ITU 07104:

ITU 07104:
Computer Systems
Computer Systems Architecture
Architecture
Lecture 1
Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA)
 Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Introduction to computer architecture
and organization concepts
Computer system components
Concept of levels in computer
architecture
Computer structure
Designing for Performance
 What is
What is computer?
computer?
A Computer is a electronic device which fetches
data, process, store and distribute to different
parts.
An overview of the basic constituents of a
computer, a PC (Personnel Computer)
configuration, is given in Figure 1.
The computer is fed with information (the input
data).
The computer manipulates this data and then
produces information as a result (the output data).
In Figure 1 the solid arrows indicate the flow of
input data and dashed arrows the flow of output
 Cont….
Cont….

Figure1: Constituent parts of a computer structural

Major components
Major components of
of computer
computer
Computer system has the following major components
 Processor
 memory,
 Input / Output (I/O) system
The computer processor has the following major components:
 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
 control unit,
 Registers and
 instruction execution unit
The control unit has the following major components:
 control memory,
 microinstruction sequencing logic, and
 registers.
 Cont.………….
Cont.………….
Input are entered by the user (typically via the
keyboard or a mouse), or may be taken from an
external data store, or other external devices (e.g.
external drives, remote sensors, cameras etc).
Output may be to the computer monitor; or to
secondary storage or to other external devices (e.g.
external drives, printers, plotters, etc).
The computer's behavior is controlled by a
program. By changing the program or replacing it
with another program we can influence the
behavior of the computer.
A program comprises a series of instructions
which is applied to data.
 Cont.….
Cont.….
The central part of a computer is its CPU
(Central Processing Unit) which in turn
comprises a Control Unit (CU) and an Arithmetic
and Logic Unit (ALU):
 Itis the "administrative" section of the computer. It
controls and coordinates all the computers activities
including the "execution" (i.e. running) of programs. It
controls the reading of input into memory, tells the
ALU when information from memory should be used
in calculations and sends information from memory
to output devises.
 The ALU contains electronic circuits that can carry
out various operations on data, e.g. addition and
subtraction, and compare items in memory.
Common Types
Common Types ofof Computer
Computer memory
memory
The computer has two types of memory
associated with it:
Primary memory is used to store the program that a
computer is currently running. The primary memory
also provides the additional temporary storage
required during the execution of a program.
Secondary storage is used to store programs
when they are not being executed (and the data that
might be required by programs or produced as
output). Common types of secondary storage
include: hard dives, CDs, DVDs, "floppy" discs,
magnetic tape, etc.
 Cont.……
Cont.……
There is always at least one program running in a
computer (when it is switched on), this is the
operating system.
This is permanently stored in hard-drive (hard-disk)
and (amongst other things) it facilitates
communication with the user.
Pieces of equipment that supply data (input) to the
computer, e.g. the keyboard, or take output from
the computer, e.g. secondary storage, are referred
to as peripheral units.
 Computer Program
Computer Program
Programs and data contained in
primary memory and secondary
storage are collectively referred to as
software. Generally we can identify two
categories of software:
System software - programs which support the
use and operation of the computer itself, e.g. the
operating system and its related programs.
Applications software - programs used to solve
a particular human problem.
 Cont.……
Cont.……
In computing, an opcode (abbreviated from
operation code) is the portion of a machine
language instruction that specifies the operation to
be performed.
Beside the opcode itself, instructions usually
specify the data they will process, in form of
operands.
Please read more on:
Computer programs
Memories
Computer systems
Computer software applications
 What’s Computer
What’s Computer Architecture?
Architecture?
The attributes of a [computing] system as seen by the
programmer, i.e., the conceptual structure and
functional behavior, as distinct from the organization
of the data flows and controls the logic design, and the
physical implementation.
Amdahl, Blaaw, and Brooks, 1964
SOFTWARE
 Computer Architecture
Computer Architecture
Definition: It deals with the functional behavior of a
computer system as viewed by a programmer (like
the size of a data type – 32 bits to an integer).
It refers to the attributes of a (computing) system
that have a direct impact on the logical execution of
a program. Examples are:
• The instruction set (instruction set architecture –
ISA)
• The number of bits used to represent various
data types (i.e. real, integer, or Boolean)
• Input/output mechanism
• Memory addressing techniques
Concept of
Concept of levels
levels in
in computer
computer architecture
architecture
The basic idea is that there are many levels at which
a computer can be considered, from the highest
level (the application level), where the user runs
programs, to the lowest level (physical level),
consisting of transistors and wires
Levels of Machines:
There are a number of levels in a computer (the
exact number is open to debate), from the user
level down to the transistor level.
Progressing from the top level downward, the
levels become less abstract as more of the
internal structure of the computer becomes
visible.
 Levels of
Levels of Machine
Machine
H ig h L e v e l L a n g u a g e s

A s s e m b ly L a n g u a g e / M a c h in e c o d e

M ic r o p r o g r a m m e d / H a r d w ir e d C o n tr o l

F u n c tio n a l U n its (A L U , M e m o r y , e tc .)

L o g ic a l G a te s

.
 Computer Organization
Computer Organization
Definition: Computer organization deals with
structural relationships that are not visible to the
programmer (like clock frequency or the size of the
physical memory)
It refers to the operational units and their
interconnections that realize the architecture
specifications.. Examples are:
• Control Signals
• Interface between computer and its peripherals
• The memory technology being used.
 Structure and
Structure and Function
Function
• Millions of electronic components
• To describe computer systems you need to
recognize their hierarchical nature
 Set of layers or levels of interrelated subsystems
 Each level consists of a set of components and their
inter-relationships
• The behavior of each level depends only on a
simplified, abstracted characterization of the
system at the next lower level
 Computer Organization
Computer Organization
At each level, the designer is
concerned with:
Structure: The way in which the
components are interrelated
 Function: The operation of each
individual component as part of the
structure.
For proper understanding of the
computer we will usually describe
systems from the top-down, instead of
bottom-up.
 Computer Functions
Computer Functions cont..
cont..
Basic functions that a computer can perform:
 Data Processing - a wide variety of forms, but
only a few fundamental methods or types
 Data Storage - long-term or short,
temporary storage
Data Movement
 Input / Output - when data are received from or
delivered to a peripheral, a device connected
directly to the computer

 Data Communications - when data is moved over longer

distances, to or from a remote device
 Computer Functions
Computer Functions cont.…
cont.…
Control - of the above functions, by
instructions provided by the user of the
computer (i.e. their programs)
Four possible types of operations with
this basic structure:
 Device for Processing Data in Storage
 Device for Processing Data En-route
Between the Outside World and Storage
 Computer Structure
Computer Structure
Simplest view of computer:
Storage
Processing
 Peripherals
Communication Lines
 Computer Structure
Computer Structure

The computer: Top-Level

 Internal Structure
Internal Structure
Internal structure of the computer itself:
CPU: It’s the “brain” of a computer, where data
manipulation actually takes place. Referred to as
central processor or simply processor
Main memory: Store data
I/O Moves data between the computer and its
external environment.
System Interconnection: Some mechanism that
provides for communication among the CPU,
main memory and I/O
Circuit board
 Cont.…………….
Cont.…………….

The Central Processing Unit

(CPU)
 Structural components
Structural components of
of the
the CPU
CPU
Main Structural components of the CPU :
Control Unit (CU): It controls the operation of the
CPU and hence the computer.
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): is a digital circuit
used to perform arithmetic and logic operations
of the computer
Registers: a quickly accessible memory location
that is available to the CPU.
System Interconnection: Some mechanism that
provides for communication among the CU, ALU
and registers
 Computer history/background
Computer history/background
ENIAC
ENIAC
Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer
(ENIAC) ENIAC, is the first programmable
general-purpose electronic digital computer, built
during World War II by the United States
Started 1943
Finished 1946
Too late for war effort
Used until 1955
 Computer history/background
Computer history/background
ENIAC
ENIAC

ENIAC- Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer

 ENIAC details
ENIAC details
Decimal (not binary)
20 accumulators of 10 digits
Programmed manually by switches
18,000 vacuum tubes
30 tons
1394 square meters
140 kW power consumption
5,000 additions per second
 Von Neumann
Von Neumann Model
Model
Von-Neumann proposed his computer
architecture design in 1945 which was later
known as Von-Neumann Architecture.
It consisted of a Control Unit, Arithmetic, and
Logical Memory Unit (ALU), Registers and
Inputs/Outputs.
This design is still used in most computers
produced today.
Today we can still see the effect.
Radically different from what went before.
The memory of the computer was to store both the data to be
worked on and the program doing the work.
The stored program computer concept.
 Von Neumann
Von Neumann Architecture
Architecture

CONTROL

INPUT MEMORY OUTPUT

Data

Control
A.L.U
Address

INPUT > PROCESS >OUTPUT

Structure of
Structure of von
von Neumann
Neumann machine
machine
Von Neumann
Von Neumann architecture
architecture scheme
scheme
The system bus model
 The System
The System Bus
Bus Model
Model
A refinement of the von Neumann model, the
system bus model has a CPU (ALU and
control), memory, and an input/output unit.
Communication among components is
handled by a shared pathway called the
system bus, which is made up of the data
bus, the address bus, and the control bus.
There is also a power bus, and some
architectures may also have a separate I/O
bus.
 Moore’s Law
Moore’s Law

Moore’s law states that processor

speeds, or overall processing power for
computers will double every two years.
In computer project planning one has to
take this observation seriously.
A computer architecture being
developed today won’t be relevant in
three years time.
 Moore laws
Moore laws

Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel)

predicted in 1965 that the transistor density
of semiconductor chips would double
roughly every 18 months.

Moore's Law,
formulated by Gordon
Moore in 1965, three
years before he helped
found chip maker Intel
Corp..
Computer Structure
Computer Structure

The microprocessor
speed.
A typical
A typical computer
computer system
system
 Most recent
Most recent CPU
CPU Specifications
Specifications

Basic specifications of the High End Core i7-5XXX,

single socket Xeon E5 v3, and dual socket Xeon
E5 v3 CPUs (which can be used as either a single
CPU or in a dual CPU configuration).
In the table below is CPUs from three different
product lines:
 Most recent
Most recent CPU
CPU Features
Features

The main differences of CPU architectures are not

spec-based, but rather features based: In the
figure below is the feature found in each product
line:

The advantage of the Core i7 CPUs over the

others is that they support CPU over-clocking. The
Xeon CPUs can use twelve times as much
memory as the Core i7 CPUs.
Computer motherboard
Computer motherboard
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance
Evolution of Computer Systems
Price/performance
Price drops every year
Performance increases almost
yearly
Memory size goes up a factor
of 4 in every 3 years
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance cont..
cont..
Microprocessor Speed
Density of the IC increases by 4 in every 3
years
performance boosts of 4-5 times in every
3 years
More elaborate ways of feeding
instructions quickly enough. Techniques
used;
Branch prediction
Data-flow analysis
Speculative execution
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance cont..
cont..
Performance Balance
All components do not increase
performance at same rate as processor
Adjust the organization and architecture
to compensate for the mismatch.
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance cont..
cont..
Solutions
Make DRAM wider to increase the
number of bits retrieved at once
Change DRAM interface to make it more
efficient
Reduce the frequency of memory access
using increasingly complex and efficient
cache structures
Increase interconnect bandwidth with
higher-speed buses and bus hierarchies
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance cont..
cont..
Today’s computer basic building blocks
are still the ones of the Princeton IAS!...
But many “tricks” have been invented to
improve performance
Some of the main tricks:
Pipelining
On board cache
On board L1 & L2 cache
Branch prediction
Data flow analysis
Speculative execution
 Designing for
Designing for Performance
Performance cont..
cont..
The key is balance among:
Processor components
Main memory
I/O devices
Interconnection structures
•Designers must constantly strive to
balance their throughput and processing
demands
 Individual Assignment
1. What has been the trend in computing
from the following points of view?
a) Cost of hardware
b) Size of memory
c) Speed of hardware
d) Number of processing elements
2. Explain the performance issues of
single core processors and
explain how they can be resolved