Quiz 1

Question 1

What is the architecture of the 8086?

Answer 1

16-bit architecture

The 8086 features a wider data path and larger registers, along with an instruction cache.

Question 2

What was the significance of the 8088 processor?

Answer 2

Used in IBM’s first personal computer

The 8088 helped secure the success of Intel.

Question 3

What memory addressing capability did the 80286 introduce?

Answer 3

16-MB memory addressing

This was an upgrade from the 1 MB addressing of the 8086.

Question 4

What was the first 32-bit machine from Intel?

Answer 4

80386

The 80386 supported multitasking and rivaled minicomputers and mainframes.

Question 5

What are the key features of the 80486?

Answer 5

Sophisticated cache technology and instruction pipelining

It also included a built-in math coprocessor.

Question 6

What technique did the Pentium introduce?

Answer 6

Superscalar techniques

This allows multiple instructions to execute in parallel.

Question 7

What advancements did the Pentium Pro bring?

Answer 7

Register renaming and branch prediction

It continued the move into superscalar organization.

Question 8

What technology does the Pentium II incorporate?

Answer 8

Intel MMX technology

Designed for efficient processing of video, audio, and graphics data.

Question 9

What is the purpose of the Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) in the Pentium II?

Answer 9

Increase performance on multiple data objects

Added 70 new instructions for digital signal processing and graphics processing.

Question 10

What enhancements does the Pentium 4 include?

Answer 10

Additional floating-point and multimedia enhancements

These enhancements improve performance in multimedia applications.

Question 13

What is the first Intel x86 microprocessor with a dual core?

Answer 13

Core

Question 14

What architecture extends the Core architecture to 64 bits?

Answer 14

Core 2

Question 15

What does the Core 2 Quad provide?

Answer 15

Four cores on a single chip

Question 16

What is a significant addition to the Core architecture for processing vector data?

Answer 16

Advanced Vector Extensions instruction set

Question 17

How many bits do the Advanced Vector Extensions instructions support?

Answer 17

256-bit and then 512-bit

Question 18

In what year was the x86 architecture introduced?

Answer 18

1978

Question 19

What has allowed the x86 architecture to remain backward compatible?

Answer 19

New instruction sets have been added while maintaining compatibility with existing instructions

Question 20

What is the typical rate of change for the x86 instruction set?

Answer 20

One instruction per month

Question 21

How many instructions are there approximately in the x86 instruction set today?

Answer 21

Thousands

Question 22

What was the clock speed of the 1978 8086 microprocessor?

Answer 22

5 MHz

Question 23

How many transistors did the 8086 microprocessor have?

Answer 23

29,000 transistors

Question 24

What is the clock speed of the Core i7 EE 4960X introduced in 2013?

Answer 24

4 GHz

Question 25

How many transistors does the Core i7 EE 4960X have?

Answer 25

1.86 billion transistors

Question 26

What is the speedup factor of the Core i7 EE 4960X compared to the 8086?

Answer 26

800 times

Question 27

True or False: All changes to the x86 instruction set have involved subtractions.

Answer 27

False

Question 28

Fill in the blank: The x86 architecture continues to dominate the processor market outside of _______.

Answer 28

embedded systems

Question 29

What is the approximate increase in the number of transistors from the 8086 to the Core i7 EE 4960X?

Answer 29

About 64,000 times

Question 30

What is a notable feature of the Core i7 EE 4960X in terms of its physical size compared to the 8086?

Answer 30

Slightly larger package

Question 31

What has changed dramatically over the decades in x86 machines?

Answer 31

Organization and technology