Computer Architecture &

Organization

Compiled by:- Er. Nagendra Karn

Computer Architecture and Organization:-
• Computer Architecture refers to those attributes of the system that have
direct impact on the logical execution of the program. Architecture is
those attributes that are visible to the programmer. Examples-
 The instruction set
 The number of bits used to represent various data types
 I/O mechanism
 Memory addressing techniques
• Computer Organization refers to the operational unit and their
interconnections that realize the architectural specification. Organization is
how features are implemented. Examples-
 Control signal
 Interface between computer and peripherals
 The memory technology being used
• For example, the fact that multiply instruction is available is computer
architecture issue. How that multiply is implemented is a computer
organization issue.
Structure & Function
• Structure is the way in which components relate to each other.
• Function is the operation of individual component as part of the
structure.
• All computer functions are:-
Data Processing- Computer must be able to process data which may
take wide variety of forms and range of processing.
Data storage- Computer stores data either temporarily or permanently.
Data movement- computer must be able to move data between itself
and the
outside world.
Control- there must be control of the above three functions.
Computer Architecture
• It is the design of computers including their instruction sets, hardware
components and system organization.
• Instruction set architecture (ISA) include the specification that determine
how machine language programs will interact with the computer.
• Hardware system architecture (HAS) deals with computer major hardware
subsystem like cpu, storage, i/o etc. it includes both the logical design and
the data flow organization of the sub systems and determines the efficiency.

Architecture

Instruction set
Hardware system
Architecture
Architecture
History of Computer Architecture
• The first document of the computer architecture was a correspondence
between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace that describes the analytical
engine.
• The example of other important machines : John Von Neumann and Alan
turing.
• Computer Architecture is the art of determining the need of the user of a
structure and then designing to meet those needs as effectively as possible
with economic status and as well as technological constraints.
• In ancient period, computer architecture was prepared on the paper and then
directly build into the final hardware form.
• In today’s computer architecture, prototypes were physically built in the form
of a transistor logic (TTL) computer such as prototypes of the 6800 and the
PA-RISC tested and tweaked before committing to the final hardware form.
Von Neumann Architecture
• The modern computers are based on a stored program concept
introduced by John Von Neumann.
• In this architecture program data and instruction data are stored in a same
memory and instructions are fetched from memory one at a time in
order(serially) and executes program following the fetch-decode-execute
cycle.
• It consisted of a control unit, Arithmetic and Logic unit(ALU), Registers and
I/Os.
Central Processing Unit
• The part of the computer that performs bulk of data processing operations is
called CPU. It can also defined as an electric circuit responsible for executing
the instructions of a computer program.
• The major Components of CPU are Arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), Control
unit (CU), and Registers.
• The ALU performs required micro-operations for executing the instructions.
ALU allows arithmetic (add, subtract etc) and logical (AND, OR, NOT etc)
operations to be carried out.
• Control unit of a computer system controls the operations of a component
like ALU, Memory, Input Output devices. The control unit consists of a
Program counter that contains address of the instruction to be fetched and
an instruction register into which instructions are fetched from memory for
execution.
• Registers refers to high speed storage area in the cpu. The data processed by
the CPU are fetched from the register.
Register :-
• Memory Address Register (MAR)- Hold the memory location of data that need to
be accessed.
• Memory Data Register (MDR) – Hold the data that is being transferred to or from
memory.
• Accumulator (AC)- where arithmetic and logic results are stored.
• Program Counter (PC)- contains the address of the next instruction to be executed.
• Instruction Register (IR)- contains the current instruction during processing.

Buses :-
• Buses are the means by which data is transmitted from one part of a computer to
another connecting all major internal components to the CPU and Memory.
• Address Bus – carries the addresses of the data between the processor and
memory.
• Data Bus- Carries data between the processor, memory unit and I/O devices
• Control Bus – Carries control signal from cpu in order to control and coordinate all
the activities within the computer.
Advantage:-
• Control unit retrieves data and instruction in the same manner
from one memory. Design development of control unit is simplified
cheaper, and faster.
• Organization of memory is done by programmers which allows
them to utilize the memory’s whole capacity.

Disadvantage:-
• Parallel implementation of program is not allowed due to
sequential instruction processing.
• Instruction can only carried out one at a time and sequentially.
Harvard Architecture:-
• It contains separate storage and separate buses (signal path) for
instruction and data.
• It was basically developed to overcome the bottleneck of Von
Neumann architecture.
• The main advantage of having separate buses for instructions and
data is that cpu can access instructions and read/write data at the
same time.
Memory Hierarchy
• In the design of computer system, a processor, as well as large amount of memory
devices, has been used. The main problem is, these parts are expensive. So the
memory organization of the system can be done by memory hierarchy.
• Memory hierarchy is an enhancement of to organize the memory such that it can
minimize the access time. The memory hierarchy was developed based on a
program behavior known as locality of reference.
• Memory hierarchy design is divided into two main types-
1. External / secondary Memory- Comprising of magnetic disk, optical disk, magnetic tape i.e.
peripheral storage devices which are accessible by the processor via I/O module.
2. Internal or Primary memory- comprising of main memory & CPU registers. This is directly
accessible via processor.
Based on a speed and use memory in a computer can be divided into five
hierarchies. The processor can move from one level to another level based on its
requirement.
The five hierarchies in the memory are registers, cache, main memory, magnetic
discs, and magnetic tape. The first three hierarchies are volatile memories where
are the last two hierarchies are non volatile.
 Increase
Speed
& Processor
Cost per bit
Always on the
Processor
chip
Cache usually
SRAM – faster
but more
expensive
May also be on
Secondary Cache the processor chip
L2
Main usually
DRAM – cheap
Main Memory enough to be large

Secondary
Increase
Storage
Size
Characteristics of Memory Hierarchy:-
1.Performance :- previously designing of computer system was done without
memory hierarchy, and the speed gap among the main memory as well as the
cpu registers enhances because of the huge disparity in access time, which will
cause the lower performance of the system. The enhancement of this was
designed in the memory hierarchy model due to system performance increase.
2.Ability :- the ability of memory hierarchy is the total amount of data the
memory can store.
3.Access Time :- the access time in a memory hierarchy is the interval of time
among the data availability as well as request to read or write. When we move
from top to bottom inside the memory hierarchy , then access time will
increase.
4.Cost per bit :- When we move from top to bottom inside the memory hierarchy,
then cost per bit will decrease.
 Memory Hierarchy
• Capacity cost and speed of different types of memory plays a vital role while designing a
memory system for a computer. If the memory has larger capacity more applications
run smoothly. Moreover for practical system cost should be reasonable.
• There is a trade-off between these three characteristics cost, speed and access time.
One cannot achieve all these quantities in same memory module because-
If capacity increases access time increases (slower) due to which cost per bit decreases.
If access time decreases(faster) capacity decreases and due to which cost per bit increases.
• Memory hierarchy is to obtain highest possible access speed while minimizing the total
cost of the memory system.
• The memory unit that directly communicate with cpu is called is called the main
memory.
• Devices that provide backup storage is called auxiliary memory.
• The memory hierarchy system consists of all storage devices employed in a computer
system from the slow by high capacity auxiliary memory to a relatively faster main
memory, to an even smaller and faster cache memory.
• The main memory occupies a central position by being able to communicate directly
with the cpu and with auxilary memory devices through an I/O processor.
Memory Hierarchy Design:-
• The memory hierarchy in the computer includes the following:-
1.Registers :- Register is the Static RAM in the processor of the computer which is
used for holding the data word which is 64 bits or 128 bits. The program counter
register is most important which is found in all processors.
2.Cache Memory :- cache memory can also be found in the processor, however it
may be another IC which is separated into levels. The cache holds the chunk of
data which are frequently used from main memory. Present multicore processor
will be having three, 2 levels for each one core and one level is shared.
3.Main memory :- it directly communicates with cpu and with the auxillary devices
through an I/O processor. Main memory is less expensive than cache memory and
larger in size. The memory is implemented by using DRAM.
4.Secondary Storage :- Secondary storage devices like magnetic disk are present at
level 3. they are used as backup storage. They are cheaper than main memory and
larger in size.
5.Tertiary Storage :- tertiary storage devices like magnetic tapes are present at level
4. they are used to store removable files and are cheapest and largest in size.
Internal or Main Memory
• Central unit of a computer system. It is relatively large and fast
memory to store programs and data during the computer operation.
These memories employ semiconductor integrated circuits. The basic
element of semiconductor memory is memory cell.
• The memory cell has three functional terminals which carries electrical
signal.
The select terminal – it selects the cell.
The data terminal – it is used to input data as 0 or 1 and data out or sense
terminal is used for the output of the cell’s state.
Control terminal – it controls the function. i.e. it indicates read and write.
Random Access Memory(RAM)
• Memory cells can be accessed for information transfer from any desired random location.
• The process of locating a word in a memory is the same and requires an equal amount of
time no matter where the cells are located physically in memory thus named “Random
Access”.
• RAM are available in two possible operating modes, static and Dynamic.

Static Random Access Memory(SRAM)

• The static RAM consists of flip-flop that stores binary information and this stored
information remains valid as long as power is applied to the unit.
• Bit stored as on/off switches. No refreshing needed when powered.
• More complex construction and more expensive.
• Faster than DRAM.
• Used in Cache.
(Cont…)Static RAM
Dynamic RAM
• The dynamic RAM stores the binary information in the form of
electrical charges and capacitor is used for this puropose.
• Since the charge stored in a capacitor discharges with time
capacitor must be periodically recharged and which is also
called refreshing memory.
• Simple construction, highly dense, less expensive and slower
compared to SRAM.
• Used as main memory.
Cache Memory
• The data or content of the main memory that are used frequently by the
cpu are stored in the cache so that processor can easily access the data
in shorter time.
• Whenever cpu needs to access memory it first checks the cache
memory, then the cpu moves into main memory.
• Cache memory is placed between the cpu and the main memory. The
block diagram for a cache memory can be represented as :
Cache Operation :-
• When the cpu needs to access memory, the cache is examined, if
the word is found in the cache, it is read from the main memory.
• If the word addressed by the cpu is not found in the cache, the
main memory is accessed to read the word.
• A block of word one just accessed is then transferred from main
memory to cache memory.
• The performance of cache is frequently measured in terms of
quantity called Hit ratio.
• When the cpu refers to memory and find the word in the cache, it is
said to produce a hit.
• If the word is not found in the cache, it is in main memory and it
counts as a miss.
• The ratio of number of hits divided by the total number of cpu
references to memory is the hit ratio.
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑖𝑡
Hit Ratio =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑃𝑈 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒
Locality of Reference :-
• Also known as principle of locality/ reference of locality.
• Two types :-
1. Temporal :- Any memory location that has been accessed now may be accessed
again in near future.
2. Spatial :- If any particular memory location has been accessed then there is
possibility that near by memory location may also be accessed.

Main Memory
Level-2 Cache Level-3 Cache
CPU Level-1 Cache
Fastest
Fast Less Fast Slow
Hard disk
• It is a storage device that used magnetically platters to store data,
instructions and information.
• It is a storage device that is used to write rewrite and access the data. It
uses a magnetization process.
• Organization :-
1.The entire disk is divided into platters.
2.Each platters consists of a concentric circles called as tracks.
3.These tracks are further divided into sectors which are the smallest
divisions in the disk.
• A cylinder is formed by combining the tracks at a given radius of a
disk pack.
• There exist a mechanical arm called read/write head.
• It is used to read from and write to the disk.
• Head has to reach at a particular track and then wait for the
rotation of the platter.
• The rotation causes the required sector of the track to come
under the head.
• Each platter has 2 surfaces –top and bottom and both the
surfaces are used to store the data.
• Each surface has its own read/write head.
Disk performance parameters :-
• The time taken by the disk to complete an I/O request is called as
disk access time.
• Disk Access time = Seek time + Rotation latency + transfer time.
1.Seek time :- the time taken by the read/write head to reach the
desired track is called seek time. The lower the seek time, faster the
I/O operation.
2.Rotation latency :- the time taken by the desired sector to come
under the read/write head is called as rotation latency.
data to be transfer
3.Transfer time = ;
𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
4.Transfer rate = No. of heads(surface) * capacity of one track * No of
rotation in
one second
5.Disk size = Total number of surface * Number of tracks per surface *
number of sectors per track * storage capacity of one sector.
Instruction Cycle
• Time required to execute and fetch an entire instruction is
called instruction cycle. A program residing in the memory
unit of the computer consists of a sequence of instrucions.
• The program is executed in the computer by going through
the cycle for each instruction. Each instructions cycle in turn
subdivided into sequence of a sub cycle. Each instrucions
cycle consists of following phases :-
1. Fetches instructions from memory.
2. Decode the instruction.
3. Read the effective address from memory.
4. Execute the instruction.
Instruction Codes
• An instruction code is a group of bits that instruct computer to
perform a specific operation.
• A computer usually has a variety of instruction code format. It is
the function of the control unit within the cpu to interpret each
instruction code and provide the necessary control functions
needed to process the instruction.
• The bits of the instruction are divided into groups called fields.
The most common fields in the instruction formats are –
o An operation code field that specifies the operation to be performed.
o An Address field that designates memory address or a processor register.
o A Mode field that specifies the way the operand or effective address is
determined.
• The Instructions are stored in a computer memory in the same
manner that data is stored.
• The control unit interprets these instructions and uses these
operations code to determine the sequence of micro operations that
must be performed to execute the instruction.
• The operands are specified by indicating the registers and/or memory
locations in which they are stored.
• The simplest design is to have one processor register and two fields in
the instruction, one for the opcode and one for the operand.
• Any operation that does not need memory operand frees the other
bits to be used for the purposes, such as specifying different
operations.
• A basic computer has three instruction code format –
1. Memory – reference instruction
2. Register – reference instruction
3. Input-output instruction
• Memory Reference Instruction – In memory reference instruction, 12 bit
of memory is used to specify a address and 1 bit to specify the addressing
mode ‘I’. If I=0, it represents direct and if I=1 then it represents indirect
addressing mode.

• Register Reference Instruction – the register reference instruction are

represented by the opcode 111 with a 0 in the left most bit of the
instruction.

• Input- output Instruction – just like register reference instruction, an

input-output instruction does not need a reference to memory and is
recognized by the opcode 111 with 1 in the left most bit of the
instruction. The remaining 12 bit is used to specify the type of the input
output operation or test performed.
• The three operation code bits in positions 12 through 14 should be
equal to 111. otherwise the instruction is memory reference type, and
the bit is in position 15 is taken as the addressing mode ,I.
• When the three operation codes bits are equal to 111, control unit
inspects the bit in position 15. of the bit is 0, the instruction is a register
reference type otherwise the instruction is a input-output reference
type.

Addressing Modes:-
• There are four different types of operands that can appear in an
instruction :
• Direct operand- an operand stores in a register or in the memory
location specified.
• Indirect operand- an operand whose address is stored in the
register or in the memory location specified.

• Immediate operand- an operand whose value is specified in the

instruction. e.g. MVI B,50H

• Implied operand- the operands are specified implicitly in the

definition of the instruction. E.g. CMA (complement
Accumulator), the operand in the accumulator register is implied
in the definition of the instruction.
Instruction-set Completeness
• A set of Instruction set is said to be complete if the computer includes a
sufficient number of instructions in each of the following categories-
Arithmetic, logic and shift instructions
A set of instructions for moving information to and from memory and processor
registers.
Instruction which controls the program together with instruction that check status
conditions
Input and output instructions.
• Arithmetic, logical and shift instructions provide computational
capabilities for processing the type of data the user may wish to employ.
• A huge amount of binary information is stored in a memory unit but all
computations are done in a processor registers. Therefore one must
process the capability of moving information between these two units.
• Program control instructions such as branch instructions are used change
the sequence in which program is executed.
Input and output instructions acts as an interface between the computer
and user. Program and data must be transferred into memory, and the
results of computations must be transferred back to the user.
Basic Memory Reference Instructions
Symbol Hexadecimal code Descriptions
I=0 I=1
AND 0xxx 8xxx AND mem. Word to AC
ADD 1xxx 9xxx ADD mem. Word to AC
LDA 2xxx Axxx Load mem. Word to AC
STA 3xxx Bxxx Store content of memory
word to AC
BUN 4xxx Cxxx Branch unconditionally
BSA 5xxx Dxxx Branch and save return
address.
ISZ 6xxx Exxx Increment and skip if zero.
Memory Reference Instructions :-
1. AND :- D0T4: DR←m[AR] CLK
D0T5: AC←AC ^ DR , SC←0
2. ADD :- D1T4: DR←m[AR] Sequence INC
Counter
D1T5: AC←AC + DR , E←Cout , SC←0
3. LDA :- D2T4: DR←m[AR] CLR
D2T5: AC← DR , SC←0
4. STA :- D3T4: m[AR]←AC , SC←0,
5. BUN :- D4T4: PC←AR, SC←0
6. BSA :- D5T4: m[AR]←PC , AR←AR+1
D5T4: PC←AR, SC←0
7. ISZ :- D6T4 : DR ←m[AR]
D6T4 : DR ←DR+1 if DR=0, then PC ← PC+1, SC ←0;
Basic Register-Reference Instruction
Symbol Hex Code Description
CLA 7800 Clear AC
CLE 7400 Clear E
CMA 7200 Complement AC
CME 7100 Complement E
CIR 7080 Circulate right AC & E.
CIL 7040 Circulate left AC & E
INC 7020 Increment AC
SPA 7010 Skip next instruction if AC is positive
SNA 7008 Skip next instruction if AC is negative.
SZA 7004 Skip next instruction if AC is zero
SZE 7002 Skip next instruction if E is zero.
HLT 7001 Halt computer
Register Reference Instruction :-
• CLA : rB11 : AC←0
• CLE : rB10 : E←0
• CMA : rB9 : AC←AC’
• CME : rB8 : E←E’
• CIR : rB7 : AC←shr AC, E ←AC(0), AC(15) ←E
• CIL : rB6 : AC←shl AC, E ←AC(15), AC(0) ←E
• INC : rB5 : AC←AC+1
• SPA : rB4 : if(AC(15)=0) then PC←PC+1
• SNA : rB3 : if(AC(15)=1) then PC←PC+1
• SZA : rB2 : if(AC=0) then PC←PC+1
• SZE : rB1 : if(E=0) then PC←PC+1
• HLT : rB0 : S←0
Basic input output instructions:-
Symbol Hex Code Description
INP F800 Input character to AC
OUT F400 Output character from AC
SKI F200 Skip to input flag
SKO F100 Skip on output flag
ION F080 Interrupt on
IOF F040 Interrupt off
I/O Reference Instructions :-
Monitor Rx Interface OUTR

Transmitter
Keyboard INPR AC
Interface

FGI =1

• INP : AC(0-7) ←INPR, FGI ←0

• OUT : OUTR←AC(0-7), FGo ←0
• SKI : If (FGI=1) then PC ←PC+1
• SKO : if (FGO=1) then PC ←PC+1
• ION : IEN ←1
• IOF : IEN ← 0
Registers:-
• Register is a type of computer memory used to quickly accept, store and
transfer data and instructions that are being used immediately by the
cpu.
• The register may hold an instruction, storage address, or any data (such
as bit sequence or any individual character).
• Computer need registers for manipulating data and a register for holding
a memory address. The register holding the memory location is used to
calculate the address of the next instruction after the execution of
current instruction is completed.
• The memory unit has the capacity of 4096 words, and each words
contains 16 bits.
• The Data Register (DR) contains 16 bits which holds the operand
read from the memory location.
• The memory address register (MAR) contains 12 bits which holds
the address for the memory location.
• The program counter (PC) also contains 12 bits which hold the
address of the next instruction to be read from the memory after
current instruction is executed.
• The Accumulator (AC) is a general purpose processing register.
• The instruction read from the memory is placed in the Instruction
Register.
• The Temporary register is used for holding the temporary data
during the processing.
• The Input registers (IR) holds the input character given by the user.
• The output registers (OR) holds the output after processing the
input data.
Common BUS System
• To avoid excessive wiring, memory and all the registers are connected via a
common Bus.
• The specific output that is selected for the Bus is determined by S2S1S0 .
• The Register whose LD(Load) is enable receives the data from the bus.
• Register Can be incremented by setting the INR control input and can be
cleared by setting the CLR control input.
• The Accumulator input must come via Adder and Logic circuit. This allows
the accumulator and data register to swap data simultaneously.
• The address of any memory location being accessed must be loaded in the
Address Register.
• All except Input Register (INPR) and Adder are connected to clock pulse and
INPR is also not connected to Bus as input is given through input device.
Timing and Control
• The timing for all register in a basic computer is controlled by a
master clock generator. The clock pulses are applied to all flip-
flops and the register in the system, including the flip-flops and
register in the control unit.
• The clock pulses do not changes the state of the register unless
the register is enabled by a control signal.
• The control signals are generated in the control unit and provide
control inputs for the multiplexers in the common bus, control
inputs in processor register and micro operations for the
accumulator.
• There are two major types of control organization:-
1. Hardwired control unit.
2. Microprogrammed control unit.
• In hardwired organization, the control logic is implemented with
gates, flip-flops decoders and other logical circuits. It has the
advantage that it can be optimized to produce a fast mode of
operation.
• In Microprogrammed organization, the control information is stored
in control memory. The control memory is programmed to initiate
the required sequence of micro operations.
• A hardwired control requires changes in the wiring among the
various component if the design has to be modified or changed.
• In microprogrammed control, any required changes or modifications
can be done by updating the microprogram in the control memory.
• It consists of a two decoders,
1. A sequence counter, and
2. A number of logic gates
Timing Signal
• Timing signals are generated by the sequence counter (SC), which
receives as inputs the clock pulse, increment and clear.
• The sequence counter’s outputs are decoded into 16 timing signals To
through T15 , which are used to control the sequence of operations.
• The statement D3T4 :SC 0 reset the sequence counter to zero; the
next timing signal is T0