Which of the following are NOT true in a pipelined processor? I. Bypassing can…

2008

Which of the following are NOT true in a pipelined processor?

I.  Bypassing can handle all RAW hazards.
II. Register renaming can eliminate all register 
    carried WAR hazards.
III. Control hazard penalties can be eliminated by 
     dynamic branch prediction.

  1. A.

    I and II only

  2. B.

    I and III only

  3. C.

    II and III only

  4. D.

    I, II and III

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Correct answer: B

Answer: Statements I and III are NOT true; statement II is true.

  • Statement I: Bypassing (forwarding) cannot handle all Read-After-Write (RAW) hazards. It forwards results from later stages, but cases like a load-use hazard require the loaded data from memory and often need an extra stall cycle.

  • Statement II: Register renaming does eliminate register-carried Write-After-Read (WAR) hazards by assigning different physical registers to logically distinct values, removing false dependencies.

  • Statement III: Dynamic branch prediction reduces control hazard penalties on average but cannot eliminate them entirely. Mispredictions still cause pipeline flushes and recovery penalties.

Therefore, the statements that are NOT true are I and III only.

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