Computer Architecture

and Organization

Chapter 1
Introduction
Chapter Overview

 This chapter introduces the concept of the

computer as a hierarchical system.
 A computer can be viewed as a structure of
components and its function described in
terms of the collective function of its
cooperating components.
 Each component, in turn, can be described
in terms of its internal structure and
function.
 The major levels of this hierarchical view are
introduced.
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, the students
should be able to:
 Define computer organization and architecture.
 Compare and Contrast Computer Architecture
and Organization.
 Discuss Structure and Function of computers.
 Discuss the Modern Computer Architecture and
Organizations.
 Describe the Role of Computer Architecture in
computer.
Architecture & Organization
 Computer architecture: Refers to those
attributes of a system visible to a programmer
or, put another way, those attributes that
have a direct impact on the logical execution
of a program. It is the science of integrating
those components to achieve a level of
functionality and performance.
 Examples
—Instruction set, number of bits used for data
representation, I/O mechanisms, addressing
techniques.
—E.g. Is there a multiply instruction?
Architecture & Organization
 Computer organization: Refers to the
operational units and their interconnections
that realize the architectural specifications.
 Computer organization is how features are
implemented. Computer organization are the
components from which computer are built.
 Examples
—Control signals, memory technology.
—Interfaces between the computer and peripherals
—e.g. Is there a hardware multiply unit or is it
done by repeated addition?
Architecture & Organization
 All Intel x86 family share the same basic
architecture
 The IBM System/370 family share the
same basic architecture
 This gives code compatibility
—At least backwards
 Organization differs between different
versions
Structure & Function
 A computer is a complex system; modern-
days computers contain millions of
elementary electronic components.
 The key is to recognize the hierarchical
nature of most complex systems.
 The hierarchical nature of complex systems
is essential to both their design and their
description.
 A hierarchical system is a set of
interrelated subsystems.
Structure & Function
 Structure is the way in which components
relate to each other.
 Function is the operation of individual
components as part of the structure.
 The designer need only deal with a
particular level of the system at a time.
 The behavior at each level depends only on
a simplified, abstracted characterization of
the system at the next lower level.
 At each level, the designer is concerned
with structure and function:
Function

 All computer functions are:

—Data processing
—Data storage
—Data movement
—Control
 Both the structure and functioning of a
computer are, in essence, simple.
Functional View
Operations: Data movement
Operations: Storage
Operation: Processing from/to storage
Operation:
Processing from storage to I/O
Structure of A Computer
Peripherals

 The computer interacts in some fashion with

its external environment.
 In general, all of its linkages to the external
environment can be classified as peripheral
devices or communication lines.
 Peripherals are a hardware I/O device that
gives a computer additional functionality. It
can be also described any external device
that provides input and output for the
computer.
 Structure - Top Level

Peripherals Computer

Central Main
Processing Memory
Unit

Computer
Systems
Interconnection

Input
Output
Communication
lines
Structure - Top Level
 Central processing unit (CPU): Controls
the operation of the computer and performs
its data processing functions; often simply
referred to as processor.
 Main memory: Stores data.
 I/O: Moves data between the computer and
its external environment.
 System interconnection: Some
mechanism that provides for communication
among CPU, main memory, and I/O. A
common example system bus.
Structure - The CPU

CPU

Computer Arithmetic
Registers and
I/O Login Unit
System CPU
Bus
Internal CPU
Memory Interconnection

Control
Unit
Structure - The CPU
Its major structural components are as
follows:
Control unit: Controls the operation of the
CPU and hence the computer.
Arithmetic and logic unit (ALU): Performs
the computer’s data processing functions.
Registers: Provides storage internal to the
CPU.
CPU interconnection: Some mechanism
that provides for communication among the
control unit, ALU, and registers.
Structure - The Control Unit

Control Unit

CPU
Sequencing
ALU Login
Control
Internal
Unit
Bus
Control Unit
Registers Registers and
Decoders

Control
Memory
 Structure - The Control Unit

 Control Unit: This unit controls the operations of all

parts of the computer but does not carry out any
actual data processing operations.
 Sequencing Login: is a type of logic circuit whose
output depends not only on the present value of its
input signals but on the past history of its inputs.
 Control Unit Registers and Decoders: These are the
instruction register and the program counter and are
used together with the instruction decoder in the
execution cycle.
 Control Memory: it is the storage in the micro-programmed
control unit to store the micro-program.
Computer Evolution and
Performance
A Brief History of Computers
The First Generation: Vacuum
Tubes
The Second Generation:
Transistors
The Third Generation: Integrated
Circuits
Later Generations
Overview of Evolution
 We begin our study of computers with
a brief history. This history is itself
interesting and also serves the
purpose of providing an overview of
computer structure and function.
 The evolution of computers has been
characterized by increasing processor
speed, decreasing component size,
increasing memory size, and
increasing I/O capacity and speed.
A Brief History of Computers: The
First Generation: Vacuum Tubes:
 Electronic Numerical Integrator And
Computer (ENIAC) was the first general
purpose electronic digital computer
designed and constructed at the University
of Pennsylvania a project response to U.S.
needs during World War II.
 Having difficulty supplying trajectory
tables accurately and within a reasonable
time frame Army’s Ballistics Research
Laboratory employed 200 people and
asked to solve this problem.
A Brief History of Computers: The
First Generation: Vacuum Tubes
Eckert and Mauchly professor of
University of Pennsylvania and his
graduate student proposed to build a
general-purpose computer using
vacuum tubes for the BRL’s application.
 Trajectory tables for weapons
 Started 1943 and Finished 1946
Too late for war effort
 Used until 1955
 Magnetic core and magnetic tape storage
 devices are used.
ENIAC - details
The resulting machine was
Decimal (not binary)
20 accumulators of 10 digits
Programmed manually by switches
18,000 vacuum tubes
30 tons
15,000 square feet
140 kW power consumption
5,000 additions per second
 DIFFERENT COMPUTER IMAGES
SUPERCOMPUTERS’ IMAGES

2
 MAINFRAME COMPUTERS’ IMAGES

2
 The Von Neumann Machine
 The stored-program concept attributed to the
ENIAC designers, most notably the
mathematician John von Neumann, who was a
consultant on the ENIAC project. Alan Turing
developed the idea at about the same time.
 The first publication 1945 proposal by von
Neumann for a new computer, the EDVAC
(Electronic Discrete Variable Computer).
 In 1946, von Neumann and his colleagues
began the design of a new stored-program
computer at the Princeton Institute for
Advanced Studies.
Von Neumann/Turing
 Main memory storing programs and data.
 ALU operating on binary data.
 Control unit interpreting instructions from
memory and executing.
 Input and output equipment operated by
control unit.
 Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies.
(IAS)
 Completed 1952.
Structure of Von Neumann Machine
Commercial Computers
 The 1950s saw the birth of the computer
industry with two companies, Sperry and
IBM, dominating the marketplace.
 1947 - Eckert-Mauchly Computer
Corporation
 UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer)
 US Bureau of Census 1950 calculations
 Became part of Sperry-Rand Corporation
 Late 1950s - UNIVAC II
 Faster
 More memory
The Second Generation:
Transistors
 The first major change in the electronic
computer came with the replacement of the
vacuum tube by the transistor.
 The transistor is smaller, cheaper, and
dissipates less heat than a vacuum tube but
can be used in the same way as a vacuum
tube to construct computers.
 The transistor is a solid-state device made
from Silicon (Sand)
 Invented 1947 at Bell Labs
 William Shockley et al.
Computer Generations
Transistors
 Each new generation is characterized by
greater processing performance, larger
memory capacity, and smaller size than
the previous one.
 The second generation saw the
introduction of more complex arithmetic
and logic units and control units, the use
of high level programming languages, and
the provision of system software with the
computer.
Transistor Based Computers
 Second generation machines
 NCR & RCA produced small
transistor machines
 IBM 7000
 DEC – 1957
 Produced PDP-1
Microelectronics
 Literally - “small electronics”
 A computer is made up of gates,
memory cells and interconnections
 These can be manufactured on a
semiconductor
 e.g. silicon wafer
The Third Generation: Integrated
Circuits
 In 1958 came the achievement that
revolutionized electronics and
started the era of microelectronics:
the invention of the integrated
circuit. It is the integrated circuit
that defines the third generation of
computers.
 In this section we provide a brief
introduction to the technology of
integrated circuits.
The Third Generation: Integrated Circuits
 The basic elements of a digital computer,
as we know, must perform storage,
movement, processing, and control
functions.
 Only two fundamental types of
components are required gates and
memory cells.
 A gate is a device that implements a
simple Boolean or logical function. Such
devices are called gates because they
control data flow in much the same way
that canal gates do.
 The Third Generation: Integrated Circuits
 The memory cell is a device that can store
one bit of data; that is, the device can be in
one of two stable states at any time.
 By interconnecting large numbers of these
fundamental devices, we can construct a
computer. We can relate this to our four
basic functions as follows:
 Data storage: Provided by memory cells.
 Data processing: Provided by gates.
 Data movement: The paths among components are
used to move data from memory to memory.
 Control: The paths among components can carry
control signals.
Growth in CPU Transistor Count
Later Generations
 Beyond the third generation there is
less general agreement on defining
generations of computers.
 With the rapid pace of technology,
the high rate of introduction of new
products, and the importance of
software and communications as well
as hardware, the classification by
generation becomes less clear and
less meaningful.
Later Generations
 Large-scale integration (LSI), more than 1000
components can be placed on a single integrated
circuit chip.
 Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) achieved more
than 10,000 components per chip, while current
ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI) chips can
contain more than one million components.
 SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY The first application of
integrated circuit technology to computers was
construction of the processor (the control unit and
the arithmetic and logic unit) out of integrated
circuit chips.
Designing For Performance
 Year by year, the cost of computer
systems continues to drop
dramatically, while the performance
and capacity of those systems
continue to rise equally
dramatically.
 Designing For Performance
 Technological revolution has enabled the
development of applications of amazing
complexity and power.
 For example, desktop applications that require
the great power of today’s microprocessor-based
systems include
 Image processing
 Speech recognition
 Videoconferencing
 Multimedia authoring
 Voice and video annotation of files
 Simulation modeling
Designing For Performance
 Workstation systems now support
highly sophisticated engineering and
scientific applications, as well as
simulation systems, and have the
ability to support image and video
applications.
 Performance Balance
 While processor power has raced ahead at
breakneck speed, other critical components
of the computer have not kept up. The
result is a need to look for performance
balance: an adjusting of the organization
and architecture to compensate for the
mismatch among the capabilities of the
various components.
 Nowhere is the problem created by such
mismatches more critical than in the
interface between processor and main
memory.
Performance Balance
 Processor speed increased
 Memory capacity increased
 Memory speed lags behind processor
speed
Designing For Performance
Solutions
 Increase number of bits retrieved at one
time
— Make DRAM “wider” rather than “deeper”
 Change DRAM interface
— Cache
 Reduce frequency of memory access
— More complex cache and cache on chip
 Increase interconnection bandwidth
— High speed buses
— Hierarchy of buses
Designing For Performance
 This includes the incorporation of
one or more caches on the
processor chip as well as on an off-
chip cache close to the processor
chip.
 Increase the interconnect bandwidth
between processors and memory by
using higher-speed buses and by
using a hierarchy of buses to buffer
and structure data flow.
I/O Devices
 Peripherals with intensive I/O demands
 Large data throughput demands
 Processors can handle this
 Problem moving data
 Solutions:
— Caching
— Buffering
— Higher-speed interconnection buses
— More elaborate bus structures
— Multiple-processor configurations
Typical I/O Device Data Rates
Key is Balance
 Processor components
 Main memory
 I/O devices
 Interconnection structures
Improvements in Chip Organization and
Architecture

 Increase hardware speed of processor

—Fundamentally due to shrinking logic gate size
– More gates, packed more tightly, increasing clock rate
– Propagation time for signals reduced
 Increase size and speed of caches
—Dedicating part of processor chip
– Cache access times drop significantly
 Change processor organization and
architecture
—Increase effective speed of execution
—Parallelism
 Problems with Clock Speed and Login
Density
 Power
— Power density increases with density of logic and clock
speed
— Dissipating heat
 RC delay
— Speed at which electrons flow limited by resistance and
capacitance of metal wires connecting them
— Delay increases as RC product increases
— Wire interconnects thinner, increasing resistance
— Wires closer together, increasing capacitance
 Memory latency
— Memory speeds lag processor speeds
 Solution:
— More emphasis on organizational and architectural
approaches
Intel Microprocessor Performance
Increased Cache Capacity
 Typically two or three levels of
cache between processor and main
memory
 Chip density increased
—More cache memory on chip
– Faster cache access

 Pentium chip devoted about 10% of

chip area to cache
 Pentium 4 devotes about 50%
END
Questions

1. What is a computer organization and

computer architecture?
2. What is the difference between computer
structure and computer function?
3. What are the four main functions of a
computer?
4. List the main structural components of a
computer.
5. List the main structural components of a
processor.