Book contents
- Parallel Computer Organization and Design
- Parallel Computer Organization and Design
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Commemoration
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Processor Microarchitecture
- 3 Memory Hierarchies
- 4 Multiprocessor Systems
- 5 Coherence, Synchronization, and Memory Consistency
- 6 Chip Multiprocessors
- 7 Quantitative Evaluations
- 8 Graphics Processing Units
- Book part
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
Book contents
- Parallel Computer Organization and Design
- Parallel Computer Organization and Design
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Preface
- Commemoration
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Processor Microarchitecture
- 3 Memory Hierarchies
- 4 Multiprocessor Systems
- 5 Coherence, Synchronization, and Memory Consistency
- 6 Chip Multiprocessors
- 7 Quantitative Evaluations
- 8 Graphics Processing Units
- Book part
- Index
Summary
For the past 30 years we have lived through the information revolution, powered by the explosive growth of semiconductor integration and the internet. The exponential performance improvement of semiconductor devices was predicted by Moore’s law as early as the 1960s. Moore’s law predicts that the computing power of microprocessors will double every 18-24 months at constant cost so that their cost-effectiveness (the ratio between performance and cost) will grow at an exponential rate. It has been observed that the computing power of entire systems also grows at the same pace. This law has endured the test of time and remains valid today. This law will be tested repeatedly, both now and in the future, as many people today see strong evidence that the "end of the ride" is near, mostly because the miniaturization of CMOS technology is rapidly reaching its limit. This chapter reviews technology trends underpinning the evolution of computer systems. It also introduces metrics for performance comparison of computer systems and fundamental laws that drive the field of computer systems such as Amdahl’s law.
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- Parallel Computer Organization and Design , pp. 1 - 34Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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