lab 3 Part A (Oct 14 Wed @ 11:55 pm)
 Oct 15 (Th)   L16: Virtual Memory II  Ch 2: p105-131; App B: p40-60
10   Oct 20 (Tu)   L17: Multiprocessors  Ch5: p344-351, 400-405, App I
 Oct 22 (Th)  L18: Networks-on-Chip I  H& P App F

Lab 3 Part B+C (Oct 23 Fri @ 11:55 pm)
11   Oct 27 (Tu)   L19: Networks-on-Chip II
  Oct 29 (Th)   L20: Networks-on-Chip III
 12   Nov 3 (Tu)   Midterm II
 Nov 5 (Th)   L21: Networks-on-Chip IV
13   Nov 10 (Tu)   L22: Cache Coherence I

Coherence:

H&P Ch5:  p351-386

Cache Management (Private vs Shared)

Consistency:

H&P Ch5: p392-400

  Nov 12 (Th)   L23: Cache Coherence II
14   Nov 17 (Tu)  L24: Cache Coherence III
 Nov 19 (Th)  L25: Cache Coherence IV + Memory Consistency Lab 4 Part A+B(+C) (Nov 20, Fri @ 11:55 pm)
 15  Nov 24 (Tu)  L26: Multithreading  Lab 4 Part D+E (Nov 24, Wed @ 11:55 pm)
 Nov 26 (Th) Thanksgiving Break
 16  Dec 1 (Tu)  L27: Vector Computers
 Dec 3 (Th)  L28: Future Trends + Review

 


Honor Code:

Students are expected to abide by the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code. Honest and ethical behavior is expected at all times. All incidents of suspected dishonesty will be reported to and handled by the office of student affairs. You will have to do all assignments individually unless explicitly told otherwise. You may discuss with classmates but you may not copy any solution (or any part of a solution).