Introduction to

Computer
Architecture
Introduction
Classes of Computers

Maureen D. Agrazamendez
What is Computer Architecture?
• “Computer Architecture is the science and
art of selecting and interconnecting
hardware components to create
computers that meet functional,
performance and cost goals.” - WWW
Computer Architecture Page
 5 Introduction

● When did you buy your first computer?

–Personal desktop computer, laptop, etc.
● How much did it cost?
● When was the last time you visited a computer shop?
● How much is the price range for the latest computer set today?
When you buy a computer, what would you consider first, price or
●

performance?

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 6 Introduction

Personal computer today has more performance, more

●

main memory, and more disk storage than computer built

10 years ago...
This is attributed to advances in the technology used to
●

build computers and from innovation in computer design

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 7 Introduction

●During the first 25 years of electronic computers, both

technological improvements and better computer
architecture made a major contribution.
–25% per year
● Late 1970s
–Microprocessors improve in integrated circuit technology roughly
35% per year in performance

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 8 Introduction
Increasing fraction of computer
Growth rate business being based in
microprocessors

Virtual elimination of
assembly language Creation of standardization
programming reduced the
object-code compatibility

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 9 Introduction
Increasing fraction of computer business
Growth rate being based in microprocessors

Virtual elimination of
assembly language Creation of
programming reduced standardization
the object-code
compatibility

Lowered the cost and risk of

bringing out new
architecture

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 10 Introduction
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)
Architecture with simpler instructions developed in early
●

1980s
● Designs of RISC-based machines focused:
–Instruction-level parallelism (from pipelining through multiple
instruction issues)
–Use of caches (from simple forms to more sophisticated
organizations and optimizations)
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RISC
● RISC-architecture replaced Digital Equipment Vax
●Intel translates x86 instructions into RISC-like instructions
internally
Hardware overhead of translating the more x86
●

architecture became negligible

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13 Introduction
Effects of growth rate in the 20th century

Significantly enhanced the Dominance of micro-

capability available to processor based
computer users computers

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 14 Introduction
Enhanced capability available to computer users
●Highest -performance microprocessor of today outperform
the supercomputer of less than 10 years ago

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 15 Introduction
Dominance of micro-processor based computers
●PCs and Workstations have emerged as major products in the
computer industry
Minicomputers have been replaced by servers
●

●Mainframes have been almost replaced with multiprocessors

consisting of small numbers of off-the-shelf microprocessors
Supercomputers are being built with collections of
●

microprocessors
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 16 Introduction
Drop-off
Since 2002, performance improvement has dropped to 20%
●

–Due to triple hurdle of maximum power dissipation of air-cooled

chips, less efficient instruction-level parallelism, and unchanged
memory latency
In 2004, Intel canceled its high-performance uniprocessor
●

projects and joined IBM and Sun in developing multiple

processors

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 18 Classes of Computers
1960s
● Dominated by large Mainframes
–Computers costing millions of dollars stored in computer room with
multiple operators overseeing their support
● Typical applications:
–Business data processing and large-scale scientific computing

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19 Classes of Computers
mainframes

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 20 Classes of Computers
1970s
● Birth of minicomputer
–Smaller-sized computer focused on applications in scientific
laboratories and later on time-sharing
● Supercomputers
–High-performance computers for scientific computing

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21 Classes of Computers
Minicomputers

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22 Classes of Computers
Supercomputers

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 23 Classes of Computers

1980s
● Desktop computers
–Replaced time-sharing
–ledto servers, which provide larger-
scale services such as reliable, long-
term file storage and access, larger
memory

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 24 Classes of Computers
1990s
Emergence of handheld computing devices (Personal Digital
●

Assistants or PDAs)
● Emergence of high-performance digital consumer electronics
2000
● Popularity of cellphones
–Rapid improvements in functions & sales that far exceed those of
the PC
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25 Classes of Computers
Embedded computers

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 26 Classes of Computers

Summary of the 3 mainstream computing classes and their system characteristics

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 27 Classes of Computers
Desktop Computing
● Largest market in dollar terms
● Driven to optimize price-performance
● Characterized in terms of applications and benchmarking

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 28 Classes of Computers
Servers
●Provide larger-scale and more reliable file and computing
services
–Accelerated by world wide web because if the tremendous demand
and sophistication of web-based services
● Replaced the traditional mainframe
● (1) Dependability is critical
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29 Classes of Computers

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 30 Classes of Computers
Servers
● (2) scalability
–Increasing demand for the services it support or an increase in
functional requirements
–Ability
to scale up the computing capacity, the memory, the storage,
and the I/O bandwidth of a server

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 31 Classes of Computers
Servers
● (3) efficient throughput
–Overallperformance of the server – in terms of transactions per
minute or web pages served per second
–Responsiveness to individual request
–Overallefficiency and cost-effectiveness as how many requests
can be handled in a unit time

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 32 Classes of Computers
Embedded Computers
● Fastest growing class of the computer market
●Devices Range from everyday machines (e.g. microwaves,
washing machines, printers, networking switches, cars with
embedded microprocessors) to handheld digital devices (e.g.
cellphones, smart cards, video games, etc.)

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 33 Classes of Computers
Embedded computers
● Key factors
–Price-performance

–Minimize memory and power

Optimize memory size or fit memory to processor chip
●

Larger memories mean more power

●

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The evolution of mobile phones
36 Assignment:
Read and make a short reaction on the article entitled
“Computers Faster Only for 75 More Years” by Lauren
Schenkman,
http://www.livescience.com/5756-computers-faster-75-
years.html

Write about 20 – 50 statements/sentences/reaction in a

one whole sheet of paper or print in short coupon bond.
To be submitted this FRIDAY(September 13 2019).

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REFERENCE(S)

Computer Architecture – A Quantitative Approach 4

ed. Chapter 1: 1.1 -1.2
https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~milom/cis501-
Fall11/lectures/00_intro.pdf

Images
http://easytechnow.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/02/mobile-phones-evolution-
6.jpg