CPU performance

Unit 1 Systems architecture

Starter - recap
• Name at least five components inside a CPU
• What is the purpose of each component?
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Starter
• Components in a CPU
• Control unit (CU) – decodes the instructions; controls the
timing of operations in the CPU
• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) – performs arithmetic and
logic operations
• Registers – including PC (program counter) for the next
instruction; MAR (memory address register) for the memory
location of data to be fetched; MDR (memory data register)
data retrieved from RAM; Accumulator (ACC) stores the
results from the ALU
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

What affects CPU performance?

• The following are three of the most common factors
which can affect a CPU’s performance
• Clock speed
• Processor cores
• Cache

• What do each of these parts of the CPU mean?

• How can they affect the performance
of the CPU
 CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Factors affecting CPU performance

Clock speed
Cache size
Cycles per second
measured in hertz (Hz) Memory on the CPU
that is faster than RAM
but slower
than registers
Number of cores
The number of duplicate
processing units (cores)
placed in one CPU
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Clock speed
• Everything in a computer happens on the pulse of
the internal clock
• Therefore, the faster the clock speed, the faster the
instructions are processed

Clock speed 1GHz Clock speed 2GHz

Clock Control Unit Clock Control Unit

CPU CPU
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Processor Speed
• One cycle per second = 1 hertz (Hz) = 1 instruction
carried out each second
• 1 kilohertz (kHz) = 1000 cycles per second
• 1 Megahertz (MHz) = 1,000,000 cycles per second
• 1 Gigahertz (GHz) = 1,000,000,000 cycles per second
• How fast is your computer’s processor?
• Remember, a 1 GHz processor is performing one billion
cycles per second
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Multi-core processors
• A dual-core processor has two processors in the
same integrated circuit, linked together
• A dual-core processor has the potential to perform two
instructions at the same time
• This allows twice as many instructions to be executed,
however, it doesn’t always perform at this rate as software
may not be able to take full advantage of both cores
• A quad-core processor has four linked processors
• Which processor would you prefer, a dual-core 1GHz, or a
3GHz single core processor?
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Effect on speed
• A quad-core processor working on many different
tasks simultaneously, under ideal conditions can be
up to four times faster than a single-core processor
• If the computer is running a single program, it is not
necessarily any faster, since the program may have been
designed to only run on one core
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Cache memory
• Cache is a small amount of very
CPU
fast, expensive memory in the CPU
• It can be accessed faster than
regular main memory (RAM)
• Why is this useful for recently/frequently Cache

used data?

Main Memory
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Unit 1 Systems architecture

Effect on speed of cache

• RAM is relatively slow memory to access and it is
further away from the processor than cache
• It takes longer to retrieve an instruction or data from RAM
than from cache
• Program instructions and data that are fetched are
stored in cache in case they are needed again soon
• If you have a ‘while’ loop in a program, for example, having all
the instructions in the loop in cache speeds up execution
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Levels of cache memory

• There are different ‘levels’ of cache:
• Level 1 cache is extremely fast but small (between 2-
256KB), located on the CPU. Each core will have its own
level 1 cache
• Level 2 cache is usually also given to each core. It is very
fast, but a little slower than level 1 cache. The typical size is
256KB-8MB
• Level 3 cache is the slowest type of cache, but still faster
than RAM. It is usually located on the CPU and stores
4MB-50MB. The cache is shared between all the cores on
the processor
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Levels of cache memory

CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

The benefits of cache

• The data used most often by the CPU is held in
Level 1 cache so is available extremely quickly
• In most systems, Level 1 cache is used about 50% of the time,
with Level 2 cache being accessed about 90% of the time
• This greatly reduces the time that the CPU has to wait for data
from main memory

• The size of the Level 2 cache is a major factor in

determining the performance of the CPU
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Which is (theoretically) faster?

1. A dual core processor running at 2.7GHz with 4MB of
shared cache memory
2. A quad core processor running at 1.5GHz with 8MB
of shared cache memory
3. A single core processor running at 3.2GHz with 2MB
of cache memory
4. A dual core processor running at 3.2GHz with 4MB of
shared cache memory
Calculate the maximum number of cycles per second in
each case and rank them in order of performance
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Embedded systems
• Do these devices have inputs, processes and
outputs?
• Could they be classed as computers?
• Why or why not?
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Embedded computers
• An embedded computer is a single microprocessor
that includes RAM, ROM and a CPU
• An embedded computer is frequently used to control a device
using simple inputs
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Unit 1 Systems architecture

Embedded systems
• Without embedded systems, a digital device would
not be able to perform specific functions
• For example, a dishwasher wouldn’t know when to heat the
water, or a satnav wouldn’t know how to communicate with a
satellite
• What embedded functions do cars use?
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Car embedded systems

• Some examples of embedded systems in
cars include:
• Cruise control
• Engine cooling fan
• Interior fans and temperature
• Interior lighting
• Rear cameras and remote parking
• Infotainment systems (entertainment / information / satnav)
• Engine control unit (ECU)
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Embedded vs General purpose

• The following table shows how the characteristics of
embedded systems compare to
general purpose machines
Characteristic Embedded system General purpose machine
CPU speed Typically slow Typically very fast
Software Has one purpose and New software can be
cannot install new software installed
Storage Programs stored on ROM Programs stored on
hard drives
Reliability Typically very reliable – e.g. As it runs many software
a microwave should not programs it may be less
have a bug that changes reliable and need restarting
defrost to full power the device
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Worksheet 2
• Complete Task 2 on Worksheet 2
 CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Task 3- Embedded systems

The poster should answer the following questions:

What is an Embedded systems?

Provide examples of embedded systems

What is the difference between an embedded system

and general purpose machine?
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Starter on WB
1. Name three common factors which affect the
performance of a CPU
2. What do each of these factors mean?
3. What is an embedded system?
4. Name three examples of an embedded system
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

1. Clock speed, number of cores, cache size

2. Clock speed – the number of fetch-execute cycles
per second; number of cores – the number of
processing units on each CPU; cache – memory
that is faster than RAM and slower than the
registers, normally located on the CPU
3. A computer system that is used to control
mechanical or electrical systems
4. Satnav, microwave, dishwasher, burglar alarm,
washing machine, digital watch…
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

Starter
1. Name three common factors which affect the
performance of a CPU
2. What do each of these factors mean?
3. What is an embedded system?
4. Name three examples of an embedded system
CPU performance
Unit 1 Systems architecture

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