The Essentials Of Computer Organization And Architecture 4th Edition by Linda Null,Julia Lobur

Exercise 23

The technologist's notion of Moore's Law is that the number of transistors per chip doubles approximately every 18 months. In the 1990s, Moore's Law started to be described as the doubling of microprocessor power every 18 months. Given this new variation of Moore's Law, answer the following:
a) After successfully completing your computer organization and architecture class, you have a brilliant idea for a new chip design that would make a processor six times faster than the fastest ones on the market today. Unfortunately, it will take you four and a half years to save the money, create the prototype, and build a finished product. If Moore's Law holds, should you spend your money developing and producing your chip or invest in some other venture?
b) Suppose we have a problem that currently takes 100,000 hours of computer time using current technology to solve. Which of the following would give us the solution first: (1) Replace the algorithm used in the current solution with one that runs twice as fast and run it on the current technology, or (2) Wait 3 years, assuming Moore's Law doubles the performance of a computer every 18 months, and find the solution using the current algorithm with the new technology?