A pipelined processor overlaps fetch, decode, execute, memory, and commit across successive instructions. Throughput then depends on how often hazards, mispredicts, and issue limits insert bubbles.
Topic | Lessons | Description | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
5 | How five pipeline stages raise throughput, what hazards cost, and how forwarding and stalls recover IPC. | 40 min | |
4 | How predictors feed fetch, what mispredicts cost in CPI, and how to debug them. | 30 min | |
5 | How wide issue, renaming and the reorder buffer raise IPC, and what caps the gain. | 40 min |
Frequency sets cycles per second while IPC sets work per cycle, and deeper stages raise the cycle cost of each mispredict and hazard stall. If branch or dependency bubbles grow faster than frequency, IPC times frequency falls. The Pipeline Throughput topic covers stage depth, CPI arithmetic, and forwarding.