What is the purpose of "speculative execution" in modern processors?
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Incorrect.
The correct answer is A) The CPU executes instructions ahead of knowing whether they will actually be needed (e.g., after a branch), and discards the results if the speculation turns out to be incorrect, improving average performance
Correct Answer
The CPU executes instructions ahead of knowing whether they will actually be needed (e.g., after a branch), and discards the results if the speculation turns out to be incorrect, improving average performance
By guessing likely outcomes (e.g., of a branch) and executing ahead of time, the CPU can avoid stalling; if the guess is wrong, the speculative results are discarded, but on average this improves performance — though it has also been linked to security vulnerabilities like Spectre.