The Kindle title is not currently available for purchase
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the authors

See all
David A. Patterson
Follow
John L. Hennessy
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition Kindle Edition

by John L. Hennessy (Author), David A. Patterson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 67 ratings
See all formats and editions
The era of seemingly unlimited growth in processor performance is over: single chip architectures can no longer overcome the performance limitations imposed by the power they consume and the heat they generate. Today, Intel and other semiconductor firms are abandoning the single fast processor model in favor of multi-core microprocessors--chips that combine two or more processors in a single package. In the fourth edition of Computer Architecture, the authors focus on this historic shift, increasing their coverage of multiprocessors and exploring the most effective ways of achieving parallelism as the key to unlocking the power of multiple processor architectures. Additionally, the new edition has expanded and updated coverage of design topics beyond processor performance, including power, reliability, availability, and dependability.
Increased coverage on achieving parallelism with multiprocessors.
Case studies of latest technology from industry including the Sun Niagara Multiprocessor, AMD Opteron, and Pentium 4.
Three review appendices, included in the printed volume, review the basic and intermediate principles the main text relies upon.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    704 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    March 10, 2018
  5. File size
    13760 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If Neil Armstrong offers to give you a tour of the lunar module, or Tiger Woods asks you to go play golf with him, you should do it. When Hennessy and Patterson offer to lead you on a tour of where computer architecture is going, they call it Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition. You need one. Tours leave on the hour. --Robert Colwell, Intel lead designer

“The book has been updated so it covers the latest computer architectures like the 64-bit AMD Opteron as well as those from Sun, Intel and other major vendors ... I highly recommend this book for those learning about computer architecture or those wanting to understand architectures that differ from those they are currently using. It does an excellent job of covering most of the major architectural approaches employed today. --William Wong, Electronic Design, November 2006

“Computer hardware is entering into a new era, what with multicore processing, virtualization and other enhancements … Computer Architecture covers these topics and updates the insightful work in the earlier editions that laid out the full range of metrics needed for evaluating processor performance. --Joab Jackson, GCN, November 20, 2006

Review

The best-selling computer architecture book redefines the field with each new edition

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07BCV898J
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (March 10, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 13760 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 704 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. David A. Patterson

    David A. Patterson

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
  2. John L. Hennessy

    John L. Hennessy

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    John Leroy Hennessy (born September 22, 1952) is an American computer scientist, academician, and businessman. Hennessy is one of the founders of MIPS Computer Systems Inc. as well as Atheros and is the tenth President of Stanford University. Marc Andreessen called him "the godfather of Silicon Valley".

    Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Eric Chan [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

    See more on the author's page
  3. John L. Hennessy

    John L. Hennessy

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
67 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mike D
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but in need of a new edition
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2011
Verified Purchase
I'm using this book for a graduate course in Computer System Design. It's a great book, well put together, and very interesting. What is needed is a new edition. This book was written during the days of the single core processor speed wars around 2005. Since then there was the core war (2 cores, 4 cores, 6 cores on desktop computer systems), and today the explosion in technical advances with mobile devices. A year ago it was the speed war up to the 1 GHz mark, and today mobile hand-held devices are being released with 1 GHz dual-core processors, and even announcements of quad core mobile devices by the end of the year. It's a much different world than it was in the Pentium 4 days. The information, equations, etc are spot on, as this is the bible for this information. But reading a book that often references 6-7 year old technologies as current or up and coming, at times it feel more like reading a well written history book. It would be interesting to see references and discussions on the computer architectures in modern mobile devices, as these pocket sized computer systems are increasingly becoming a part of everyone's lives today.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
M. Zaleski
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent deep-dive into processor architecture
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2009
Verified Purchase
This book isn't for the timid. It goes deep into several recent CPU designs and explains why the architectures turned out the way they did. There is decent coverage of RISC versus CISC ideas, and why CISC now dominates (hint: it is a combination of luck, marketing, and massive amounts of available transistors, plus new ways of instruction-level parallelism).

It does not cover the absolute latest processors. But it doesn't have to. It will give you the background needed that when you go to the website that have technical details of a new architecture (e.g. Ars Technica), chances are good you will know the concepts they reference.

Who shouldn't buy this: Programmer's in high level languages expecting to learn some black magic way to speed up your code. Even assembly language programmers have been mostly sidelined by the power of a modern CPU to optimize high-level languages.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
L.I.T.
4.0 out of 5 stars The bible... Nothing like others.
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2010
Verified Purchase
For those who have never read this book, I'd emphasize that this is not a computer architecture book that explains some basic stuffs. Instead, this book focuses more on the performance aspect of the computers and I'd say this is the ONLY worthwhile book that discusses from that viewpoint. So, if you are to study the computer performance, your choice is either reading this book or reading tons of papers published by researchers or both. It means you must have a good understanding on the computer architecture before reading this book.

My only complaint is that though the book is available only with paperback now, they didn't reduce the price. It's still worth the price, though.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
M. Ogleari
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good Computer Arcthiecture textbook
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
This is an older edition, but I can't think of any better textbook for learning computer architecture.
Helpful
 Report
Theo
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Textbook
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2013
Verified Purchase
I have purchased this book as a textbook for a college course. I have been satisfied with the depth and organization of the book.
I think it provided great information for a person who needs understanding of computer architecture .
Helpful
 Report
Yesica Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars This book was good
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2010
Verified Purchase
I have been trying to return this book because a get confused and i didn't need this book. Can you tell me where i can send back the book please?

Though this book is really good.

Thank you.
Helpful
 Report
Rick
3.0 out of 5 stars Difficult Material to learn
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2009
Verified Purchase
I've used this book for an Advanced Computer Architecture book in my graduate studies (it seems so has every other graduate course, which has an added bonus).

The book falls in line with most educational books - mediocre at best. The samples are weak and seldom useful. This book is best coupled with classes and online material found via search engine of your choice.

Many universities take the slides and adapt them to their curriculum and post materials accessible online which may be useful.

There are some errors in the book and I have yet to track down the errata (even though they provide a link to a place to find it, seems to be only for professors? Not quite sure what that is about...)

I'm a bit biased, I thought learning about RAID systems, cache optimization, memory optimization, etc - would have been a bit more interesting and challenging. I've mostly found it dull, ancient, and redundant (Zing!).
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
triwood
5.0 out of 5 stars but good to have one while you are studying high performance ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
it's old. but good to have one while you are studying high performance computing..
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Arthik Raj B Jain
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied with the seller
Reviewed in India on August 31, 2021
Verified Purchase
The packaging was really good was bubble wrapped. IT IS THE BEST BOOK FOR THE SUBJECT
Customer image
Arthik Raj B Jain
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied with the seller
Reviewed in India on August 31, 2021
The packaging was really good was bubble wrapped. IT IS THE BEST BOOK FOR THE SUBJECT
Images in this review
Customer image Customer image Customer image Customer image
Customer imageCustomer imageCustomer imageCustomer image
Report
Binta
5.0 out of 5 stars sehr gut
Reviewed in Germany on September 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Sehr gutes Zeug. Gerne mal wieder!!!
Entspricht meine Anforderungen.
Preis Leistung-Qualität = sehr gut.
bin echt zufrieden damit und kann nur empfehlen
Report
ludo
5.0 out of 5 stars Ouvrage de reference
Reviewed in France on December 31, 2010
Verified Purchase
Un ouvrage de reference à avoir dans ca bibliothèque pour tout ceux qui s'intéresse à la performance.
les divers sujet sur le fonctionnement des architecture y sont abordé (optimisation, fonctionnement du pipeline,...).
Excellent investissement.
One person found this helpful
 Report
AMM
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have
Reviewed in Japan on December 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
For a computer architect it is a must have.
Report
A. Kovaleski
5.0 out of 5 stars the classic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2007
Verified Purchase
This book is now in its 4th edition and remains the benchmark text in its field. I have had the 2nd edition for some time and must admit that the 4th edition is not as easy to follow as it covers a huge amount of new and advanced material.

Anyone requiring a gentler introduction should take a look at Jon Stokes' Inside The Machine. It covers much of the same material but with rather less rigor.

The key word in the title is Quantitative, there are no 'hand-waving' arguments in this text. Highly recommended but not for the faint-hearted.
17 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report