E&CE 720-t4: Asn-1: Cell vs Niagara

Due: Fri Jan 18 noon. Hand in at Mark's office or mailbox.

Purpose: Assess current level of knowledge, analytical abilities, and areas of interest.

Description: Read the IEEE Micro articles from Hot Chips on the IBM Cell and Sun Niagara processors. Write a 2-page (max) report on the articles that compares the two processors by addressing the following points:

• Application domains
• Design goals and constraints
• Design decisions and optimizations
• Tradeoffs and compromises

Also, at the end of the report: Based upon these articles and the first lecture, which topic(s) in E&CE-720-t4 do you think you will be most interested in?

• Poonacha Kongetira, Kathirgamar Aingaran, Kunle Olukotun. IEEE Micro. March-April 2005. Pages 21-29. [PDF] [PDF via UW proxy]
• Gschwind, M.; Hofstee, H.P.; Flachs, B.; Hopkins, M.; Watanabe, Y.; Yamazaki, T. IEEE Micro. March-April 2006. Pages 10-24. [PDF via UW proxy] [PDF via UW proxy]

Marking: The focus of the marking will be on the quality of your analysis and writing. The marking will be largely independent of your current knowledge of computer architecture. For writing quality, aim for organization, clarity, and conciseness.