Which computer architecture concept allows a single physical processor core to appear as two logical cores to the operating system by sharing execution units while duplicating architectural register state?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading)
- Step 1: Single threads often stall on memory fetches or branch mispredictions, leaving execution units inside a CPU core idle.
- Step 2: Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT, known commercially as Intel Hyper-Threading) maintains two sets of architectural registers and program counters on one physical core, interleaving threads to keep execution units fully used.
Answer
SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading)
Why not the others: 'Multiprocessing' Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) involves two or more distinct physical processor sockets on a single motherboard; 'Multi-core architecture' Multi-core architecture places multiple completely separate physical execution cores on a single silicon die; 'Vector processing' Vector processing operates on one-dimensional data arrays simultaneously using specialized vector registers.
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