MULTICORE AND PARALLEL SYSTEMS

Question 1

What is a multicore system?

Answer 1

a system with multiple cores that can distribute the workload

Question 2

Why are multicore processors used?

Answer 2

they’re able to distribute workload across multiple processor cores thus achieving significantly higher performance by performing several tasks in parallel

Question 3

What are the 4 types of processor system?

Answer 3

• SISD (single instruction single data)
• SIMD (single instruction multiple data)
• MISD (multiple instruction single data)
• MIMD (multiple instruction multiple data)

Question 4

SISD

Answer 4

• How it works: One processor executes one instruction on one piece of data at a time.
• Example: Traditional single-core processors.
• Pros: Simple design and easy to implement.
• Cons: Not efficient for parallel tasks.

Question 5

SIMD

Answer 5

• How it works: One instruction is applied to multiple pieces of data simultaneously.
• Example: Vector processors, graphics processing units (GPUs).
• Pros: Efficient for tasks like image processing and scientific calculations.
• Cons: Limited to tasks that can be parallelized.

Question 6

MISD

Answer 6

• How it works: Multiple instructions are applied to the same piece of data.
• Example: Rare in practice, but could be used in fault-tolerant systems (e.g., data redundancy).
• Pros: Useful for tasks requiring error checking or data verification.
• Cons: Not commonly used in general-purpose computing.

Question 7

MIMD

Answer 7

• How it works: Multiple processors execute different instructions on different data.
• Example: Multi-core processors, distributed computing systems.
• Pros: Very flexible and powerful for complex, parallel tasks.
• Cons: More complex to design and manage.