B.E./B.Tech. Degree Examinations, May/June 2023
Fifth Semester
Computer Science and Engineering
Model Question Paper
Subject: Computer Architecture and Organization
Note: Answer All the Questions.
SECTION - A (15 Marks)
Answer all the questions
Each question carries one and a half marks.
1. What is the purpose of a memory management unit (MMU)?
2. What is the difference between a load instruction and a store instruction?
3. Explain the concept of pipelining in a CPU.
4. What is the purpose of a register file?
5. What are the different types of addressing modes?
6. Explain the concept of virtual memory.
7. What is a cache memory?
8. What is the purpose of a branch predictor?
9. What is the difference between a uniprocessor and a multiprocessor?
10. Explain the concept of interrupt handling.
SECTION - B (35 Marks)
Answer all the questions
Each question carries seven marks.
11. Discuss the various components of a computer system and explain their functions.
12. Describe the instruction fetch and execute cycle of a CPU.
13. Explain the various stages of the pipeline in a CPU and discuss the hazards that can occur in pipelining.
14. Discuss the different types of memory hierarchies and explain how they improve the performance of a computer system.
15. Explain the working of a virtual memory system and discuss the benefits of virtual memory.
SECTION - C (50 Marks)
Answer any two questions
Each question carries twenty five marks.
16. Design and implement a simple CPU using a Verilog HDL program. The CPU should have a datapath and a control unit. The datapath should include an accumulator, a register file, a memory unit, and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The control unit should be able to execute a simple instruction set.
17. Write a C program to simulate a cache memory. The program should take the following parameters as input:
- Cache size
- Block size
- Associativity
- Replacement policy
The program should then simulate the operation of the cache memory for a given sequence of memory accesses.
18. Write a report on the advances in computer architecture in the past decade. The report should discuss the following topics:
- Multi-core processors
- Graphics processing units (GPUs)
- Solid-state drives (SSDs)
- Cloud computing
- Quantum computing