Question

2) (25 points) Consider a hypothetical mieroprocessor generating 16-bit addresses with 32-bit data accesses (i.e. each access retrieves 32 bits for each address). a. What is the maximum memory address space (i.e., mmber of addresses) that the processor can access directly? What is the maximum memory capacity (in bytes) for this microprocessor? b. c. What is the last memory address that the CPU can access? Write your answer in decimal. What is the maximum memory address space that the processor can access directly if each memory data access were instead 16 bits (not 32 bits)? d.

Answer 1

2) (a) The maximum memory address space that the processor can access is 2¹⁶ Bytes = 64 Kilo Bytes.

2) (b) The maximum memory capacity for this microprocessor is 2¹⁶ Bytes = 64 Kilobytes.

2) (c) The last memory address that the CPU can access is 2³² - 1 = 11111111 11111111 11111111 11111111 = (FFFFFFFF)_H [As 1111 = F]

2) (d) Maximum memory address space for 16 bit data access = 2¹⁶

So, the range of the addresses will be 0 to 2¹⁶ - 1 = 00000000 00000000 to 11111111 11111111

Last memory address or maximum address = 2¹⁶ - 1 = (FFFF)_H

Hope this helps.