About this previous year paper
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE (NCS-505)
B.Tech | Semester V | Section-wise Important Questions & Notes
SECTION A – Very Short Answer (2 × 10 = 20 Marks)
This section focuses on definitions, basic concepts, and small numericals. Answers should be brief and precise.
Important Questions
What is synchronous and asynchronous communication? Describe magnetic disk.
What is an instruction cycle? Explain floating-point number representation.
Explain the concept of memory transfer. What are the types of registers?
Define bus arbitration and list its types. What is auxiliary memory?
What is vertical microprogramming?
Numerical: Number of 128×8 RAM chips required for 2048 bytes memory.
Key Notes
Instruction cycle = Fetch → Decode → Execute → Interrupt.
Auxiliary memory: Secondary storage like disks and tapes.
Bus arbitration controls access to system bus.
RAM chip numericals are very common in exams.
SECTION B – Long Theory & Numericals (Attempt Any 3)
This section tests organization, memory hierarchy, and cache concepts.
Important Questions
Explain General Register Organization with diagram. What is an interrupt? Explain its types.
Explain cache memory organizations: Direct mapping
Associative mapping Set-associative mapping
Cache memory numerical based on: Tag, index, block, word fields
Cache block size and valid bit Explain stack organization:
Register stack Memory stack
Key Notes
Cache memory questions are high-weight. Draw clear diagrams for register organization.
Interrupts improve CPU efficiency.
SECTION C – Arithmetic & Memory Hierarchy (10 Marks)
Most Important Questions
Explain Booth’s Algorithm and solve multiplication using it.
Two-level memory hierarchy numerical:
Average cost per bit Average access time
Key Notes
Booth’s algorithm is frequently repeated. Show step-by-step binary calculation.
Memory hierarchy numericals test formula understanding.