1. 1. 2 Types of Processor

Question 1

RISC and CISC

Answer 1

Types of processors with different instruction set architectures (ISAs)

Question 2

RISC Processors

Answer 2

• Small instruction set, instruction is one line of machine code
• Consists of simple instructions
• Takes one clock cycle to complete an instruction

Question 3

CISC Processors

Answer 3

• Large instruction set, aims to accomplish tasks in few lines of assembly code as possible
• Instructions built into hardware, originally the standard, replaced by RISC design
• Used in microcontrollers, embedded systems

Question 4

Comparison between RISC and CISC

Answer 4

• RISC Processors:
• Compiler does more work to translate high level code to machine code
• More RAM required to store code
• Pipelining possible, each instruction takes one cycle
• CISC Processors:
• Compiler does less work to translate high level code to machine code
• Less RAM required, code is shorter
• Many specialised instructions made, few of them used

Question 5

Multi-Core

Answer 5

• Multi-Core CPUs, multiple independent cores, complete instructions separately
• Results in higher performance
• Generally better performance in larger projects compared to parallel systems

Question 6

Parallel Processing

Answer 6

• Divide computation into subtasks, processed in parallel (One subtask per core)
• Only possible on multi-core systems

Question 7

Parallel Systems

Answer 7

• Similar task as multi-core, complete tasks with single core using threading
• Generally worse performance in larger projects compared to multi-core systems

Question 8

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Answer 8

• Type of co-processor, has lots of independent processors which work in parallel
• Efficient at completing repetitive tasks (image processing, machine learning)
• Co-processors, secondary processor designed to supplement activities of primary processor