Talk:Microarchitecture
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I have made major revisions to this stub. I added information about microarchitecture, the history, different types, and implementations. Please let me know if you have any comments or concerns. Thank you
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[edit] Very confused article
The definition of uarch used in this article is very confused. For microprocessors, uArch design is the system-level design which is implementation specific and does not affect Instruction set behavior. For example having 2 integer ALUs vs 1, having that ALU be 4 pipeline stages long as opposed to 6. So the first paragraph IS correct.
The second paragraph uses the term "physical". That's a dangerous term to use. For microprocessors, "physical" design means layout or mask design. The term "Microarchitecture design" is solely used for system design that's done before logic design, never for circuit design.
The History section is incorrect. It seems to confuse microarchitecture with miniaturization. As used in Computer architecture, the "micro" in microarchitecture is a mis-nomer. It came from the days of micro-code and microprogramming - the design of a CPU below the level of the "macro" instruction, eg. the user-visible instruction set.
The Component section isn't saying anything relevant. Yes, these are components used in microprocessors, but that doesn't directly explain what microarchitecture is.
The Types section is also 100% incorrect. As previously stated, uArch is NOT instruction set architecture. Just the opposite. It's closer to types of pipelines , eg. 5-stage pipeline vs 15-stage pipeline.
ps. For edits on a talk page, you ought to leave your signature (4 tildes). Like this. Dyl 06:28, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
- I removed the incorrect sections and rewrote alot of what remained. Dyl 16:24, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Merge with Computer organization ?
That other article has a nice description paragraph of this activity, but not much else. This article has a more complete listing of concepts that are used in this activity. My opinion is the 2 articles ought to be merged. Also, nobody in the industry uses the term computer organization, rather it's architecture or more correctly microarchitecture. Dyl 17:03, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
I agree that the too topics should be merged. Computer organization could be redirected to microarchitecture. Although I have no industry experience, I know these two topics were introduced as one in the classroom. --Timmh 20:52, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Process of Design
In my experience with microarchitecture (undergraduate processor architecture class) the design was created using a hardware description language such as Varilog or VHDL. My question to those in industry, does this fit with this article? I believe that the article would benefit from a section describing the use of a HDL. Thoughts? --Timmh 21:00, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
- Any digital design with over a dozen logic gates is done with a HDL like Verilog or VHDL, meaning all projects in industry. That fact has nothing to do with microarchitecture. If you mention HDL, why not mention boolean logic or semiconductor physics? HDL is an implementation tool/strategy, which again, is not microarchitecture. Dyl 13:54, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Memory
It seems that something should be said about how memory relates to microarchitecture. It is my understanding that the memory subsystem is usually contained in the microarchitecture. In other microarchitectures memory controllers are part of the microarchitecture. I believe a section on memory would benefit the article. --Timmh 04:14, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
