COSC 403:

COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

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Fundamentals of Computer
Design
MODULE FOUR
Fundamentals of Computer Design

• The concept pf stored program computers

appeared in 1945 when John von Neumann
drafted the first version of EDVAC
(Electronic Discrete Variable Computer).
Those ideas have since been the milestones
of computers:
Fundamentals of Computer Design

 An input device through which data and instructions can be

entered
 Storage in which data can be read/written; instructions are
like data, they reside in the same memory
 A control unit which fetches instructions, decode and execute
them
 Output devices for the user to access the results.
Fundamentals of Computer Design

• The improvements in computer technology have been

tremendous since the first machine appeared.

• Four lines of evolution have emerged from the first computers

• Mainframes computer: Large computers that can support very

many users while delivering great computing power. It is
mainly in mainframes where most of the innovations (both in
architecture and organization) have been made
Fundamentals of Computer Design
• Minicomputers: have adopted many of the mainframe
techniques, yet being designed to sell for less, satisfying
the computing needs for smaller groups of users. It is
the minicomputer group that improved at the fastest
pace (since 1965 when DEC introduced the first
minicomputer) mainly due to the evolution of integrated
circuits technology (the first IC appeared in 1958).
Fundamentals of Computer Design
• Supercomputer: Designed for scientific
applications, they are the most expensive
computers. Processing is usually done in
batch mode for reasons of performance.
Fundamentals of Computer Design
• Microcomputers: have appeared in the microprocessor era
(the first microprocessor, intel 4004, was introduced in
1971). The term micro refers only to physical dimensions,
not to computing performance. A typical microcomputer
(either a PC or a workstation) nicely fits on a desk.
Microcomputers are a direct product of technological
advances: faster CPUs, semiconductor memories, etc.
Basic Organization of a computer
• Most of the computers available today are so
called Von Neumann computers, simply
because their building part; CPU or
processor, memory, and I/O are
interconnected the way von Neumann
suggested.
Basic Organization of a computer
• Figure below shows the building blocks of
computers; even though there are many
variations, and the level at which these blocks
can be found is different, sometimes at the
system level, other times at board level or even at
chip level, their meaning is yet the same
 Basic Organization of a computer
(1)CPU: This is core of the computer; all computation is done
here and the whole system is controlled by the CPU.
(2)Memory: This is where the program and the data for the
program are stored.
(3)I/O: This provide the means of entering the program and
data into the system. It also allows the user to get the
results of the computation.
Basic Organization of a computer

Organization of a CPU using a single internal data bus.

Basic Organization of a computer

Organization of CPU, using single internal data bus, IR is the Instruction

Register
Basic Organization of a computer
Computation and control in CPU
• The computation part of the CPU, called the datapath,
consists of the following units:

(a)ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit) which performs

arithmetic and logic operations
(b)Registers which hold variables or intermediary results of
computation, as well as special purpose registers
(c)Bus which is the interconnections between them.
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• In a computer central processing unit (CPU), the
accumulator is the register in which intermediate
arithmetic and logic results are stored. Without a
register like an accumulator, it would be necessary
to write the result of each calculation (addition,
multiplication, shift, e.t.c.) to main memory,
perhaps only to be read right back again for use in
the next operation.
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• Assess to main memory is slower than to a
register like an accumulator because the
technology used for the large main memory is
slower (but cheaper) than that used for a
register. Early electronic computer systems
were often split into two groups, those with
accumulator and those without accumulator
• .
 Arithmetic and logic unit
• The arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) performs
the arithmetic and logical functions that are the
work of the computer. There is other general-
purpose registers that hold the input data, and
the accumulator receives the result of the
operation. The instruction register contains the
instructions that the ALU is to perform.
 Arithmetic and logic unit
• For example, when adding two numbers, one number is
placed in one of the general-purpose registers and the other in
another general-purpose register. The ALU performs the
addition and puts the result in the accumulator. If the
operation is a logical one, the data to be compared is placed
into one of the general-purpose register. The result of the
comparison, a 1 or 0, is put in the accumulator. Whether this
is a logical or arithmetic operation, the accumulator content
is then placed int the cache location reserved by the program
for the result.
 REGISTER
• A register may hold an instruction, a
storage address, or any kind of data
(such as a bit sequence or individual
characters)
Instruction Register and pointer or program counter
• The instruction pointer (IP) specifies the location in
memory containing the next instruction to be
executed by the CPU. When the CPU completes
the execution of the current instruction, the next
instruction is loaded int the instruction register
from the memory location pointed to by the
instruction pointer.
Instruction Register and pointer or program counter
• After the instruction is loaded int the
instruction register, the instruction
register pointer in incremented by one
instruction address. Incrementing
allows it to be ready to move the next
instruction into the instruction register.
Instruction register
•This is the register that holds the
instruction currently being
executed.
Memory Address Register
• The register which holds the address of the location to or
from which data are to be transferred is known as Memory
address register.

• In computer, the memory address register (MAR) is the

CPU register that either stores the memory address from
which data will be fetch to the CPU, or the address to
which data will be sent and stored. In other words, MAR
holds the memory location of data that needs to be
accessed.
Memory Address Register
• In other words, this register is used to access data and
instructions from memory during the execution phase of
instruction. MAR holds the memory location of data that
needs to be accessed. When reading from memory, data
addressed by MAR is fed into the MDR (memory data
register) and then used by the CPU. When writing to
memory, the CPU writes data from MDR to the memory
location whose address is stored in MAR. MAR, which is
found inside the CPU, goes either to the RAM (random
access memory).
Memory Data Register
• The memory data register (MDR) is the register that stores
the data being transferred to and from the immediate access
storage. It contains the copy of designated memory locations
specified by the memory address register. It acts as a buffer
allowing the processor and memory units to act
independently without being affected by minor differences in
operation. A data item will be copied to the MDR ready for
use at the next clock cycle, when it can be either used by the
processor for reading or writing stored in main memory after
being written.
Memory Data Register
• The register holds the contents of the memory
which are to be transferred from memory to other
components or vice versa. A word to be stored must
be transferred to the MDR, from where it goes to
the specific memory location, and the arithmetic
data to be processed in the ALU first goes to MDR
and then to accumulated register, and then it is
processed in the ALU.
Memory Data Register
• The MDR is a two-way register. When data is
fetched from memory and placed into the
MDR, it is written to go in one direction.
When there is a write instruction, the data to
be written is placed into the MDR from
another CPU register, which then puts the data
into memory.
 N
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