Lecture 02 (Morley Ch 02)

CSC 101 – Introduction to ICT

 Outline
• How Computer Process Data
• Central Processing Unit
• Control Unit
• Arithmetic & Logic Unit
• System Clock & Machine Cycle
• Memory
• Volatile & Non-Volatile, Flash Memory,
Registers, Cache Memory
• Bus & Types, and Ports

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The System Unit and
CPU
 Inside the System
Unit
• System Unit
– The main case of a computer
– Houses the processing hardware for a computer
– Also contains storage devices, the power supply, and
cooling fans
– Houses processor, memory, interfaces to connect to
peripheral devices (printers, etc), and other
components
– With a desktop computer, usually looks like a rectangular
box

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Inside the System
Unit

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 Inside the System
Unit
• The Motherboard
– Computer Chip
• Very small pieces of
silicon or other
semi-conducting
material onto
which integrated
circuits are
embedded
– Circuit Board
• A thin board
containing
computer chips and 6
 Inside the System
Unit
• External devices (monitors, keyboards, mice, printers)
• Wireless devices (e.g., Bluetooth)
• Power Supply
– Connects to the motherboard to deliver electricity
(personal computer)
– Portable computers use rechargeable battery pack
• Nonremovable batteries more difficult and expensive
to replace

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 Inside the System
Unit
• Drive Bays
– Rectangular metal racks inside the system unit that house
storage devices
• Hard drive, CD/DVD drive, flash memory card reader
• Connected to the motherboard with a cable
• Processors
– The CPU (Central Processing Unit)
• Circuitry and components packaged together and connected
directly to the motherboard
• Does the vast majority of processing for a computer
• Also called a processor; called a microprocessor when talking
about personal computers

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 Inside the System
Unit
– Dual-core CPU
• Contains the processing components (cores) of two
separate processors on a single CPU
– Quad-core CPU
• Contains four cores
– Multi-core processors allow computers to work on more
than one task at a time
– Typically different CPUs for desktop computers, portable
computers, servers, mobile devices, consumer devices, etc.
• Personal computer CPU often made by Intel or AMD
• Media tablets and mobile phones use processors made
by other companies such as ARM

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Inside the System
Unit

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 Inside the System
Unit
– The GPU (graphics processing unit)
• Takes care of the processing needed to display images
(including still images, animations) on the screen
• Can be located on
the motherboard,
on a video graphics
board, on in the
CPU package

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 How It Works
Box
GPUs and Transformers: The Ride 3D at Universal Studios
– Uses a 2,000 foot-long track, 14 huge screens, and 34
projectors
– Motion is synchronized with the action
– Images are 3D, 4K
– Used GPUs to see 3D
animations in real time
as they were being
developed

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 Inside the System
Unit
• Processing Speed
– CPU clock speed is one measurement of processing speed
– Rated in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz)
– Higher CPU clock speed = more instructions processed per
second
– Alternate measure of processing speed is the number of
instructions a CPU can process per second
• Megaflops (millions), gigaflops (billions), teraflops
(trillions)
– Benchmark tests can be used to evaluate overall
processing speed

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 Inside the System
Unit
• Word Size
– The amount of data that a CPU can manipulate at one time
– Typically 32 or 64 bits
• Cache Memory
– Special group of very fast memory chips located on or
close to the CPU
– Level 1 is fastest, then Level 2, then Level 3
– More cache memory typically means faster
processing
– Usually internal cache (built into the CPU)

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 Inside the System
Unit
• Bus Width, Bus Speed, and Bandwidth
– A bus is an electronic path over which data can
travel
– Found inside the CPU and on the motherboard
– Bus width is the number of wires in the bus over
which data can travel
• A wider bus allows more data to be transferred
at one time

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 Inside the System
Unit
• Bus width and speed determine
the throughput or bandwidth
of the bus
– The amount of data that can
be transferred by the bus in
a given time period

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 Memor
y
• Memory
– Refers to chip-based storage located inside the system unit
– Storage refers to the amount of long-term storage
available to a computer
– Random Access Memory (RAM)
• Computer’s main memory
• Consists of chips arranged on a circuit board called a
memory module which are plugged into the
motherboard
• Stores essential parts of operating system, programs,
and data the computer is currently using

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Memor
y

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 Memor
y
• Volatile
– RAM content lost when the computer is shut off
– ROM and flash memory are non-volatile
• Measured in bytes
– Amount installed depends on the CPU and
operating system being used
• Most personal computers use SD-RAM
• SRAM and DRAM

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 Memor
y
• Each location in memory
has an address
– Each location
typically holds one
byte
– Computer system
sets up and
maintains directory
tables to facilitate
retrieval of the data

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 Memor
y
– Registers
• High-speed memory built into the CPU
• Used to store data and intermediary results during
Processing
Temporary storage areas in computer cPU that holds
data and instructions.
• Fastest type of memory, helps CPU process
information quickly.
– ROM (read-only memory)
• Non-volatile chips located on the motherboard into
which data or programs have been permanently stored
• Retrieved by the computer when needed
• Being replaced with flash memory 21
Different types of CPU
register
Memory Address
Register
 This register holds the memory
addresses of data and instructions.
This register is used to access data
and instructions from memory during
the execution phase of an
instruction.
 Suppose CPU wants to store
some data in the memory or to
read the data from the memory.
It places the address of the-
Program Counter
 The program counter (PC), commonly called
the instruction pointer (IP) in Intel x86
microprocessors, and sometimes called
the instruction address register, or just part of
the instruction sequencer in some computers, is a
processor register
 It keeps track of the the next memory address of
the instruction that is to be executed once the
execution of the current instruction is completed. In
other words, it holds the address of the
memory location of the next instruction when
the current instruction is executed by the
microprocessor.
Accumulator Register

 ThisRegister is used for storing the

Results those are produced by the
System. When the CPU will generate
Some Results after the Processing
then all the Results will be Stored
into the AC Register.
Memory Data Register
(MDR)
 MDR is the register of a control unit that contains
the data to be stored in the storage (e.g. RAM), or
the data after a fetch from the computer storage.
It acts like a buffer and holds anything that is copied
from the memory ready for the processor to use it.
 MDR hold the information before it goes to the
decoder.
 The MDR is a two-way register. When data is fetched
from memory and placed into the MDR, it is written to
in one direction.
 When there is a write instruction, the data to be written
is placed into the MDR from another CPU register,
which then puts the data into memory.
Index Register

A hardware element which holds a

number that can be added to (or, in
some cases, subtracted from) the
address portion of a computer
instruction to form an effective address.
 Also known as base register.
 An index register in a computer’s CPU is
a processor register used for modifying
operand addresses during the run of a
program.
 Memor
y
– Flash Memory
• Nonvolatile memory chips that can be used for storage
• Have begun to replace ROM for storing system
information
• Now stores firmware for personal computers and other
devices
• Built into many types of devices (media tablets, mobile
phones, and digital cameras) for user storage

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 Cooling
Components
• Fans
– Fans used on most personal computers to help cool the
CPU and system unit
– Heat is an ongoing problem for CPU and computer
manufacturers
• Can damage components
• Cooler chips run faster
• Heat Sinks
– Small components typically made out of
aluminum with
fins that help to dissipate heat

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 Cooling
Components
• Cooling Systems
– Liquid cooling systems
• Cool the computer with liquid-filled tubes
– Immersion cooling
• Hardware is actually submerged into units filled with a
liquid cooling solution
– Notebook cooling stand
• Cools the underside of a notebook computer
– Other cooling methods, such as ion pump cooling
systems,
are under development
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Cooling
Components

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 Expansio
n
• Expansion Slots, Expansion Cards, and ExpressCard Modules
– Expansion Slot
• A location on the motherboard into which expansion
cards are inserted
– Expansion Card
• A circuit board inserted into an expansion slot
• Used to add additional functionality or to attach a
peripheral device
– ExpressCard Modules
• Designed to add additional functionality to
notebooks
Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 32
Expansio
n

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 Buse
s
• Bus
– An electronic path within a computer over which data travels
• Located within the CPU and etched onto the motherboard
– Expansion Bus
• Connects the CPU to peripheral (typically input and output)
devices
– Memory Bus
• Connects CPU directly to RAM
– Frontside Bus (FSB)
• Connects CPU to the chipset that connects the CPU to the
rest of the bus architecture

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 Buse
s
– PCI and PCI Express (PCIe) Bus
• PCI has been one of the most common types
• Today, PCI Express bus, which is extremely fast, has
replaced the PCI bus
– Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• Extremely versatile
• Allows 127 different devices to connect to a computer
via a single USB port
– FireWire Bus
• Developed by Apple to connect multimedia devices to a
computer

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 Ports and
Connectors
• Port
– A connector on the exterior of a computer’s system unit
to which a device may be attached
– Typical desktop computer ports include:
• Power connector, Firewire, VGA monitor, Network, USB,
Audio, and HDMI
– Others include IrDA and Bluetooth ports, eSATA ports,
Thunderbolt ports (Apple devices)
– Most computers support the Plug and Play standard

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Ports and
Connectors

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 Ports and
Connectors
– Portable computers have ports similar to desktop
computers, but often not as many
– Smartphones and mobile devices have more
limited
expansion capabilities
• Usually have a USB port, HDMI port, and/or flash
memory card slot
• Flash memory cards often use the Secure Digital (SD)
format
• MiniSD and microSD cars are smaller than regular SD
cards

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Ports and
Connectors

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 Trend
Box
Tablet Docks
– Used to help with tablet productivity
– Some are just a stand
– Many include a keyboard
– Some include ports (USB,
monitor, etc.) to connect
peripherals
– Some contain a battery

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 How the CPU
Works
• CPU (Central Processing Unit)
– Consists of a variety of circuitry and components packaged
together
– Transistor: Key element of the microprocessor
• Made of semi-conductor material that acts like a switch
controlling the flow of electrons inside a chip
– Today’s CPUs contain hundreds of millions of transistors;
the number doubles about every 18 months (Moore’s
Law)

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 How the CPU
Works
• Typical CPU Components
– Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU)
• Performs arithmetic involving integers and logical
operations
– Floating Point Unit (FPU)
• Performs decimal arithmetic
– Control Unit
• Coordinates and controls activities within a CPU core
– Prefetch Unit
• Attempts to retrieve data and instructions before they
are needed for processing in order to avoid delays

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 How the CPU
Works
– Decode Unit
• Translates instructions from the prefetch unit so they
are understood by the control unit, ALU, and FPU
– Registers and Internal Cache Memory
• Store data and instructions needed by the CPU
– Bus Interface Unit
• Allows the core to communicate with other CPU
components

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How the CPU
Works

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 The System Clock and
the Machine Cycle
• System Clock
– Small quartz crystal on the motherboard
– Timing mechanism within the computer system that
synchronizes the computer’s operations
• Sends out a signal on a regular basis to all computer
components
• Each signal is a cycle
• Number of cycles per second is measured in
hertz (Hz)
• One megahertz = one million ticks of the
system clock

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 The System Clock and
the Machine Cycle
• Many PC system clocks run at 200 MHz
• Computers can run at a multiple or fraction of the
system clock speed
• A CPU clock speed of 2 GHz means the CPU clock
“ticks” 10 times during each system clock tick
• During each CPU clock tick, one or more pieces of
 microcode are processed
• A CPU with a higher clock speed processes more
instructions per second than the same CPU with a
lower CPU clock speed

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 46

Machine level
instructions
A machine-level instruction is a
basic, low-level command that a CPU
can execute directly.
 These instructions are part of the
machine language specific to a
particular CPU architecture and are
written in binary code, which the
CPU’s control unit interprets and
executes without needing
translation.
 The System Clock and
the Machine Cycle
• Machine Cycle
– The series of operations involved in the execution of a single
machine level instruction
A machine cycle is the sequence of operations performed by the
CPU to complete a single basic unit of processing. Each machine
cycle consists of steps that allow the CPU to execute an
instruction, fetching data from memory, executing an operation,
and storing the result.

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Example of machine
cycle
 Fetch Cycle
 The CPU fetches the ADD A, B
instruction from memory.
 Decode Cycle
 The CPU decodes the ADD
instruction to understand what it
needs to do. It identifies that this is
an addition operation, and it
identifies that it needs to read values
from memory locations A and B.
Example of machine
cycle
 Execute Cycle
 The CPU reads the values from memory
locations A and B. These values are sent
to the ALU, where the addition operation
is performed: A + B.
 Store Cycle
 The result from the ALU is written back
to memory. This completes the
instruction, and the CPU is now ready to
proceed to the next instruction.
steps in machine cycle
• Fetch: Retrieves the instruction.
• Decode: Understands and prepares for
execution.
• Execute: Performs the calculation or
operation.
• Store: Writes the result back to memory
or a register.
Machine cycle

 Machine cycles are fundamental to

how a CPU processes instructions
and coordinates data flow in and out
of the processor.
 Machine cycle is the main activity
performed by the CPU to execute a
program and instructions.
 Instruction execution
cycle
– It is also referred as instruction cycle, but machine cycle is the part of
instruction cycle.
– Instruction cycle is the time taken by CPU to execute one program
instruction. Essentially, the instruction execution cycle is
the sequence of machine cycles required to complete a
single instruction.
– The instruction execution cycle, also known as the
instruction cycle, is the fundamental process that the
CPU follows to execute each instruction in a program.
The cycle typically includes several stages, each
contributing to the successful completion of an
instruction. In modern CPU architectures, a 5-stage
pipeline is often used to increase instruction throughput
Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 53
by overlapping the execution of multiple instructions.
 The System Clock and
the Machine Cycle
• Machine Cycle
– The series of operations
involved in the execution of a
single machine level instruction

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Example of the Cycle in
Action
 Let's say we want to add two numbers stored in
memory locations 1001 and 1002, and store the
result in 1003.
 Fetch: The instruction ADD 1001, 1002, 1003 is
fetched from memory.
 Decode: The control unit understands that this is
an addition operation.
 Execute: The ALU adds the values at memory
locations 1001 and 1002.
 Store: The sum is saved in memory location 1003.
 This cycle repeats continuously, processing
millions or even billions of instructions per second.
 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
• and
Improving in theof Your
the Performance Future
System Today
– Add more memory
– Perform system maintenance
• Uninstall programs properly
• Remove unnecessary programs
from the Startup list
• Consider placing large files not
needed on a regular basis on
external storage
• Delete temporary files

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 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
•and inandthe
Error check Future
defrag the hard drive periodically
• Scan for viruses and spyware continually
• Clean out dust once or twice a year
– Buy a larger or second hard drive
– Upgrade your Internet connection
– Upgrade your video graphics card

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 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
• and
Strategies in the
for Making Faster andFuture
Better Computers
– Improved Architecture
• Smaller components, faster bus
speeds, multiple CPU cores,
support for virtualization
– Improved Materials
• Flexible electronic components
– Copper, high-k, graphene
chip

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Pipelining

 Modern CPUs use pipelining and

other optimization techniques to
overlap multiple machine cycles,
improving overall processing speed.
 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
and in the Future
– Pipelining
• Allows multiple instructions to be processed at one
time
• A process of arrangements of hardware elements
of CPU such that overall performance should be
increased.
• Simultaneous execution of more than one
instruction takes place in pipeline process.
(overlapping)
– Multiprocessing and Parallel Processing
• Use multiple processors to speed up processing

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 60

 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
and in the Future

S
1
S
2
S
3
S
4
w many clock cycle needed to complete 1 instruction?
S
lock cycle are required
5
w many clock cycle are required if multiple instruction (x) are present?
x
Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 61
 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
and (time
– Pipelined Execution in calculation
the Future for instruction execution)
– (Time for first instruction) + ((n-1) * each stage time)
– n=total number of instructions
– Time for first instruction = number of stages * each stage time
– Or
– Each stage time*(number of stages + (n-1))

– Non-Pipelined Execution (time calculation for instruction execution)

– Number of instructions x number of stages x time for each stage

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 62

 Pipeline vs non-pipelined
execution
– Pipelined Execution
– In a pipelined processor, the stages overlap, allowing multiple
instructions to be in different stages of execution simultaneously.
This means that once the pipeline is filled, an instruction is
completed at each clock cycle, resulting in increased throughput.
– Non-Pipelined Execution
– In a non-pipelined processor, each instruction goes through all
stages one after the other without overlap. This results in a higher
execution time per instruction since each instruction must wait
until the previous one completes all stages.

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 63

 Making Computers
Faster and Better Now
and in the Future

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 64

 Future
Trends
• Nanotechnology
– The science of creating tiny computers and components
less than 100 nanometers in size
– Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) used in many products today
– Nanofilters and nanosensors
– Future applications may be
built by working at the
individual atomic and
molecular levels

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 65

 Future
Trends
• Quantum Computing
– Applies the principles of quantum physics and quantum
mechanics to computers
– Utilizes atoms or nuclei working together as quantum bits
(qubits)
– Qubits function simultaneously as the computer’s
processor and memory and can represent more than two
states
– Expected to be used for specialized applications, such as
encryption and code breaking

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 66

 Future
Trends
• Optical Computing
– Uses light, from laser beams or infrared beams, to perform
digital computations
– Opto-electronic computers use both optical and electronic
components
• Silicon Photonics
– The process of making optical devices using silicon
manufacturing techniques
• Possible low-cost solution to future data-intensive
computing applications—telemedicine,
cloud data centers

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 67

 Future
Trends
• Tera-Scale Computing
– The ability to process one trillion floating-point operations
per second (teraflops)
– Terascale research is focusing on creating multi-core
processors with tens to hundreds of cores
– Intel has created a Single-chip Cloud Computer
which
contains 48 cores on one silicon chip
– Expected to be needed for future applications

Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, 15th Edition 68

 Future
Trends
• 3D Chips
– Contain transistors that are
layered to cut down on
the surface area required
– Created by layering individual
silicon wafers on top of one
another
– Being used with memory, flash
memory, and CPUs

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 Summary
• How Computer Process Data
• Central Processing Unit
• Control Unit
• Arithmetic & Logic Unit
• System Clock & Machine Cycle
• Memory
• Volatile & Non-Volatile, Flash
Memory, Registers, Cache Memory
• Bus & Types, and Ports

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