Basic Processor & Memory Architecture of

a Computer System
ROM PROM Flash
Main Memory (RAM)

Cache
Memory

Accumulato r
Decode r
Program
register
I/ O
control register General-
Instruction purpose register D E
register General- V I
purpose C E
Memory address
register S
register
Memory buffer
register
Input/Output
register

General- General-purpose
purpose register register

Control Unit Arithmetic Logic Unit

Central Processing Unit
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)

 One of the two basic components of CPU

 Acts as the central nervous system of 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)

 One of the two basic components of CPU.

 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 b y 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
1 Memory Address (MAR)
location
Holds contents of the accessed
2 Memory Buffer (MBR)
(read/written) memory word
Holds address of the next instruction to
3 Program Control (PC)
be executed
Holds data to be operated upon,
4 Accumulator (A)
intermediate results, 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  Variety of addressing modes personal
Computer)  Complex & expensive to computers
produce
 Small instruction set
RISC (Reduced
 Fixed-length instructions Mostly used in
Instruction Set
 Reduced references to workstations
Computer)
memory to retrieve operands

(Continued on next slide)

 Types of Processor
(Continued from previous slide..)

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

(Continued on next slide)

 Types of Processor
(Continued from previous slide..)

Type of
Features Usage
Architecture
 Processor chip has multiple
cooler-running, more energy-
efficient processing cores
 Improve overall performance
by handling more work in Mostly used in
Multi-Core
parallel high-end servers
Processor
and workstations
 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, 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

Primary Secondary
Property Desirable
storage storage
Storage
Large storage capacity Small Large
capacity

Access Time Fast access time Fast Slow

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

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

N-2
N-1 Each word contains
the same number of
bits = word length
Bit 1 Bit 2 (Continued on next slide)
 Main Memory Organization
(Continued from previous slide..)

 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

 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 character
0027 M L
0053  Slower in speed of
0028 B 0054 H calculation than fixed
Address world-length memory
0029 A Address 0055 I
Numbers Numbers
0030 Y  Used in small business
0056
computers for
0031 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
Manufacturer-programmed
of the electronic equipment in
ROM
which it is used.

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

The user can erase information

stored in it and the chip can be
Erasable PROM (EPROM) reprogrammed to store new
information

(Continued on next slide)

 Types of ROMs
(Continued from previous slide..)

Type Usage

A type of EPROM chip in which the

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

Electrically EPROM
(EEPROM) A type of EPROM chip in which the
or stored information is erased by
using high voltage electric pulses
Flash memory
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”