AICT004-4-1 Computer Systems Architecture (CSA) Assignment

Work as a group to investigate the issues involved with the computer architecture
CLO2 (A3, PLO4)

PLO4 – Social Skills, Teamwork and Responsibility (Interpersonal skills)

Group – Investigation and Findings (40%)

Computer architecture focuses on describing the structure and behavior of the computer system
where as Computer Organization describes how hardware components are, connected to form
computer system. Nowadays, computer systems are widely used in all sized organizations
(schools, universities, factories, cyber cafes, gaming center, restaurants, etc.), used by many
different type of users (Programmers, students, businessman, etc.), many different purposes
(blogging, browsing, programming, gaming, editing, etc.) many more.

Introduction

In daily life, every person perform many tasks and most of them are, handled using computers.
Below is the computer organization and computer architecture design;
Task

In a group of 4 members, you are required to choose a scenario or an application or an issue that
related to computer system architecture. You should able to investigate the issues involved and
propose a suitable computer systems architecture design to overcome the existing problem of your
chosen topic. List the hardware components that involved in existing design. Justify your proposed
design with the existing architecture by comparing the following points in both designs.

a) CPU specification, features and general architecture.

b) Instruction Set and Registers.
c) I/O specifications (Communications, Expansions buses/cards, etc.)
d) Implementation of Pipeline.

Report Guidelines

Following are the suggested contents to be in report;

1. Introduction
2. Investigation and Findings
2.1. Scenario/ Application/Issue
2.2. Existing Design
2.3. Issues Involved
3. Proposed Design & Justification
4. Conclusion and Recommendation
5. Workload Matrix
6. References
Marking Scheme (based on SLT):

CLO2: Social Skills, Teamwork and Responsibility (Interpersonal skills): GROUP COMPONENTS (40

Full Distinction Marginal Fail

Criteria Credit (65%) Pass (50%) Fail (40%)
(100%) (75%) (45%)
Very Good
formatting & Good formatting
structuring & structuring Poor formatting
Documentation Header n footer Header n footer & structuring
(10%) included. included. No Header n
Referencing and Referencing and Basic formatting footer included.
Excellent citations done citations done & Header n No Referencing Poor report formatting
work well. well. footer included. and citations. and structuring

Very good Unclear

Good description Basic description
Scenario description of the description of the Poor description of the
of the scenario of the scenario
(20%) scenario and scenario and scenario and computer
and computer and computer
Excellent computer computer
work

Very good Incomplete

Good discussion Basic discussion Poor discussion on
Comparison of discussion on discussion on
on similarity and on similarity and similarity and
computer similarity and similarity and
differences of differences of differences of
(20%) differences of differences of
Excellent components. components. components.
components. components.
work

Very
Computer Good discussion Basic discussion Poor discussion Incomplete discussion
Good discussion
Components on architecture on architecture on architecture on architecture and
on architecture
(20%) Excellent and components. and components. and components. components. N
and components.
work s

Very
Good discussion Discussion on Poor discussion Poor discussion on
Issues & Good discussion
on issues and issues is on issues, need issues and does not
Solution (20%) on issues and
Excellent solutions. satisfactory. improvement. meet the requirement. N
solutions.
work s
Very Good Good Citation Basic Citation Incomplete
Citation and and and Citation and
Referencing Referencing Referencing Referencing
Header n Header n Header n Header n Poor Citation and
Reference
(10%)
footer footer footer footer Referencing
included. included. included. included. Header n footer
Referencing Referencing Referencing Referencing included.
Excellent and citations and citations and citations and citations Referencing and N
work done well. done well. done well. done well. citations done well. s
Grading Sheet

Distinction A+: 80% + A: 75-79%

Credit B+: 70 – 74% B: 65 – 69%

Pass C+: 60 – 64% C: 55 – 59 % C-: 50 – 54%

Marginal Fail D: 40–49%

Fail F+: 30-39% F: 20-29% F-: 0-19%

Marking Criteria

Distinction: 75 to 100 marks (A+, A)

Demonstrated comprehensive research with detailed evidence. High level of analysis performed,
exceptional and thorough knowledge and understanding displayed with regard to application. This
includes analysis and evaluation of facts followed by results of evaluation. Good quality
documentation with no spelling or grammatical errors, presented in a professional manner,
following proper sequencing and flow. Displayed evidence of critical appraisal.
Credit: 65 to 74 marks (B+, B)

Adequate research conducted with fair detail of evidence presented. Moderate level of
understanding, analysis and knowledge displayed. Some level of relevance included in terms of
application. Moderate level of analysis and evaluation of facts followed by results comparison.
Good level documentation presented. Some level of reflection was evident in the documentation.
Moderate level of critical appraisal.

Pass: 50 – 64 marks (C+, C, C-)

Low level research conducted. Some evidence of research displayed. Basic level of understanding
and knowledge analysis displayed. Satisfactory level of documentation. No evaluation and analysis
of facts, no results comparison performed. Satisfactory or low level of reflection displayed. No
level of critical appraisal demonstrated.

Report Should Follow

1. The report should be APA Standards and well presented. Submission of reports that are
unprofessional in its outlook (dirty, disorganized, inconsistent look, varying colored paper and
size) will not fare well when marks are allocated.
2. The word count limit is 3500 to 5000 words.

3. The report should have a one (1”) margin all around the page as illustrated below:

1 inch 1 inch
1 inch

1 inch

The Typed Text

1 inch

1 inch

1 inch 1 inch

4. Every report must have a front cover. The front cover should have the following details: -

a) Name of group members.

b) Intake code.
 c) Subject.

d) Title of the Scenario/Application/Issue.

e) Date Assigned (the date the report was handed out).

f) Date Completed (the date the report is due to be handed in).

5. Plagiarism is a serious offence and will automatically be awarded zero (0) marks.

6. All information, figures and diagrams obtained from external sources must be referenced using
the APA referencing system accordingly.

*IMPORTANT*

You must submit your assignment softcopy online before the deadline.