COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND

5 D
Edition
th

The Hardware/Software Interface

Chapter 1
Computer Abstractions
and Technology

Progress in computer technology

Makes novel applications feasible

Underpinned by Moores Law

1.1 Introduction

The Computer Revolution

Computers in automobiles
Cell phones
Human genome project
World Wide Web
Search Engines

Computers are pervasive

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 2

Classes of Computers

Personal computers

General purpose, variety of software

Subject to cost/performance tradeoff

Server computers

Network based
High capacity, performance, reliability
Range from small servers to building sized

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 3

Classes of Computers

Supercomputers

High-end scientific and engineering

calculations
Highest capability but represent a small
fraction of the overall computer market

Embedded computers

Hidden as components of systems

Stringent power/performance/cost constraints

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 4

The PostPC Era

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 5

The PostPC Era

Personal Mobile Device (PMD)

Battery operated
Connects to the Internet
Hundreds of dollars
Smart phones, tablets, electronic glasses

Cloud computing

Warehouse Scale Computers (WSC)

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Portion of software run on a PMD and a
portion run in the Cloud
Amazon and Google
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 6

What You Will Learn

How programs are translated into the

machine language

The hardware/software interface

What determines program performance

And how the hardware executes them

And how it can be improved

How hardware designers improve

performance
What is parallel processing
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 7

Understanding Performance

Algorithm

Programming language, compiler, architecture

Determine number of machine instructions executed

per operation

Processor and memory system

Determines number of operations executed

Determine how fast instructions are executed

I/O system (including OS)

Determines how fast I/O operations are executed

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 8

Design for Moores Law

Use abstraction to simplify design

Make the common case fast

Performance via parallelism

Performance via pipelining

Performance via prediction

Hierarchy of memories

Dependability via redundancy

1.2 Eight Great Ideas in Computer Architecture

Eight Great Ideas

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 9

Application software

Written in high-level language

System software

Compiler: translates HLL code to

machine code
Operating System: service code

1.3 Below Your Program

Below Your Program

Handling input/output
Managing memory and storage
Scheduling tasks & sharing resources

Hardware

Processor, memory, I/O controllers

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 10

Levels of Program Code

High-level language

Assembly language

Level of abstraction closer

to problem domain
Provides for productivity
and portability
Textual representation of
instructions

Hardware representation

Binary digits (bits)

Encoded instructions and
data
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 11

The BIG Picture

Same components for

all kinds of computer

Desktop, server,
embedded

1.4 Under the Covers

Components of a Computer

Input/output includes

User-interface devices

Storage devices

Display, keyboard, mouse

Hard disk, CD/DVD, flash

Network adapters

For communicating with

other computers

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 12

Touchscreen

PostPC device
Supersedes keyboard
and mouse
Resistive and
Capacitive types

Most tablets, smart

phones use capacitive
Capacitive allows
multiple touches
simultaneously

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 13

Through the Looking Glass

LCD screen: picture elements (pixels)

Mirrors content of frame buffer memory

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 14

Opening the Box

Capacitive multitouch LCD screen
3.8 V, 25 Watt-hour battery
Computer board

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 15

Inside the Processor (CPU)

Datapath: performs operations on data

Control: sequences datapath, memory, ...
Cache memory

Small fast SRAM memory for immediate

access to data

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 16

Inside the Processor

Apple A5

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 17

Abstractions
The BIG Picture

Abstraction helps us deal with complexity

Instruction set architecture (ISA)

The hardware/software interface

Application binary interface

Hide lower-level detail

The ISA plus system software interface

Implementation

The details underlying and interface

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 18

A Safe Place for Data

Volatile main memory

Loses instructions and data when power off

Non-volatile secondary memory

Magnetic disk
Flash memory
Optical disk (CDROM, DVD)

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 19

Networks

Communication, resource sharing,

nonlocal access
Local area network (LAN): Ethernet
Wide area network (WAN): the Internet
Wireless network: WiFi, Bluetooth

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 20

Electronics
technology
continues to evolve

Increased capacity
and performance
Reduced cost

DRAM capacity

Year

Technology

Relative performance/cost

1951

Vacuum tube

1965

Transistor

1975

Integrated circuit (IC)

1995

Very large scale IC (VLSI)

2013

Ultra large scale IC

1
35
900
2,400,000

1.5 Technologies for Building Processors and Memory

Technology Trends

250,000,000,000
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 21

Semiconductor Technology

Silicon: semiconductor
Add materials to transform properties:

Conductors
Insulators
Switch

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 22

Manufacturing ICs

Yield: proportion of working dies per wafer

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 23

Intel Core i7 Wafer

300mm wafer, 280 chips, 32nm technology

Each chip is 20.7 x 10.5 mm
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 24

Integrated Circuit Cost

Cost per wafer
Cost per die
Dies per wafer Yield
Dies per wafer Wafer area Die area
1
Yield
(1 (Defects per area Die area/2))2

Nonlinear relation to area and defect rate

Wafer cost and area are fixed

Defect rate determined by manufacturing process
Die area determined by architecture and circuit design
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 25

Which airplane has the best performance?

1.6 Performance

Defining Performance

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 26

Response Time and Throughput

Response time

How long it takes to do a task

Throughput

Total work done per unit time

How are response time and throughput affected

by

e.g., tasks/transactions/ per hour

Replacing the processor with a faster version?

Adding more processors?

Well focus on response time for now

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 27

Relative Performance

Define Performance = 1/Execution Time

X is n time faster than Y
Performanc e X Performanc e Y
Execution time Y Execution time X n

Example: time taken to run a program

10s on A, 15s on B
Execution TimeB / Execution TimeA
= 15s / 10s = 1.5
So A is 1.5 times faster than B
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 28

Measuring Execution Time

Elapsed time

Total response time, including all aspects

Processing, I/O, OS overhead, idle time

Determines system performance

CPU time

Time spent processing a given job

Discounts I/O time, other jobs shares

Comprises user CPU time and system CPU

time
Different programs are affected differently by
CPU and system performance
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 29

CPU Clocking

Operation of digital hardware governed by a

constant-rate clock
Clock period

Clock (cycles)
Data transfer
and computation
Update state

Clock period: duration of a clock cycle

e.g., 250ps = 0.25ns = 2501012s

Clock frequency (rate): cycles per second

e.g., 4.0GHz = 4000MHz = 4.0109Hz

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 30

CPU Time
CPU Time CPU Clock Cycles Clock Cycle Time
CPU Clock Cycles

Clock Rate

Performance improved by

Reducing number of clock cycles

Increasing clock rate
Hardware designer must often trade off clock
rate against cycle count

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 31

CPU Time Example

Computer A: 2GHz clock, 10s CPU time

Designing Computer B

Aim for 6s CPU time

Can do faster clock, but causes 1.2 clock cycles

How fast must Computer B clock be?

Clock CyclesB 1.2 Clock Cycles A
Clock RateB

CPU Time B
6s
Clock Cycles A CPU Time A Clock Rate A
10s 2GHz 20 10 9
1.2 20 10 9 24 10 9
Clock RateB

4GHz
6s
6s
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 32

Instruction Count and CPI

Clock Cycles Instruction Count Cycles per Instruction
CPU Time Instruction Count CPI Clock Cycle Time
Instruction Count CPI

Clock Rate

Instruction Count for a program

Determined by program, ISA and compiler

Average cycles per instruction

Determined by CPU hardware

If different instructions have different CPI

Average CPI affected by instruction mix

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 33

CPI Example

Computer A: Cycle Time = 250ps, CPI = 2.0

Computer B: Cycle Time = 500ps, CPI = 1.2
Same ISA
Which is faster, and by how much?
CPU Time
CPU Time

Instruction Count CPI Cycle Time

A
A
I 2.0 250ps I 500ps
A is faster

Instruction Count CPI Cycle Time

B
B
I 1.2 500ps I 600ps

CPU Time

B I 600ps 1.2
CPU Time
I 500ps
A

by this much

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 34

CPI in More Detail

If different instruction classes take different

numbers of cycles
n

Clock Cycles (CPIi Instruction Count i )

i1

Weighted average CPI

n
Clock Cycles
Instruction Count i

CPI
CPIi

Instruction Count i1
Instruction Count

Relative frequency
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 35

CPI Example

Alternative compiled code sequences using

instructions in classes A, B, C
Class

CPI for class

IC in sequence 1

IC in sequence 2

Sequence 1: IC = 5

Clock Cycles
= 21 + 12 + 23
= 10
Avg. CPI = 10/5 = 2.0

Sequence 2: IC = 6

Clock Cycles
= 41 + 12 + 13
=9
Avg. CPI = 9/6 = 1.5

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 36

Performance Summary
The BIG Picture

Instructions Clock cycles Seconds

CPU Time

Program
Instruction Clock cycle

Performance depends on

Algorithm: affects IC, possibly CPI

Programming language: affects IC, CPI
Compiler: affects IC, CPI
Instruction set architecture: affects IC, CPI, Tc
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 37

1.7 The Power Wall

Power Trends

In CMOS IC technology
Power Capacitive load Voltage 2 Frequency
30

5V 1V

1000

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 38

Reducing Power

Suppose a new CPU has

85% of capacitive load of old CPU

15% voltage and 15% frequency reduction

Pnew Cold 0.85 (Vold 0.85)2 Fold 0.85

4

0.85
0.52
2
Pold
Cold Vold Fold

The power wall

We cant reduce voltage further

We cant remove more heat

How else can we improve performance?

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 39

1.8 The Sea Change: The Switch to Multiprocessors

Uniprocessor Performance

Constrained by power, instruction-level parallelism,

memory latency
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 40

Multiprocessors

Multicore microprocessors

More than one processor per chip

Requires explicitly parallel programming

Compare with instruction level parallelism

Hardware executes multiple instructions at once

Hidden from the programmer

Hard to do

Programming for performance

Load balancing
Optimizing communication and synchronization
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 41

SPEC CPU Benchmark

Programs used to measure performance

Standard Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC)

Supposedly typical of actual workload

Develops benchmarks for CPU, I/O, Web,

SPEC CPU2006

Elapsed time to execute a selection of programs

Negligible I/O, so focuses on CPU performance

Normalize relative to reference machine

Summarize as geometric mean of performance ratios

CINT2006 (integer) and CFP2006 (floating-point)

n

Execution time ratio

i 1

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 42

CINT2006 for Intel Core i7 920

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 43

SPEC Power Benchmark

Power consumption of server at different

workload levels

Performance: ssj_ops/sec
Power: Watts (Joules/sec)

Overall ssj_ops per Watt

10

ssj_ops
i0

10

power
i0

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 44

SPECpower_ssj2008 for Xeon X5650

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 45

Improving an aspect of a computer and

expecting a proportional improvement in
overall performance
Timproved

Example: multiply accounts for 80s/100s

Taffected

Tunaffected
improvemen t factor

1.10 Fallacies and Pitfalls

Pitfall: Amdahls Law

How much improvement in multiply performance to

get 5 overall?
80
Cant be done!
20
20
n

Corollary: make the common case fast

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 46

Fallacy: Low Power at Idle

Look back at i7 power benchmark

Google data center

At 100% load: 258W

At 50% load: 170W (66%)
At 10% load: 121W (47%)
Mostly operates at 10% 50% load
At 100% load less than 1% of the time

Consider designing processors to make

power proportional to load
Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 47

Pitfall: MIPS as a Performance Metric

MIPS: Millions of Instructions Per Second

Doesnt account for

Differences in ISAs between computers

Differences in complexity between instructions

Instruction count
MIPS
Execution time 10 6
Instruction count
Clock rate

6
Instruction count CPI
CPI

10
6
10
Clock rate

CPI varies between programs on a given CPU

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 48

Cost/performance is improving

Hierarchical layers of abstraction

In both hardware and software

Instruction set architecture

Due to underlying technology development

1.9 Concluding Remarks

Concluding Remarks

The hardware/software interface

Execution time: the best performance

measure
Power is a limiting factor

Use parallelism to improve performance

Chapter 1 Computer Abstractions and Technology 49