Tychonievich's Computer Architecture curriculum is very well written. The class revolves around pipelining in great detail and the key attributes of modern processors. The CMU book is very good and I would recommend getting a hard copy. You could survive without it, but it makes your life a lot easier. When Reiss took over the course, he had a bad rep... but he's definitely underrated. Reiss is extremely knowledgeable (duhh. came out of Berkeley) and tries his best to answer any and all questions. (pretty sure he lives on Piazza) Exams are as usual, very difficult (especially the final). The averages ranged from mid 60s to low 70s... but the grading is very generous - or as most people call it, the 'curve'. It takes a lot of stress out of the class. Just focus on the homework and pay attention in lecture and you'll be golden. The class is basically 2150 but in a much deeper level with much less work. So if you enjoyed the low-level aspects of 2150, you'll enjoy CompArch. More specially on the instructors: Reiss is a very socially awkward guy, but definitely wants to help out. Samira co-taught this semester. She wasn't the best lecturer, but definitely got better towards the end of the semester. Just feel bad because she's a very sweet person and everyone kept trashing her.

I would recommend taking this class with Reiss. I took it the second semester Reiss has taught it, but I was pretty impressed by the course quality and content.

First, Reiss is an incredibly smart dude. The guy has worked at Google and has a PhD and seems to know everything. He was able to answer basically every question asked in class and seems to care about his students. He actively answers questions on Piazza which was really helpful. He was very clear about grading and specifics about tests, quizzes, and anonymous feedback. I think he was a great lecturer and explained the concepts well.

On to the actual class itself - it was co-taught by Reiss and Samira Khan when I took it. Reiss was miles ahead of Khan in terms of how much you learned. He was more clear in his lectures, his slides are constructed better, and with his participation on Piazza he really stood out as a model professor. Samira often times didn't really seem to know what she was talking about, failed to answer quite a few questions during the semester, and rarely ever would help out on Piazza. Luckily Samira won't be around anymore in the future and it should just be Reiss.

Class material was fairly good - lectures and slides are posted online so you can watch them if you skip class. You can employ the 2150 strategy by studying previous exams to prepare for exams but I think this class in terms of difficulty was a little more difficult than 2150. You really have to understand the material and not just regurgitate things like "tell me three reasons why a pointer should be used instead of a reference" and dumb stuff like that. There are weekly quizzes which keep you engaged in the class - these range in difficulty from very easy to very hard. Make sure you read the textbook/watch the lectures before taking them as it helps a lot.

Tests are curved usually on a square root curve so the averages come out to be in the low to mid 80s.

Overall good class, I feel like I learned a lot. Reiss is good. take it with him. I feel he will only get better as the semesters go on.