Here are multiple-choice questions (MCQs) based on the topics of Memory Hierarchy, Processor vs Memory Speed, Associative Memory, Memory Management, Cache Memory, Virtual Memory, Main Memory, and Auxiliary Memory:
1. What is the fastest type of memory in the memory hierarchy?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) Virtual Memory
- Answer: A) Cache Memory
2. Which memory is closest to the CPU in terms of access time?
- A) Main Memory
- B) Cache Memory
- C) Virtual Memory
- D) Secondary Memory
- Answer: B) Cache Memory
3. Which of the following is a characteristic of associative memory?
- A) Sequential Access
- B) Content Addressable
- C) High Latency
- D) Fixed Size
- Answer: B) Content Addressable
4. Which memory is used for permanently storing data that is not immediately needed by the processor?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) Register
- Answer: C) Auxiliary Memory
5. What is the function of virtual memory?
- A) To increase physical storage
- B) To provide extra storage on the CPU
- C) To simulate additional RAM using disk space
- D) To manage cache levels
- Answer: C) To simulate additional RAM using disk space
6. What is the role of the cache memory in a computer system?
- A) Store large amounts of data
- B) Speed up access to frequently used data
- C) Backup main memory
- D) Replace main memory
- Answer: B) Speed up access to frequently used data
7. Which of the following memory types has the largest storage capacity?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Virtual Memory
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: D) Auxiliary Memory
8. The time taken to access data from memory after a request has been made by the CPU is called?
- A) Latency
- B) Bandwidth
- C) Access Time
- D) Clock Cycle
- Answer: C) Access Time
9. What is the purpose of memory management in operating systems?
- A) Manage CPU speed
- B) Allocate and manage memory resources
- C) Store executable files
- D) Enhance cache performance
- Answer: B) Allocate and manage memory resources
10. Which memory has the slowest access time?
- A) Main Memory
- B) Auxiliary Memory
- C) Cache Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: B) Auxiliary Memory
11. What is the difference between main memory and cache memory?
- A) Cache memory is faster and smaller than main memory
- B) Main memory is faster and smaller than cache memory
- C) Both are equally fast
- D) Cache memory is used to store frequently used files permanently
- Answer: A) Cache memory is faster and smaller than main memory
12. Which memory is used to store the current running instructions and data for quick access by the processor?
- A) Virtual Memory
- B) Cache Memory
- C) Main Memory
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: C) Main Memory
13. Which of the following is not a part of the memory hierarchy?
- A) Registers
- B) Cache
- C) Hard Disk
- D) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
- Answer: D) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
14. In which type of memory management system does the operating system divide memory into fixed-sized blocks?
- A) Paging
- B) Segmentation
- C) Cache Memory
- D) Virtual Memory
- Answer: A) Paging
15. Which memory serves as a buffer between the processor and the slower main memory?
- A) Auxiliary Memory
- B) Virtual Memory
- C) Cache Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: C) Cache Memory
16. Which of the following components is part of the processor's internal memory?
- A) Main Memory
- B) Registers
- C) Virtual Memory
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: B) Registers
17. In a memory hierarchy, which memory is at the bottom of the hierarchy?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Auxiliary Memory
- C) Main Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: B) Auxiliary Memory
18. What is the main advantage of virtual memory?
- A) Fast access to large files
- B) Ability to execute programs larger than physical memory
- C) Reducing memory usage
- D) Speeding up CPU processing
- Answer: B) Ability to execute programs larger than physical memory
19. Which memory type is volatile and loses its data when the power is turned off?
- A) Auxiliary Memory
- B) Cache Memory
- C) Main Memory
- D) Virtual Memory
- Answer: C) Main Memory
20. Which memory technology is commonly used for main memory?
- A) DRAM (Dynamic RAM)
- B) SRAM (Static RAM)
- C) Flash Memory
- D) Optical Memory
- Answer: A) DRAM (Dynamic RAM)
21. Which memory is considered non-volatile and retains data even after power is lost?
- A) Main Memory
- B) Cache Memory
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: C) Auxiliary Memory
22. What does "hit ratio" refer to in cache memory?
- A) The number of cache hits over a given period
- B) The proportion of memory accesses found in cache
- C) The speed of the cache memory
- D) The total cache size
- Answer: B) The proportion of memory accesses found in cache
23. In memory hierarchy, why is main memory slower than cache memory?
- A) It has larger storage
- B) It has a simpler design
- C) It uses slower technology
- D) It has higher latency
- Answer: C) It uses slower technology
24. Which memory mapping technique is commonly used for cache memory?
- A) Direct Mapping
- B) Associative Mapping
- C) Set-Associative Mapping
- D) All of the above
- Answer: D) All of the above
25. What is the main difference between paging and segmentation?
- A) Paging divides memory into equal-sized blocks, segmentation into variable-sized blocks
- B) Paging uses physical addresses, segmentation uses virtual addresses
- C) Paging is slower than segmentation
- D) Segmentation is a form of cache memory
- Answer: A) Paging divides memory into equal-sized blocks, segmentation into variable-sized blocks
26. Which of the following is a type of auxiliary memory?
- A) DRAM
- B) SSD (Solid-State Drive)
- C) SRAM
- D) Cache
- Answer: B) SSD (Solid-State Drive)
27. In virtual memory, the space used on the hard drive to extend the apparent memory is called?
- A) Swap Space
- B) Cache Memory
- C) Registers
- D) Physical Memory
- Answer: A) Swap Space
28. The primary purpose of using cache memory is to:
- A) Reduce cost
- B) Increase data storage
- C) Reduce data access time
- D) Expand physical memory
- Answer: C) Reduce data access time
29. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of main memory?
- A) Volatile
- B) Random Access
- C) High speed
- D) Non-Volatile
- Answer: D) Non-Volatile
30. Which memory type is mostly used for system backup and archival purposes?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: C) Auxiliary Memory
(For brevity, remaining 20 MCQs have been omitted. Let me know if you need the full set.)
Sure! Here are 30 more MCQs on the topics you provided:
31. Which of the following memories is volatile?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) ROM
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) SSD
- Answer: A) Cache Memory
32. In virtual memory systems, addresses used by the program are referred to as:
- A) Physical Addresses
- B) Logical Addresses
- C) Cache Addresses
- D) Register Addresses
- Answer: B) Logical Addresses
33. Which type of memory is primarily used for permanent storage of data?
- A) ROM
- B) DRAM
- C) SRAM
- D) Cache Memory
- Answer: A) ROM
34. Which of the following is used to map a large main memory to a smaller cache?
- A) Paging
- B) Segmentation
- C) Associative Memory
- D) Cache Mapping
- Answer: D) Cache Mapping
35. What is the main role of an MMU (Memory Management Unit)?
- A) Manage Cache Memory
- B) Translate logical addresses to physical addresses
- C) Control CPU Scheduling
- D) Manage Virtual Memory
- Answer: B) Translate logical addresses to physical addresses
36. What is the purpose of LRU (Least Recently Used) in memory management?
- A) Replace frequently used data
- B) Replace the least recently used data
- C) Replace the most recently accessed data
- D) Replace the largest data
- Answer: B) Replace the least recently used data
37. What does "cache coherence" refer to in memory management?
- A) Ensuring consistent data between multiple cache levels
- B) Replacing invalid data in cache memory
- C) Increasing cache size dynamically
- D) Reducing cache miss rates
- Answer: A) Ensuring consistent data between multiple cache levels
38. What is the main advantage of using paging in memory management?
- A) Simplifies memory allocation
- B) Provides more memory to the CPU
- C) Reduces fragmentation
- D) Increases access speed
- Answer: C) Reduces fragmentation
39. Which memory is faster:
- A) DRAM
- B) SRAM
- C) Virtual Memory
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: B) SRAM
40. What is the role of the TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer) in virtual memory systems?
- A) Speed up translation of virtual addresses to physical addresses
- B) Store the most frequently accessed data
- C) Increase cache hit ratio
- D) Manage CPU cache
- Answer: A) Speed up translation of virtual addresses to physical addresses
41. Which of the following is a disadvantage of cache memory?
- A) High speed
- B) High cost per bit
- C) Low latency
- D) Easy to implement
- Answer: B) High cost per bit
42. Which memory type stores the BIOS in a computer?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) RAM
- C) ROM
- D) Main Memory
- Answer: C) ROM
43. Which technique is used to improve memory access speed by keeping copies of frequently accessed data in a smaller, faster memory?
- A) Buffering
- B) Caching
- C) Swapping
- D) Paging
- Answer: B) Caching
44. Which type of memory can be written to but not erased?
- A) ROM
- B) EEPROM
- C) EPROM
- D) PROM
- Answer: D) PROM
45. Which is the slowest among the following memory types?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Auxiliary Memory
- D) Registers
- Answer: C) Auxiliary Memory
46. Which memory is referred to as "volatile memory"?
- A) ROM
- B) Cache Memory
- C) RAM
- D) SSD
- Answer: C) RAM
47. Which memory is ideal for holding frequently accessed data to speed up processing?
- A) Auxiliary Memory
- B) Cache Memory
- C) ROM
- D) DRAM
- Answer: B) Cache Memory
48. What is the main advantage of DRAM over SRAM?
- A) Faster access time
- B) Lower power consumption
- C) Higher storage capacity
- D) Higher cost per bit
- Answer: C) Higher storage capacity
49. Which memory management technique combines the advantages of paging and segmentation?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Segmented Paging
- C) Swapping
- D) Direct Memory Access
- Answer: B) Segmented Paging
50. Which component controls the flow of data between the processor and memory?
- A) Memory Management Unit
- B) Control Unit
- C) Arithmetic Logic Unit
- D) Cache Controller
- Answer: A) Memory Management Unit
51. Which type of memory is used to store frequently executed program instructions?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) ROM
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: A) Cache Memory
52. Which of the following helps in reducing the time taken to fetch data from memory by prefetching it?
- A) Caching
- B) Pipelining
- C) Swapping
- D) Thrashing
- Answer: A) Caching
53. Which memory is directly managed by the operating system to keep track of active processes?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) Main Memory
- C) Virtual Memory
- D) Auxiliary Memory
- Answer: B) Main Memory
54. Which of the following is NOT an example of volatile memory?
- A) RAM
- B) Cache Memory
- C) ROM
- D) Registers
- Answer: C) ROM
55. What is thrashing in the context of virtual memory?
- A) The process of replacing pages in the cache memory
- B) The phenomenon where excessive paging slows down system performance
- C) Increasing memory access time
- D) The process of writing data to auxiliary memory
- Answer: B) The phenomenon where excessive paging slows down system performance
56. Which type of memory requires constant refreshing?
- A) SRAM
- B) DRAM
- C) ROM
- D) EEPROM
- Answer: B) DRAM
57. In cache memory, which replacement policy replaces the block that has been unused for the longest time?
- A) Least Recently Used (LRU)
- B) First In First Out (FIFO)
- C) Random Replacement
- D) Most Recently Used (MRU)
- Answer: A) Least Recently Used (LRU)
58. Which of the following is a key characteristic of cache memory?
- A) Large storage capacity
- B) High access speed
- C) Long-term data storage
- D) High cost per bit
- Answer: B) High access speed
59. Which of the following can cause a cache miss?
- A) Data is not present in the cache
- B) Cache memory is full
- C) Cache is slower than main memory
- D) Cache is not connected to the processor
- Answer: A) Data is not present in the cache
60. Which type of memory is typically used to store the operating system during boot-up?
- A) Cache Memory
- B) ROM
- C) RAM
- D) Virtual Memory
- Answer: B) ROM
### Some Difficult Questions
Here are some challenging MCQs with detailed explanations, similar to the examples you provided:
1. The main memory is 4K x 9 and cache memory is 512 X 9 in direct mapping. The tag field of cache memory is _____?
- A) 2 bits
- B) 3 bits
- C) 4 bits
- D) 5 bits
Answer: C) 4 bits
Explanation:
- Main memory is 4K x 9, which means the total memory size is ( 2^{12} ) (since ( 4K = 4096 = 2^{12} )).
- Cache memory is 512 x 9, meaning the total cache size is ( 512 = 2^9 ).
- In direct mapping, the memory address is divided into three parts: tag, block index, and block offset.
- Since cache has ( 512 = 2^9 ) blocks, the block index takes 9 bits. The remaining bits (12 - 9 = 3) are used for the tag field.
Thus, the tag field requires 3 bits.
2. How many lines of address bus must be used to access 4K X 8 bits of memory?
- A) 10
- B) 12
- C) 14
- D) 16
Answer: B) 12
Explanation:
- A 4K memory means there are ( 2^{12} ) memory locations (because ( 4K = 4096 )).
- Each memory location holds 8 bits, but the number of address lines depends on the number of memory locations, not the size of each location.
- To access 4096 memory locations, you need 12 address lines because ( 2^{12} = 4096 ).
3. How many 128 X 8 RAM chips are needed to provide a memory capacity of 2048 bytes?
- A) 8
- B) 16
- C) 32
- D) 64
Answer: A) 16
Explanation:
- Each RAM chip provides ( 128 \times 8 = 1024 ) bits, which equals ( 1024 \div 8 = 128 ) bytes of memory.
- To achieve a memory capacity of 2048 bytes, divide 2048 by 128: ( 2048 \div 128 = 16 ).
Thus, 16 chips are required to provide 2048 bytes of memory.
4. Specify the size of decoder which is used to map memory of 2K X 8 bits with the help of 256 X 8 ROM chips.
- A) 2-to-4
- B) 3-to-8
- C) 4-to-16
- D) 8-to-256
Answer: C) 4-to-16
Explanation:
- To map 2K x 8 bits, you need ( 2048 \div 256 = 8 ) chips (since ( 2K = 2048 ) and ( 256 \times 8 = 2048 )).
- A 3-to-8 decoder would not be enough since it can only map up to 8 lines.
- A 4-to-16 decoder can map 16 lines, which is sufficient for mapping 8 ROM chips.
5. A computer uses eight RAM chips of 512 X 8 capacity to provide a memory capacity of 4K bytes. Which of the following is NOT the correct memory range of the 1st RAM chip?
- A) 0000 H - 3FFF H
- B) 0000 H - 7FFF H
- C) 0000 H - FFFF H
- D) 0000 H - 1FFF H
Answer: C) 0000 H - FFFF H
Explanation:
- Each RAM chip provides ( 512 \times 8 = 4096 ) bits, which equals 512 bytes.
- With 8 RAM chips, you get ( 512 \times 8 = 4096 ) bytes or 4KB.
- Each chip will cover a range of ( 512 ) bytes (in hexadecimal, this would be ( 1FFF )).
- The first RAM chip would have an address range of ( 0000 ) H - ( 1FFF ) H.
- ( 3FFF ), ( 7FFF ), and ( FFFF ) are incorrect for a system with this memory capacity, and option C) ( FFFF ) is particularly incorrect as it indicates a much larger memory range.
6. In a memory system, if the word size is 32 bits, how many addressable locations are there in a memory of 2GB capacity?
- A) ( 2^{30} )
- B) ( 2^{29} )
- C) ( 2^{28} )
- D) ( 2^{31} )
Answer: B) ( 2^{29} )
Explanation:
- The memory size is 2GB = ( 2^{31} ) bits.
- The word size is 32 bits, which means each addressable location holds 32 bits.
- The number of addressable locations is ( \frac{2^{31}}{32} = 2^{31} \div 2^5 = 2^{26} ).
Thus, the correct number of addressable locations is ( 2^{26} ).
7. How many address lines are required for a memory system with 16MB capacity and 16-bit word size?
- A) 20
- B) 24
- C) 22
- D) 26
Answer: C) 22
Explanation:
- 16MB = ( 2^{24} ) bytes.
- With a 16-bit word size, each word takes 2 bytes.
- To access all words, the number of addressable locations is ( 2^{24} \div 2 = 2^{23} ).
- To address 2^23 words, you need 23 address lines.
8. How many 256 x 4 RAM chips are needed to provide a memory capacity of 2KB?
- A) 4
- B) 8
- C) 16
- D) 32
Answer: B) 8
Explanation:
- Each RAM chip provides ( 256 \times 4 = 1024 ) bits, which is equal to ( 1024 \div 8 = 128 ) bytes per chip.
- To achieve 2KB (2048 bytes) capacity, divide ( 2048 \div 128 = 16 ) chips.
Thus, you would need 16 chips to achieve 2KB of memory capacity.
9. A system has a memory capacity of 128KB and uses 16-bit addressing. How many addressable words are there?
- A) 65536
- B) 32768
- C) 131072
- D) 256
Answer: B) 32768
Explanation:
- The system uses 16-bit addressing, which can address ( 2^{16} = 65536 ) addresses.
- If each address is for a 16-bit word (2 bytes), the total number of words is ( 65536 \div 2 = 32768 ).
10. A 4M x 16 memory requires how many address lines?
- A) 20
- B) 22
- C) 24
- D) 26
Answer: B) 22
Explanation:
- ( 4M ) means ( 4 \times 1024 \times 1024 = 2^{22} ) addressable locations.
- Since each memory location holds 16 bits, the number of address lines required to address all these locations is ( 22 ).
####Sum More Stuff
Here are 20 additional MCQs with challenging questions on memory hierarchy, memory management, and related topics:
1. How many 512 x 8 RAM chips are needed to provide a memory capacity of 4KB?
- A) 4
- B) 8
- C) 16
- D) 32
Answer: B) 8
Explanation:
- Each RAM chip provides ( 512 \times 8 = 4096 ) bits, which equals ( 4096 \div 8 = 512 ) bytes.
- To achieve a memory capacity of 4KB (4096 bytes), divide ( 4096 \div 512 = 8 ).
2. If a memory system has a cache memory of 64K words and main memory of 16M words, what is the number of bits in the tag field for direct-mapped cache?
- A) 6
- B) 10
- C) 14
- D) 8
Answer: C) 14
Explanation:
- Main memory size = ( 16M = 2^{24} ) words.
- Cache memory size = ( 64K = 2^{16} ) words.
- The tag field size is the difference between the number of bits needed to address main memory and the number of bits needed to address the cache: ( 24 - 16 = 8 ) bits for the tag.
3. In a 4-way set-associative mapped cache with 16 sets, how many blocks can the cache store in total?
- A) 16
- B) 32
- C) 64
- D) 128
Answer: C) 64
Explanation:
- In a set-associative cache, the number of blocks stored is the number of sets multiplied by the number of blocks per set.
- For a 4-way set-associative cache with 16 sets: ( 16 \times 4 = 64 ) blocks.
4. For a computer with 16-bit addresses and a 4K byte cache, what is the number of bits used for the block offset in a direct-mapped cache with 32-byte blocks?
- A) 3
- B) 4
- C) 5
- D) 6
Answer: C) 5
Explanation:
- Each block contains 32 bytes, which means 5 bits are required for the block offset because ( 2^5 = 32 ).
- The block offset refers to the bits used to address within a block.
5. A memory system has a 128MB main memory and 1MB cache. If the block size is 64 bytes, how many blocks are there in the cache?
- A) 4096
- B) 8192
- C) 16384
- D) 32768
Answer: C) 16384
Explanation:
- Cache size = 1MB = ( 2^{20} ) bytes.
- Block size = 64 bytes.
- The number of blocks in the cache is ( \frac{2^{20}}{64} = 2^{14} = 16384 ) blocks.
6. How many address bits are required to address a 512K x 16 memory?
- A) 16
- B) 17
- C) 18
- D) 19
Answer: C) 18
Explanation:
- ( 512K = 2^{19} ) addressable locations.
- Since the memory is ( 512K \times 16 ), each word has 16 bits, but the number of addressable locations is ( 2^{19} ), so 19 address bits are required.
7. How many 256 x 4 memory chips are needed to build a 1KB memory?
- A) 4
- B) 8
- C) 16
- D) 32
Answer: B) 8
Explanation:
- Each memory chip provides ( 256 \times 4 = 1024 ) bits, which equals ( 1024 \div 8 = 128 ) bytes.
- To provide 1KB (1024 bytes), ( 1024 \div 128 = 8 ) chips are required.
8. What is the tag field size in a direct-mapped cache with 2K blocks and a main memory of 64K blocks?
- A) 4 bits
- B) 5 bits
- C) 6 bits
- D) 7 bits
Answer: C) 6 bits
Explanation:
- Main memory size = ( 64K = 2^{16} ) blocks.
- Cache size = ( 2K = 2^{11} ) blocks.
- The tag field size is the difference between the number of bits needed to address main memory and the number of bits needed to address cache: ( 16 - 11 = 5 ) bits for the tag.
9. How many 128K x 8 RAM chips are required to provide a memory capacity of 512KB?
- A) 2
- B) 4
- C) 8
- D) 16
Answer: B) 4
Explanation:
- Each RAM chip provides ( 128K \times 8 = 128 \times 1024 \times 8 = 1MB ) bits.
- To provide a memory capacity of 512KB, we divide ( 512KB \div 128KB = 4 ) chips.
10. A system uses virtual memory with a 32-bit address space and a 4KB page size. What is the size of the page table?
- A) 1MB
- B) 2MB
- C) 4MB
- D) 8MB
Answer: B) 4MB
Explanation:
- Virtual address space = ( 2^{32} ) bytes.
- Page size = ( 4KB = 2^{12} ).
- The page table size is the number of pages multiplied by the size of each page: ( 2^{32} \div 2^{12} = 2^{20} ) pages.
- If each page table entry is 4 bytes, the total page table size is ( 2^{20} \times 4 = 4MB ).
11. In a system with 4-way set-associative cache and 64 sets, what is the total number of cache lines?
- A) 64
- B) 128
- C) 256
- D) 512
Answer: C) 256
Explanation:
- For a 4-way set-associative cache, the total number of cache lines is the number of sets multiplied by the associativity (number of ways): ( 64 \times 4 = 256 ) cache lines.
12. What is the number of page frames required for a process with a 64KB address space and a 4KB page size?
- A) 8
- B) 16
- C) 32
- D) 64
Answer: B) 16
Explanation:
- Total address space = 64KB.
- Page size = 4KB.
- The number of page frames is ( 64KB \div 4KB = 16 ) page frames.
13. How many address bits are required to access a 64KB main memory with a 16-bit word size?
- A) 14
- B) 15
- C) 16
- D) 17
Answer: C) 16
Explanation:
- The total memory size is ( 64KB = 2^{16} ).
- Since each word is 16 bits, you still need 16 address bits to access all memory locations, as the memory is byte-addressable.
14. What is the size of the tag field for a 1MB 4-way set-associative cache with a 32-byte block size in a system with a 32-bit address space?
- A) 13 bits
- B) 14 bits
- C) 15 bits
- D) 16 bits
Answer: B) 14 bits
Explanation:
- The cache size is ( 1MB = 2^{20} ) bytes, and the block size is ( 32 = 2^5 ) bytes.
- The number of cache blocks is ( 2^{20} \div 2^5 = 2^{15} ).
- Since it is 4-way set-associative, the number of sets is ( 2^{15} \div 4 = 2^{13} ).
- The total address space is 32 bits, and the block offset takes 5 bits, so the tag field is ( 32 - 13 - 5 = 14 \
) bits.
15. A 64KB cache memory is organized as a 4-way set-associative cache with a block size of 32 bytes. What is the number of sets?
- A) 256
- B) 512
- C) 1024
- D) 2048
Answer: C) 512
Explanation:
- Cache size = ( 64KB = 2^{16} ) bytes.
- Block size = 32 bytes = ( 2^5 ).
- The number of blocks in the cache = ( 2^{16} \div 2^5 = 2^{11} ) blocks.
- For a 4-way set-associative cache, the number of sets is ( 2^{11} \div 4 = 2^9 = 512 ) sets.
16. What is the size of the page table for a process with a 256MB virtual address space and a 4KB page size, assuming each page table entry is 4 bytes?
- A) 256KB
- B) 512KB
- C) 1MB
- D) 2MB
Answer: D) 2MB
Explanation:
- Virtual address space = ( 256MB = 2^{28} ).
- Page size = ( 4KB = 2^{12} ).
- The number of pages = ( 2^{28} \div 2^{12} = 2^{16} ) pages.
- Each page table entry is 4 bytes, so the total size of the page table is ( 2^{16} \times 4 = 2MB ).
17. How many bits are required to address a 16MB memory with a 4-byte word size?
- A) 21 bits
- B) 22 bits
- C) 23 bits
- D) 24 bits
Answer: A) 21 bits
Explanation:
- 16MB = ( 2^{24} ) bytes.
- Since the word size is 4 bytes, the number of addressable locations is ( 2^{24} \div 2^2 = 2^{22} ).
- Hence, 22 bits are required to address 16MB of memory.
18. If the main memory is 8K words and cache memory is 256 words with 8 words per block, what is the number of sets in a 2-way set-associative cache?
- A) 16
- B) 32
- C) 64
- D) 128
Answer: B) 32
Explanation:
- The number of blocks in cache = ( 256 \div 8 = 32 ).
- For a 2-way set-associative cache, the number of sets = ( 32 \div 2 = 16 ) sets.
19. How many bits are needed to address a 128K x 8 RAM?
- A) 15 bits
- B) 16 bits
- C) 17 bits
- D) 18 bits
Answer: B) 17 bits
Explanation:
- ( 128K = 2^{17} ) locations.
- Since the RAM is ( 128K \times 8 ), you need 17 bits to address each location.
20. In a system with 4GB of main memory and 32-bit addressing, what is the page size if the page table has 1M entries?
- A) 1KB
- B) 2KB
- C) 4KB
- D) 8KB
Answer: C) 4KB
Explanation:
- Total address space = ( 4GB = 2^{32} ).
- Number of pages = 1M = ( 2^{20} ).
- Page size = ( 2^{32} \div 2^{20} = 2^{12} = 4KB ).
Top comments (0)