Computer architecture is the science and art of selecting and interconnecting hardware components to create a computer that meets functional, performance and cost goals. This course introduces the basic components of a modern computing system (processors, memory, interconnects, storage). The course takes a hardware/software cooperative approach to understanding and evaluating computing systems.
Learning objective
We will learn the fundamental concepts of the different parts of modern computing systems, as well as the latest trends by exploring the recent research in Industry and Academia. We will extensively cover memory technologies (including DRAM and new Non-Volatile Memory technologies), memory scheduling, parallel computing systems (including multicore processors and GPUs), heterogeneous computing, processing-in-memory, interconnection networks, specialized systems for major data-intensive workloads (e.g. graph processing, bioinformatics, machine learning), etc.
Content
The principles presented in the lecture are reinforced in the laboratory through the design and simulation of a register transfer (RT) implementation of a MIPS-like pipelined processor in System Verilog. In addition, we will develop a cycle-accurate simulator of a similar processor in C, and we will use this simulator to explore different design options.
Lecture notes
All the materials (including lecture slides) will be provided on the course website: https://safari.ethz.ch/architecture/ The video recordings of the lectures are expected to be made available after lectures.
Literature
We will provide required and recommended readings in every lecture. They will mainly consist of research papers presented in major Computer Architecture and related conferences and journals.
Prerequisites / Notice
Design of Digital Circuits
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Repetition only possible after re-enrolling for the course unit.
Additional information on mode of examination
One midterm exam of 180 min (15%) One final exam of 180 min (25%) Lab assignments with submission and face-to-face interviews (45%) Homeworks (15%)
No books, papers, computers, phones, calculators or other electronic devices are allowed. Maximum 5 A4 hand-written pages with notes are allowed for the midterm. Maximum 10 A4 hand-written pages with notes are allowed for the final exam.
Performance assessment as a semester course