Final answer:
To find the processor's clock rate based on the given memory access times and L1 cache metrics, calculate the average memory access time (AMAT) and use the L1 cache hit time as the cycle time. The clock rate is found to be approximately 1.724 GHz.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer is option to determine the clock rate given that main memory accesses take 80 ns, that memory accesses are 40% of all instructions, the L1 cache has a miss rate of 9% and a hit time of 0.58 ns, and that the L1 hit time determines the cycle time for the processor.
First, to calculate the average memory access time (AMAT), we use the formula:
AMAT = (Hit Rate * Hit Time) + (Miss Rate * Miss Penalty)
With a hit rate of 91% (100% - 9% miss rate) and a miss penalty of 80 ns, the AMAT is:
AMAT = (0.91 * 0.58 ns) + (0.09 * 80 ns)
To find the cycle time, we use the hit time of the L1 cache since it sets the cycle time for the processor. The clock rate is the reciprocal of the cycle time.
Cycle Time = 0.58 ns
Clock Rate = 1 / Cycle Time = 1 / 0.58 ns
The clock rate can be calculated to be approximately 1.724 GHz, which is 1 / (0.58 * 10^-9) cycles/second.