On a N-way issue superscalar processor, the front end instruction fetch engine must deliver instructions to the execution core at a sustained rate higher than N instructions per c...
To sustain instruction throughput rates in more aggressively clocked microarchitectures, microarchitects have incorporated larger and more complex branch predictors into their des...
Branch prediction has enabled microprocessors to increase instruction level parallelism (ILP) by allowing programs to speculatively execute beyond control boundaries. Although spe...
The widening gap between CPU complexity and verification capability is becoming increasingly more salient. It is impossible to completely verify the functionality of a modern mic...
high NRE cost. Therefore, general purpose programmable processors using software to perform various functions become more attractive since programmability can simplify system devel...