1chapter 1

Computer Architecture and Design

ECE4480/5480 Computer Architecture and DesignDepartment of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Colorado at Colorado SpringsInstructor: Dr. Charlie Wang

2chapter 1

Computer Architecture and Design

• What is in this course ?– In-depth understanding of the inner-operations of a high

performance processor, processor evolution, and trade-offs present at the hardware/software boundary

» performance/cost/implementation complexity tradeoff in fast/slow operations

– experience with the design process in the context of a large complex digital system design

» functional specification --> control and datapath --> physical implementation

3chapter 1

Course Objectives

• Teach you how to design by leading you through the process of each unit used in modern computers

• We will finish the whole book and supplement new material for techniques used in newly announced processors such as multithread processors, multi-core processors and I/O buses

– textbook “ Computer Organization and Design ; The Hardware/Software Interface “ by Patterson and Hennessy, Morgan Kaufmann Publisher

4chapter 1

What is Computer Architecture

• Computer Architecture – Computer architecture = Instruction set architecture plus

computer organization

– Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)

» ISA specifies data types and data structures, storage elements, instruction formats, operation code set, modes of addressing and accessing data items, exceptional conditions

– Computer Organization

» functions and characteristics of functional units

» functional units connections

» information flow between functional units

» how functional units are controlled

» register transfer level description

5chapter 1

Where is “Computer Architecture and Design”?

I/O systemProcessor

CompilerOperating

System(Windows 2K)

Application (Netscape)

Digital DesignCircuit Design

Instruction Set Architecture

Datapath & Control

transistors

MemoryHardware

Software Assembler

6chapter 1

Computer Architecture and Design

• layout (lowest level))

• circuit design

• digital design

• datapath & control

• instruction set proc. and I/O system

• compiler and firmware

• operating system

• application (highest level)

7chapter 1

Anatomy: 5 components of any Computer

Personal Computer

Processor

Computer

Control

Datapath

Memory

(where programs, data live whenrunning)

Devices

Input

Output

Keyboard, Mouse

Display, Printer

Disk (where programs, data live whennot running)

8chapter 1

Computer Architecture

• Factors affect computer architecture

– technology

– applications

– operating systems

– programming languages

– history

9chapter 1

Computer Technology - Dramatic Change!

• Processor

– 2X in speed every 1.5 years (since ‘85); 100X performance in last decade.

• Memory

– DRAM capacity: 2x / 2 years (since ‘96); 64x size improvement in last decade.

• Disk

– Capacity: 2X / 1 year (since ‘97)

– 250X size in last decade.

10chapter 1

Microprocessor Complexity

11chapter 1

Performance Trends

2X transistors/Chip Every 1.5 to 2.0 yearsCalled “Moore’s Law”

12chapter 1

Computer Architecture

• Computer Architecture

– is an iterative process to search the space of all possible designs at all levels of computer systems

13chapter 1

MIPS Instruction Set Architecture

• Instruction Category– load/store

– computational

– jump and branch

– floating point

» coprocessor

– memory management

– special

registersR0 - R31

instruction formats : all 32 bitsop rs rt rd shamt functop rs rt address / immediateop jump target address

R - type

I - type

J - type

14chapter 1

MIPS Instructions

High Level Language program

compiler

Assembly language program

assembler

Machine language program

lw $15, 0($2);lw $16, 4($2);sw $16, 0($2);sw $15, 4($4);

0010 1001 0001 1010 0011 0011 1100 1010

15chapter 1

Instruction execution cycle

Instruction fetch– obtain instruction from program storage

Instruction decode– determine required actions and instruction size

Operand fetch– locate and obtain operand data

Execute– compute result value or status

Result store– deposit results in storage for later use

Next instruction fetch

16chapter 1

Summary

• Computers have five components– processor : datapath

– processor : control

– memory

– input devices

– output devices

• All memories are not “born” equal– Cache memory : fast, expensive, and placed closer to

processor

– Main memory : cheap, we can put more main memory

• Input and output devices– wide range of speed : graphics vs. keyboard

– wide range of requirements : speed, standard, cost, etc.