C o m p u t er F un d a m en t a l s :

C o m p u t er F un d a m en t a l s :
P r ad e e p K . S i nh a & P r i ti
P r ad e e p K . S i nh a & P r i ti
S i nha
Si nha
Learning Objectives

In this chapter you will learn about:

▪ Internal structure of processor

▪ Memory structure
▪ Determining the speed of a processor
▪ Different types of processors available
▪ Determining the capacity of a memory
▪ Different types of memory available
▪ Several other terms related to the processor
and main memory of a computer system
Basic Processor & Memory Architecture of a Computer System
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
▪ The brain of a computer system
▪ Performs all major calculations and comparisons
▪ Activates and controls the operations of other units of a computer system
▪ Two basic components are
▪ Control Unit (CU)
▪ Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
▪ No other single component of a computer determines its overall
performance as much as the CPU
Control Unit (CU)

▪ Acts as the central nervous systemof a computer system

▪ Selects and interprets program instructions, and coordinates
execution
▪ Has some special purpose registers and a decoder to perform these
activities
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

▪ Actual execution of instructions takes place in ALU

▪ Has some special purpose registers
▪ Has necessary circuitry to carry out all the arithmetic and logic operations
included in the CPU instruction set
Instruction Set

▪ CPU has built-in ability to execute a particular set of machine

instructions, called its instruction set
▪ Most CPUs have 200 or more instructions (such as add, subtract,
compare, etc.) in their instruction set
▪ CPUs made by different manufacturers have different instruction sets
▪ Manufacturers tend to group their CPUs into “families” having similar
instruction sets
▪ New CPU whose instruction set includes instruction set of its predecessor
CPU is said to be backward compatible with its predecessor
Registers

▪ Special memory units, called registers, are used to hold information on a

temporary basis as the instructions are interpreted and executed by the
CPU
▪ Registers are part of the CPU (not main memory) of a computer
▪ The length of a register, sometimes called its word size, equals the
number of bits it can store
▪ With all other parameters being the same, a CPU with 32-bit registers can
process data twice larger than one with 16-bit registers
Functions of Commonly Used Registers

Sr.
Name of Register Function
No.
Holds address of the active memory location
1 Memory Address (MAR)

Holds contents of the accessed

2 Memory Buffer (MBR)
(read/written) memory word
Holds address of the next instruction to be executed
3 Program Control (PC)

Holds data to be operated upon, intermediate results,

4 Accumulator (A)
and the results
Holds an instruction while it is being
5 Instruction (I)
executed
Used to communicate with the I/O
6 Input/Output (I/O)
devices
Processor Speed

▪ Computer has a built-in system clock that emits millions of regularly

spaced electric pulses per second (known as clock cycles)
▪ It takes one cycle to perform a basic operation, such as moving a byte of
data from one memory location to another
▪ Normally, several clock cycles are required to fetch, decode, and execute
a single program instruction
▪ Hence, shorter the clock cycle, faster the processor
▪ Clock speed (number of clock cycles per second) is measured in
Megahertz (106 cycles/sec) or Gigahertz (109 cycles/sec)
Types of Processor

Type of Features Usage

Architecture
▪ Large instruction set
CISC (Complex ▪ Variable-length instructions Mostly used in
Instruction Set personal
▪ Variety of addressing modes
Computer) computers
▪ Complex & expensive to
produce

▪ Small instruction set

RISC (Reduced Mostly used in
Instruction Set ▪ Fixed-length instructions
workstations
Computer) ▪ Reduced references to
memory to retrieve operands
Types of Processor

Type of Features Usage

Architecture
▪ Allows software to communicate
explicitly to the processor when
operations are parallel
EPIC (Explicitly ▪ Uses tighter coupling between
Parallel Mostly used in
the compiler and the processor
Instruction high-end servers
▪ Enables compiler to extract and
Computing)
maximum parallelism in the workstations
original code, and explicitly
describe it to the processor
Types of Processor

Type of Features Usage

Architecture
▪ Processor chip has multiple
cooler-running, more energy-
efficient processing cores
▪ Improve overall performance Mostly used in
Multi-Core high-end servers
by handling more work in
Processor and workstations
parallel
▪ can share architectural
components, such as memory
elements and memory
management
Main Memory

▪ Every computer has a temporary storage built into the computer

hardware
▪ It stores instructions and data of a program mainly when the program is
being executed by the CPU.
▪ This temporary storage is known as main memory, primary storage,
RAM or simply memory.
▪ Physically, it consists of some chips either on the motherboard or on a
small circuit board attached to the motherboard of a computer
▪ It has random access property.
▪ It is volatile.
Storage Evaluation Criteria

Property Desirable Primary Secondary

Storage Storage
Storage
Large storage capacity Small Large
capacity

Access Time Fast access time Fast Slow

Cost per bit of High Low
storage Lower cost per bit
Volatility Non-volatile Volatile Non-volatile
Pseudo- random
access or
Random access
Access Random access sequential access
Main Memory Organization

0
1
2
3
4
Addresses of The words
a memory 5
of a memory
(total N words)

N-2
N-1 Each word
contains the same
number of bits =
Bit 1 word length
Bit 2
Main Memory Organization
▪ Machines having smaller word-length are slower in operation
than machines having larger word-length
▪ A write to a memory location is destructive to its previous contents
▪ A read from a memory location is non-destructive to its previous
contents
Fixed Word-length Memory
Word
0501 B O M B A Y
0502 D E L H I
Address 0503
Numbers

1024

▪ Storage space is always allocated in multiples of word-length in bytes

▪ Faster in speed of calculation than variable word-length memory
▪ Normally used in large scientific computers for gaining speed of
calculation
Variable Word-length Memory

0025 B 0051 D ▪ Each memory location

0026 O can store only a single
0052 E
0027 M L character
0053
0028 B 0054 H ▪ Slower in speed of
Address 0029 A Address 0055 I calculation than fixed
Numbers Numbers world-length memory
0030 Y
0056
0031 ▪ Used in small business
computers for optimizing
the use of storage space
4096 4096

Note: With memory becoming cheaper and larger day-by-day, most

modern computers employ fixed-word-length memory organization
Memory Capacity

▪ Memory capacity of a computer is equal to the number of bytes that can

be stored in its primary storage
▪ Its units are:
Kilobytes (KB) : 1024 (210) bytes

Megabytes (MB): 1,048,576 (220) bytes

Gigabytes (GB) : 1,073,741824 (230) bytes

Random Access Memory (RAM)

▪ Primary storage of a computer is often referred to as

RAM because of its random access capability
▪ RAM chips are volatile memory
▪ A computer’s motherboard is designed in a manner
that the memory capacity can be enhanced by
adding more memory chips
▪ The additional RAM chips, which plug into special
sockets on the motherboard, are known as
single-in-line memory modules (SIMMs)
Read Only Memory (ROM)

▪ ROM a non-volatile memory chip

▪ Data stored in a ROM can only be read and used – they cannot be
changed
▪ ROMs are mainly used to store programs and data, which do not change
and are frequently used. For example, system boot program
Types of ROMs
Type Usage
Data is burnt by the manufacturer of the
Manufacturer-programmed ROM
electronic equipment in which it is used.

User-programmed ROM or
The user can load and store “read-only”
Programmable ROM programs and data in it
(PROM)

The user can erase information stored in it

and the chip can be reprogrammed to store
Erasable PROM (EPROM)
new information
Types of ROMs

Type Usage

A type of EPROM chip in which the stored

Ultra Violet EPROM information is erased by exposing the chip for
(UVEPROM) some time to ultra-violet light

Electrically EPROM A type of EPROM chip in which the stored

(EEPROM) or information is erased by using high voltage
Flash memory electric pulses
Cache Memory

▪ It is commonly used for minimizing the memory-processor speed

mismatch.
▪ It is an extremely fast, small memory between CPU and main memory
whose access time is closer to the processing speed of the CPU.
▪ It is used to temporarily store very active data and instructions during
processing.

Cache is pronounced as “cash”