Modern Processor Design: Fundamentals of Superscalar Processors

Conceptual and precise, Modern Processor Design brings together numerous microarchitectural techniques in a clear, understandable framework that is easily accessible to both graduate and undergraduate students. Complex practices are distilled into foundational principles to reveal the authors’ insights and hands-on experience in the effective design of contemporary high-performance micro-processors for mobile, desktop, and server markets. Key theoretical and foundational principles are presented in a systematic way to ensure comprehension of important implementation issues.

The text presents fundamental concepts and foundational techniques such as processor design, pipelined processors, memory and I/O systems, and especially superscalar organization and implementations. Two case studies and an extensive survey of actual commercial superscalar processors reveal real-world developments in processor design and performance. A thorough overview of advanced instruction flow techniques, including developments in advanced branch predictors, is incorporated. Each chapter concludes with homework problems that will institute the groundwork for emerging techniques in the field and an introduction to multiprocessor systems.

Not-for-sale instructor resource material available to college and university faculty only; contact publisher directly.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Processor Design
Chapter 2: Pipelined Processors
Chapter 3: Memory and I/O Systems
Chapter 4: Superscalar Organization
Chapter 5: Superscalar Techniques
Chapter 6: The PowerPC 620
Chapter 7: Intel’s P6 Microarchitecture
Chapter 8: Survey of Superscalar Processors
Chapter 9: Advanced Instruction Flow Techniques
Chapter 10: Advanced Register Data Flow Techniques
Chapter 11: Executing Multiple Threads