CHAPTER3:
PROCESSOR TYPES AND
SPECIFICATIONS
PART1
Computer Architecture
Processor Types and Specifications
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Microprocessor History:
Processor is the engine of the PC, performs system’s
calculating and processing.
It is the most expensive single component.
Intel had specific goal: to make semiconductor
memory more practical and affordable.
Processor History
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By 1970:intel was known as a successful memory
chip company.
Because of Intel’s success in memory chip
manufacturing and design, Japanese manufacturer
Busicom asked Intel to design a set of chips for a
family of high-performance programmable
calculators
Processor History
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November 15, 1971 was the introduction of the 4bit Intel 4004 CPU as part of the MCS-4
microcomputer set.
The 4004 ran at a maximum clock speed of
740KHz (740,000 cycles per second, or nearly
3/4ths of a megahertz), contained 2,300 transistors
in an area of only 12 sq. mm (3.5mm x 3.5mm)
Processor History
The 4004 was designed for use in a calculator but
proved to be useful for many other functions because of
its inherent programmability.
 For example, the 4004 was used in traffic light
controllers, blood analyzers.
 In April 1972, Intel released the 8008 processor, which
originally ran at a clock speed of 500KHz
(0.5MHz).
 The 8008 processor contained 3,500 transistors and
was built on the same 10-micron process as the previous
processor.
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Processor History
The big change in the 8008 was that it had an 8-bit
data bus, which meant it could move data 8 bits at
a time—twice as much as the previous chip.
 The next chip in the lineup was the 8080, introduced
in April 1974.
 Running at a clock rate of 2MHz, the 8080
processor had 10 times the performance of the
8008.
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Processor History
Similar to the previous chip, the 8080 had an 8-bit
data bus, so it could transfer 8 bits of data at a
time.
 The 8080 could address up to 64KB of memory,
significantly more than the previous chip.
 Motorola went on to create the 68000 series,
which became the basis for the original line of
Apple Macintosh computers.
All these previous chips set the stage for the first PC
processors.
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PC Processor Evolution.
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PC Processor Evolution concentrated on four main
areas:
 Increasing
Transistor count and density.
 Increasing Clock cycling speed.
 Increasing the size of internal registers(bits).
 Increasing the number of cores in a single chip.
Processor Evolution
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Intel introduced the 286 chip in 1982. With
134,000 transistors, it provided about three times
the performance of other 16-bit processors of the
time.
Featuring on-chip memory management, the 286
also offered software compatibility with its
predecessors.
Processor Evolution
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In 1985 came the Intel 386 processor. With a new
32-bit architecture and 275,000 transistors, the
chip could perform more than five million instructions
every second (MIPS).
in 1993, Intel introduced the first P5 family (586)
processor, called the Pentium, setting new
performance standards with several times the
performance of the previous 486 processor.
Processor Evolution
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The year 2000 saw a significant milestone when both
Intel and AMD crossed the 1GHz barrier, a speed that
many thought could never be accomplished.
In 2002, Intel released a Pentium 4 version running at
3.06GHz, the first PC processor to break the 3GHz
barrier.
and the first to feature Intel’s Hyper-Threading (HT)
technology.
This encouraged programmers to write multithreaded
applications, which would prepare them for when true
multicore processors would be released a few years
later.
Processor Evolution
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In 2003, AMD released the first 64-bit PC processor:
the Athlon 64.
In 2005, both Intel and AMD released their first dualcore processors, basically integrating two processors
into a single chip.
Rather than attempting to increase clock rates, as has
been done in the past, adding processing power by
integrating two or more processors into a single chip
enables future processors to perform more work with
fewer bottlenecks and with a reduction in both power
consumption and heat production.
Processor Evolution
In 2008:intel released Core i series.
 Quad core processors with Hyper-threading
(appearing as 8 cores for the OS)
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16-bit to 64-bit Evolution
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Major change was to move from 16-bit internal
architecture to 32-bit architecture.(IA-32)
Now moving from 32-bit to 64-bit:backword
compatibility.
To make 64-bit reality:64-bit operating systems
and drivers are needed.
Multi-core processors
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Multi-core processors have 4 or more full CPU cores
in single CPU package.
Enables single processor to perform the work of
multiple processors.
Get more work done in less time using multi-tasking.
Processing speed and transistor counting are
doubling every 2 years.
Processor Specifications
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Processors can be identified by:
How wide they are.(Data and Address Bus, internal
registers)
 How fast they are.(GHz: billion cycles/second).
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Data Bus=Front Side Bus.
Even some processors have 64-bit data bus, they
are classified as 32-bit processors because their
registers 32-bit wide.
Intel Processor Specification
Processor
Cores Voltage Register
Data Bus Max
Memory
Transistor
8088
1
5v
16-bit
8-bit
1MB
29,000
386
1
5v
32-bit
16-bit
16MB
275,000
Pentium2
1
2.8v
32-bit
64-bit
64GB
7.5M
Core2due
2
1.3b
32-bit
64-bit
64GB
151M
Core i7
4
1.4v
64-bit
64-bit
1TB
731M
Data I/O Bus:
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Speed and width of external data bus are
important features of the processor.
They define the rate at which data is moved into or
out of the processor.
Data in computer is sent as digital information
Amount of data(Bandwidth) sent can be increased
by either increasing the cycling time or the number
of bits sent at a time.
Data I/O Bus:
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Once 64-bit architecture was reached, chip
designers found they could not increase speed
further—too hard to manage synchronizing 64-bit
data.
By going back to small bus width, it is possible to
increase the data speed(cycle time) and get
greater bandwidth.
Address Bus
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Set of wires carrying address information used to
describe memory location.
Each wire in the address bus carries a single bit.
The more wires, the greater the total number of
address locations.
The width of address bus indicates the maximum
amount of RAM to be addressed.
Address Bus
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Data and Address bus are independent.
Chip designers can use what ever size they want for
each.
Usually chips with large data buses, have large
address buses.
Size of data bus: indication of chip’s information
moving capability.
Size of address bus: how much memory a chip can
handle
Internal Registers(internal data bus)
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Indicates how much information the processor can
operate on at one time.
How it moves data around internally within the chip.
Also referred as internal data bus.
A register: holding cell with in the CPU.
Ex: CPU adds numbers in two different registers,
stores the result in third register
Internal Registers
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The register size also indicates: type of software or
instructions CPU can run.
32-bit internal register=>runs 32-bit instructions
processing 32-bit chunks of data.
Processor Modes
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Intel processors run in different modes.
These modes refer to the different operating
environment.
Processor mode controls how the CPU sees and
manages the system memory.
Four Different Modes:
Real Mode.
 Protected Mode.
 Virtual Real Mode
 64-bit Extension Mode
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Real Mode
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Real Mode: some times called 8086.
PC could execute 16-bit instructions using 16-bit
internal registers.
Could address only 1MB memory (20-bit Address
bus)
Software was designed around the 16-bit
instruction set and 1MB memory.
Dos, Dos software, windows 1.x---3.x
Real Mode
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The 16-bit instruction mode of 8088 and 286 was
known as Real Mode.
Software running on the 16-bit real mode is usually
single-tasking.
Only one program can run at a time.
No built-in protection exists to keep one program
from over writing an other program or OS.
If more programs are running  system crashes.
Protected Mode
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386 processor came with 32-bit instruction
capability.
This chip could run 32-bit instructions.
32-bit operating systems and applications were
required.
The 32-bit mode is also called Protected Mode.
Software running in this mode is protected from
over writing.
Protects from the system to crash.
Protected Mode
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Developing new Operating systems and applications
taking advantage from 32-bit mode takes some time.
Intel built a backward compatible real mode to 386.
Enabling to run un modified 16-bit OS and
applications.
32-bit chip running 16-bit OS uses only the first 1MB of
the whole memory.
Windows XP was the first OS running 32-bit instructions.
Virtual Real Mode(IA-32)
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Windows 32-bit backward compatibility.
Virtual real mode: real 16-bit mode running inside
32-bit protected mode.
Running Dos inside windows is creating virtual real
mode inside protected mode.
Since 32-bit mode enables multi-tasking, you can
have several virtual real mode sessions running.
Virtual Real Mode
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Program running in virtual real mode can access up
to 1MB of memory.
The program believes is the first and the only
megabyte of memory in the system.
So each program gets its own 1MB address space.
IA-32e:64-bit Extension Mode
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An enhancement to the IA-32 architecture.
64-bit extension technology can run in real mode,
IA-32 mode or IA-32e mode.
AI-32-bit mode enables the processor to run
protected mode and virtual real mode.
IA-32e mode allows the processor to run in 64-bit
mode and compatibility mode(both 64-bit and 32bit at the same time)
64-bit Extension Mode
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Major difference between 32-bit and 64-bit is the
memory support.
In windows 32-bit system:4GB of physical memory.
In 64-bit windows:192 GB of physical memory.
Support for more memory means applications can
preload more data in to memory which the
processor can access much more quickly.