Practice Branch Misprediction - 4.4.1 | 4. Branches and Limits to Pipelining | Computer Architecture
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Branch Misprediction

4.4.1 - Branch Misprediction

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Practice Questions

Test your understanding with targeted questions

Question 1 Easy

What is branch misprediction?

💡 Hint: Think about what happens when a processor makes the wrong guess.

Question 2 Easy

What is the penalty of a misprediction?

💡 Hint: Consider what needs to happen in the pipeline after a wrong prediction.

4 more questions available

Interactive Quizzes

Quick quizzes to reinforce your learning

Question 1

What occurs when a branch is mispredicted?

The processor proceeds without change
The pipeline is flushed
No impact on performance

💡 Hint: Consider what happens to instructions in the pipeline.

Question 2

True or False: A branch misprediction can lead to significant delays in a processor's operation.

True
False

💡 Hint: Think about how instructions are executed in a pipeline.

1 more question available

Challenge Problems

Push your limits with advanced challenges

Challenge 1 Hard

Consider a processor that mispredicts a branch in a highly iterative loop. Analyze how this could affect the overall efficiency of a program running on this processor.

💡 Hint: Think about how many cycles might be wasted in an iterative process.

Challenge 2 Hard

Design a brief experimental setup to compare the effects of static and dynamic branch prediction on pipelined performance. What metrics would you consider?

💡 Hint: Consider how branch behavior might influence the effectiveness of each prediction strategy.

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