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In this module we will introduce processors and the types of common processor architectures. The
processors or the central processing unit (CPU) is the brain of your computer. It handles all the
instructions you give your computer, and the faster it does this, the better your performance is. There
are different types of processor architectures for different applications, for example while designing
processors for mobile we focus on low power consumption and in server processors the performance
should be higher and latency should be lower. There are different architectures and types of processors
for different applications, we will learn about them in this module.
First micro-processor (Intel 4004) was produced in 1971. It was a 4-bit calculation device with a speed of
108 kHz. We have come a long way since then. The processor is an electronic circuit that operates at the
speed of an internal clock. The clock speed corresponds to the number of pulses per second, written in
Hertz (Hz). CPI (Cycles per Instruction) gives a representation of the average number of clock cycles
required for a microprocessor to execute an instruction. For measuring processor performance MIPS
(millions of instructions per second) is the unit used which is given by processor frequency divided by
the CPI.
Basic diagram of a processor is given below
CPU receives certain inputs, it processes them and gives the output. In CPU there is control unit which
controls which instructions are executing and which instructions will be processed later. There is
combinational logic, which does actual processing and computes output based on instructions and data.
Registers are used as temporary memory and it is used by processors for storing intermediate results
without having to access main memory.
Architecture of a processor: There are 2 kind of processor architecture
1. Von Neumann: It has shared memory for both instruction and data, an example of
these processors is arm5, arm7.
2. Harvard: It has separate memory for instruction and data, an example of these types of
processors is MIPS processors.
ARM and x86 processor:
Commercially there are essentially two different kinds of processors available, arm and x86, comparison
of these processors is given below.
Moore's law
"Moore's law" which was given by Gordon Moore (one of the co-founders of Intel) says that, "Over the
history of computing hardware, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles
approximately every two years." In the short history of computers, the processors have become more
and more powerful and extremely complex.