Pipelining: Enhancing Computer Architecture Performance

This lecture focuses on the concept of pipelining in computer architecture, emphasizing its role in improving performance through instruction-level parallelism (ILP). The instructor begins by revisiting fundamental principles of computer architecture, highlighting the importance of speed as a primary goal. The discussion includes various sources of parallelism, such as bit-level and instruction-level parallelism, and introduces the concept of pipelining as a method to overlap instruction execution. The lecture explains the structure of a simple pipeline, detailing how multiple instructions can be processed simultaneously across different stages. The instructor addresses potential issues such as data hazards and control hazards, providing solutions like forwarding and stalling to maintain correct execution. The impact of pipelining on throughput and latency is analyzed, illustrating how pipelining can significantly enhance performance despite its complexities. The lecture concludes with a discussion on the trade-offs involved in implementing pipelining, including energy consumption and the architectural challenges posed by complex instruction sets.