Evolution of Computer

architecture
 2

CPU Architecture
• There are four factors influencing CPU
evolution:
– Technology (constraint or opportunity)
– Theory and design inginuity
– User demand
– Economics & commercial pressure
 3

Technology
Relays, Thermionic valve, Diodes and Bipolar
Transistors, RTL then TTL integrated circuits,
MOS integrated circuits, LSI and VLSI
 4

Theory and design ingenuity

 5

User Demand
 6

Economics & Commercial Pressure

 7

CPU Architecture
• In the decade 1943 (ENIAC) to 1953 (IBM 701)
theory, engineering design, technological
inginuity flourished.
• The 2nd World War brought together key actors
and lent an urgency to their work, this was
followed by a commercial race to bring the new
developments to the market
• The decade ends just as the first Si transistor
designs and magnetic core memory were
introduced.
• Here are some key developments:
CPU Architecture

Eckert & Mauchley ENIAC:

Begun 1943 finished 1946

5000 operations a second
Programmed by
plugboard & switches
I/O: card, lights, plugs, switches
Size: floor area 100 sq metres

8
 9

CPU Architecture

Colossus 1. 1944
Used for code breaking by
the British
Programmed by
Patch cord and switches
I/O: paper tape, teleprinter
1500 thermionic valves
5000 operations a second
Reliability?: Never switched
off unless malfunctioned.
Followed by Colossus Mk2,
2400 valves, 25000
operations a second
 10

CPU Architecture

Harvard Mark 1 1944: Electromechanical, programmable (really an

automatic calculator),16m long, 2m high, more reliable than contempary valve
machines
 11

CPU Architecture
EDSAC. 1949

First practical programmable

stored program computer
1k words of memory
17 bit word
Mercury delay line memory
700 operations a second
I/O: punched tape, teleprinter
Programmed by a primitive assembler
set-up by hand on uniselectors and
transferred into memory.

Wilkes: Cambridge University Mathematics Lab

 12

CPU Architecture
b

• "Computers in the future may weigh no more

than 1.5 tons."
-Popular Mechanics, 1949
 13

CPU Architecture

“From then on, when

anything went wrong
with a computer, we said
it had bugs in it (an
error in the 1940s
Harvard mark 11
computer was traced
to a moth trapped inside).”
- Rear Admiral Grace
Murray Hopper, US Navy
 14

CPU Architecture
Manchester Mark 1.
1949

Begun 1947
1300 valves
Memory: 128 + 1024 40 bit
words
Memory: Cathode Ray tube
and magnetic drum
I/O: papertape, teleprinter
Programming: switches
Add time 1.8 microseconds
Design: Williams & Kilburn
 CPU Architecture
Early Memory Technology

1. Mercury ( acoustic) Delay

Line
2. Cathode Ray Tube (Williams
1 tube)
3. Magnetic Drum
2 3

15
 16

CPU Architecture
• All these memory devices operate as a long shift
register. No random access.

Data enters, takes some time to travel to the output and is recirculated.
Data can only be read as it reaches the output – there is a waiting time,
latency, for it to appear. Storage is achieved by this I/O delay and
recirculation.
Mercury delay line – acoustic delay. Williams tube – phosphor persistence.
Magnetic drum – diameter and speed.
Data in mercury delay line and cathode ray tube is volatile, if not recirculated
it is lost. Magnetic drum is non-volatile.
 17

CPU Architecture

SEAC 1950

Diode logic
10500 diodes and 1500 valves
Mercury delayline memory
512 words 45 bits
Clock 1MHz
Add 864 microseconds
Magnetic Tape external storage
I/O: teleprinter or mag tape
& remote teleprinter
Used for scientific calculation:
Meteorology, navigation etc..
 18

CPU Architecture

ACE 1950

Start of project:1948
Completed:1950
Add time:1.8 microseconds
Input/output:cards
Memory size:352 32-digit words
Memory type:delay lines
Technology:800 valves
Floor space:1.5 sq metres
Project leader:J. H. Wilkinson
CPU Architecture
• 1951 First Commercial Computers:
1. LEO (Lyons Electronic Office). Designed for production
scheduling for Lyon’s Tea Shops, UK
2. UNIVAC 1. Made by Remington Rand for US Census Office

19
CPU Architecture
• Speed:1,905 operations
per second
UNIVAC 1. 1951
• Input/output:magnetic
tape, unityper, printer
• Memory size:1,000 12-
digit words
• Memory type:delay lines,
magnetic tape
• Technology:valves
• Floor space:11 sq metres
• Cost: approx $1million
• Project leaders:Eckert
and Mauchley
20
 21

CPU Architecture

LEO 1951

Clock 500kHz Instruction time 1.5 ms

Multiple I/O streams
I/O: paper tape & punch,
card reader & punch, mag tape
Memory: mercury delay line
2048 35 bit words
Initially used for production planning,
later for inventory and payroll –
1st MIS
 22

CPU Architecture

IBM 701. 1953

IBM’s first commercial scientific computer. 19 were sold.
KOMPILER compiler and run-time environment, later FORTRAN
Memory 2048 36 bit words (expandable to 4096)
Multiply/divide 456 microseconds
CPU Architecture
Magnetic Core Memory.
First used in Whilrwind computer 1953
First Random Access memory. Non-volatile.
Faster and more reliable than earlier memory technology

23
 24

CPU Architecture
Magnetic Core Memory

Memory access is as a read/write cycle

Required address is decoded as X & Y coordinates and a current pulse applied
If the core where X & Y are coincident is a 0 no signal on the sense line, if a 1 the
magnetic state of the core is flipped and there is a sense pulse
This read is destructive so the data has to be written back
Magnetic core memory is non-volatile
 25

CPU Architecture
1954. Silicon Transistor
Texas Instruments

1955. TRADIC Bell Labs

First transistorized computer

800 transistors 10000 diodes
Power less than 100 Watts
(a twelfth power required by valves)
In the photo a program is being
Loaded via a plugboard
 26

CPU Architecture
• These machines, though of varying architecture
and capability, have features that have been
absorbed and re-used in the computers that
followed. There are very few ideas or features
that have been introduced since that are not
echoes of what went before.
 27

CPU Architecture
• The next era is that of the Mainframe.
• Bigger, more powerful, and expensive.
• Two main applications: business
• applications, accounting, MIS…..
• and scientific applications requiring vast
• numbers of simple calculations…..
• And later the Minicomputer was developed
 28

CPU Architecture
1959 IBM 7000 series
IBM´s 7000 series mainframes were
the company's first transistorized
computers.
Top of the line was the 7030 "Stretch."
Nine of the computers,
which featured a 64-bit word and
other innovations, were sold to
US national laboratories and other
scientific users. It’s designer
L. R. Johnson first used
the term "architecture" in describing
the Stretch.
 29

CPU Architecture
1960 DEC PDP1

50 were build, cost $120,000.

It had a cathode ray tube graphic display,
needed no air conditioning and required
only one operator.
The display intrigued early hackers at MIT,
who wrote the first computerized video game,
SpaceWar!, for it. SpaceWar became
The standard demonstration on all 50.
 30

CPU Architecture
1961 RTL ICs

Fairchild invented the resistor-transistor

logic (RTL).
The first product a set/reset flip-flop
and the first integrated circuit available
as a monolithic chip.
 31

But what...is it good for?"

"

-Engineer at the Advanced Computing

Systems Division of IBM, 1968,
commenting on the microchip
CPU Architecture
• 1963 to 1966 TTL
• Transistor Transistor
Logic.

• First introduced by
Sylvania for US military
• Commercial devices by
Texas Instruments 7400
family.

32
 33

CPU Architecture

1964 IBM System/360

IBM System/360:
a family of six mutually compatible computers
and 40 peripherals that could work together.
The initial investment of $5 billion was
quickly returned as orders for the system
climbed to 1,000 per month within two years.
At the time IBM released the System/360,
the company was making a transition from
discrete transistors to integrated circuits,
and its major source of revenue moved
from punched-card equipment to electronic
computer systems.
 34

CPU Architecture
1965 DEC PDP8

Digital Equipment Corp. introduced the PDP-8,

the first commercially successful minicomputer.
The PDP-8 sold for $18,000, one-fifth the price
of a small IBM 360 mainframe. The speed,
small size, and reasonable cost enabled the
PDP-8 to go into thousands of manufacturing
plants, small businesses, and scientific
laboratories.
 35

CPU Architecture

• Virtually all these machines have recognizable

architecture based Turing Machine and von
Neumann architecture.
• Here’s an examples that differ and points to
modern Supercomputers.
 36

CPU Architecture
1964 CDC 6600
CDC´s 6600 supercomputer, designed by
Seymour Cray, performed up to 3 million
instructions per second.
The 6600 retained the distinction of being
the fastest computer in the world until surpassed
by its successor, the CDC 7600, in 1968.
Part of the speed came from the computer's
design, which had 10 small computers, known
as peripheral processors, funneling data to a
large central processing unit.
 37

CPU Architecture
1966 HP-2115

Hewlett-Packard entered the general purpose

computer business with its HP-2115, offering
a computational power formerly found only
in much larger computers.
It supported a wide variety of languages,
among them BASIC, ALGOL, and FORTRAN.

The photo shows the familiar teleprinter for

papertape I/O and printer for output.
The CPU with binary display and switches.
Thes second box is core memory
 38

CPU Architecture

1967 1st data processing MOS ic

Fairchild produced the first standard

metal oxide semiconductor MOS product
for data processing applications, an
eight-bit arithmetic unit and accumulator.
 39

CPU Architecture

1968 DG Nova
Data General Corp., started by a group of
engineers that had left DEC., introduced
the Nova, with 32 kilobytes of memory,
for $8,000.

In the photograph, Ed deCastro,

president and founder of Data General,
sits with a Nova minicomputer.
The simple architecture of the Nova
instruction set inspired Steve Wozniak´s
Apple I board eight years later.
 40

CPU Architecture
• This brings us to the dawn of the Microprocessor
era – a convenient point to discuss the
underlying theory:
• Binary data
• Turing Machine
• Von Neumann architecture
• Basic CPU architecture
 41

CPU Architecture
• Binary Data
• Data and other information is stored and
processed by electronic circuits that have only
two states (0/1:Lo/Hi:OFF/ON). Bits.
• Several bits together represent the data
according to standard coding systems. Words.
• 01100001=a in ASCII
 42

CPU Architecture

Von Neumann architecture.

Memory
Data and instructions are stored
in memory, the Control Unit
takes instructions and controls
Control ALU
data manipulation in the
Arithmetic Logic Unit.
Input/Output is needed to make
I/O the machine a practicality
 43

CPU Architecture

CPU Architecture

The ALU manipulates

two binary words according
to the instruction decoded
in the Control unit. The
result is in the Accumulator
and may be moved into
Memory.
 44

CPU Architecture
CPU Architecture
data bus In the simplest, minimum
hardware, solution one of them,
say X, is the accumulator A, the
X Y other, Y, is straight off the memory
bus (this requires a temporary
register not visible to the
ALU programmer).
The instruction may be ADDA,
A which means: add to the contents
of A the number (Y) and put the
answer in A.
 45

CPU Architecture
 46

CPU Architecture
• Bus A delivers data to
• one input of the ALU
A
• bus B the other, the
B • convention of the
ALU
• output going to A
N
• usually holds.
• Connections to the data
ALU
bus
bus B • not shown. You can work
bus A
• out how a 1 or 3 bus
system
 CPU Architecture
• 1970?: Semiconductor
Memory

• The technology that enabled the

• production of microprocessors
• developed out of the rise of
• semiconductor memory, first static
• and later dynamic RAM.
• The random access of core memory
• but occupying much smaller space
• and costing much less.
• Uses MOS technology, data is stored
• on a MOS capacitor (dynamic) or in a
• F/F (static).
• The development of the semiconductor
• industry becomes dependant on
• memory technology, Moore’s Law.

47
 CPU Architecture

• We’ve reached the point at which the first

microprocessors appear: 1971 INTEL 4004
The first advertisement for a
microprocessor, the Intel 4004, appeared
in Electronic News. Developed for Busicom,
a Japanese calculator maker, the 4004 had
2250 transistors and could perform up to
90,000 operations per second in four-bit
chunks. Federico Faggin led the design and
Ted Hoff led the architecture.

INTEL realized they had a good idea and

extended it to a general purpose device…..

48
CPU Architecture
1972: INTEL 8008
A vast improvement over the
4004, its eight-bit word afforded
256 unique arrangements of ones
and zeros. For the first time, a
microprocessor could handle
both uppercase and lowercase
letters, all 10 numerals,
punctuation marks, and a host of
other symbols, as in ASCII.
And led to the early microcomputers….

49
 50

CPU Architecture
1973: Micral
The Micral was the earliest commercial, non-
kit personal computer based on a micro-
processor, the Intel 8008. Thi Truong
developed the computer and Philippe Kahn
the software. Truong, founder and president
of the French company R2E, created the
Micral as a replacement for minicomputers in
situations that didn´t require high
performance. Selling for $1,750, the Micral
never penetrated the U.S. market. In 1979,
Truong sold Micral to Bull.
There are other very early microcomputers, see:
www.digibarn.com/stories/bill-pentz-story/index.html

The 8008 was quickly followed by the more

functional 8080….
 51

CPU Architecture

1975: Altair 8800

The January edition of Popular Electronics
featured the Altair 8800 computer kit,
based on Intel 8080 microprocessor, on its
cover. Within weeks of the computer's
debut, customers inundated the
manufacturing company, MITS, with
orders. Bill Gates and Paul Allen licensed
BASIC as the software language for the
Altair. Ed Roberts invented the 8800 —
which sold for $297, or $395 with a case —
and coined the term "personal computer."
The machine came with 256 bytes of
memory (expandable to 64K) and an open
100-line bus structure that evolved into the
S-100 standard.
 52

CPU Architecture

Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I,

a single-board computer. With an
1976: Apple 1 order for 100 machines at $500 each
from the Byte Shop, he and Steve
Jobs got their start in business. In
this photograph of the Apple I board,
the upper two rows are a video
terminal and the lower two rows are
the computer. The 6502
microprocessor in the white package
sits on the lower left. About 200 of
the machines sold before the Apple 2
was introduced.
 53

CPU Architecture
1976 also saw the introduction a famous
1976 Cray 1 supercomputer the Cray 1.
It made its name as the first
commercially successful vector
processor. The fastest machine of its
day, its speed came partly from its
shape, a C, which reduced the length of
wires and thus the time signals needed
to travel across them. The electronics
generated a lot of heat needing liquid
cooling the mechanism for forms the
seating around the base.
Project started:1972 completed:1976
Speed:166 million floating-point
operations per second
Size:58 cubic feet Weight:5,300 lbs.
Technology: Integrated circuit ECL
Clock rate:83 MHz Word length:64-bits
Instruction set:128 instructions
 54

CPU Architecture
1976 Zilog Z80

The Zilog Z-80 could run any

program written for the 8080.
It had many features that made
it useful in microcomputers to
run HLLs, many extra
instructions and two sets of
CPU registers.

more info: http://www.z80.info/zip/z80pps.zip

 55

CPU Architecture
1977 Commodore PET, APPLE II
The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic
Transactor) — the first of several personal computers
released in 1977 — came fully assembled and was
straightforward to operate, with either 4 or 8
kilobytes of memory, two built-in cassette drives, and
a membrane "chiclet" keyboard.
The Apple II became an instant success when
released in 1977 with its printed circuit motherboard,
switching power supply, keyboard, case assembly,
manual, game paddles, A/C powercord, and cassette
tape with the computer game "Breakout." When
hooked up to a color television set, the Apple II
produced brilliant color graphics.
 56

CPU Architecture

1978: DEC VAX 11/780

The VAX 11/780 from DEC featured the
ability to address up to 4.3 gigabytes of
virtual memory, providing hundreds of
times the capacity of most
minicomputers,
But essentially marks the end of the
Minicomputer era.
CPU Architecture
• 8 bit Microprocessors:
Middle 1970s.
• Intel 8080, Motorola 6800,
MOSTec 6502, Zilog Z80.
• 40 pin DIL package, 8 bit word, 16
bit
• Address, inexpensive.
• Up to 256 Instruction (usually
much less)
• 64k memory address space.
Memory mixture of ROM (non-
volatile: bios, loader) and RAM
(volatile: programs and data).
• I/O buffered connection to outside
world
• About 30,000 transistors

57
 58

CPU Architecture
System Architecture
Address Bus 16 bits
8bit Micro

Data Bus 8 bits

Control signals
 59

CPU Architecture
• Typical CPU Registers
A • A- Accumulator
B • B- GP data register
• IX- Index register
IX
• ADDs- 16 bit Address
ADDs
• S- Stack Pointer
S • CC- Condition Codes
CC
 60

CPU Architecture
• Typical Instruction Set

• Data: arithmetic and logical manipulation of data.

Result into A or sets CCs
• Load/Store: Move data/addresses in and out of
registers
• Program: branch, jump, push, pull, interrupt, return,
NOOP
 61

CPU Architecture
• Typical Addressing Modes: Where is the data?

• Direct: in register
• Immediate: in the program
• Implied: the instruction tells e.g DECA
• Absolute/Zero page: at the address (16 or 8 bit)
• Relative: offset from where you are now
• Indexed: at address incremented content of index reg
• and often combinations of the above
 62

CPU Architecture
1979: 16 bit Microprocessors
16 bit micros were designed for use in
microcomputer. More general purpose
registers, bigger address space, more
possible levels of indirection in addressing
to allow virtual addresses. About 200,000
transistors

The Motorola 68000 microprocessor

exhibited a processing speed far greater
than its contemporaries. This high
performance processor found its place in
powerful work stations intended for
graphics-intensive programs common in
engineering.
 63

CPU Architecture
Another requirement of HLLs was the ability to carry out floating point maths,
programming the algorithms was tedious and execution slow – hence the idea of a
co-processor with hardware for FP maths. This is the INTEL 8087 introduced in 1980
Maths co-processor for the 8088. The maths processor eventually become part of
the CPU.
 64

CPU Architecture

1981: The IBM PC

IBM introduced its PC, igniting a fast growth of the personal computer
market. The first PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and used
Microsoft´s MS-DOS operating system.
Evolution of Processors
Intel vs AMD

66
 67

Part 1: Comparative History

• Generally Intel has been the dominant
producer
of microprocessor chips
• AMD has proven to be a fierce competitor
• Competition stimulated the industry by
producing new and innovative
microprocessors
• In the mid nineties Intel begins to face true
competition
 68

Comparative History
– 80286 chip

• 1980’s-Intel was the only true producer of

marketable computer chips
• 1982-introduce 80286
• 286 was able to run software of its prior
microprocessor
 69

Comparative History
– 80286 chip
• Within 6 years, 15 million 286’s are installed
around the world
• Intel contracts third party companies to produce
286’s and variants
• AMD was one of these third party companies
• AMD became very efficient and capable of being
its own producer of microprocessors
 70

Comparative History
– 386 chip
• 1985, Intel releases its 32-bit 386 microprocessor.
• Faster and capable of multitasking
• AMD, under licensed production, produces 386 chips
allowing Intel to meet market demands
 71

Comparative History
– 386 chip
• During the reign of the 386, AMD decides to
produce
its own CPU.
• 1987-AMD began legal arbitration over rights to
produce their own chips.
• After 5 years of battle, the courts sided with
AMD.
 72

Comparative History
-486 chip
• 1989-Intel releases its 486DX.
• Allowed point and clicking
• Initially twice as fast as its predecessor.
• Intel continued to upgrade to speeds reaching
66MHz.
 73

Comparative History
-Am386 chip
• 1991-AMD released Am386
• Intel’s 486 released two years prior
• AMD believed there still existed a market
• By October, AMD sold one million units
 74

Comparative History
-Am486 chip
• 1993-AMD releases first competing chip: Am486
• 1994-AMD improves chip with Am486DX
• Am486DX processes up to 100MHz
Comparative History
-Pentium
• 1993, Intel realizes it cannot trademark numbers
“x86.”
• This allows AMD the ability to essentially clone
Intel’s chips
• Intel’s solution: dubs its new chip the Pentium
instead of releasing it as the “586”
Comparative History
-Pentium
• Handles and processes more media types such
as speech, sound , and photographic images.
• It Offered multiple processing speeds up
to 200MHz.
• It became well entrenched in the market
• During this time, Intel truly dominated
Comparative History
-Am5x86
• 1995- AMD’s first attempt to compete with the
Pentium by introducing Am5x86
• It was really for those who wanted to upgrade
their 486 motherboards without making a jump
to the Pentium motherboard
• AMD did not fare well with this chip
Comparative History
-AMD K5
• 1996-K5 introduced
• First chip comparable to the Pentium
• Could be placed in the same motherboard as
the Pentium, making it compatible
• Because it was released 3 years after the
Pentium, it was met with cool reception
Comparative History
-Pentium Pro
• In the previous year, Intel released the Pentium
Pro
• Able to handle more instructions per clock cycle
• Intel’s ability to get a new chip on the market
before AMD has had the effect of overshadowing
any of AMD’s microprocessors
Comparative History
-AMD K6
• 1996-AMD purchases the company NexGen who
were making a microprocessor of their own
• AMD uses their core 686 processor to develop
the AMD K6
• Additionally, they slap on Intel’s MMX code
making it compatible with Pentiums.
Comparative History
-AMD K6
• K6 was released in 1997 and reached speeds of
166Mhz to 200Mhz
• K6 was significantly cheaper than the Pentium
• K6 was able to move up to speeds as high as
300MHz, out performing the Pentiums
• Intel was ready for the challenge
Comparative History
-Pentium II
• Later than year, Intel unveils the Pentium II
• It was equipped with MMX instructions, ready
to handle video, audio, and graphics data
• Better capable of handling video editing, sending
media via the Internet, and reprocessing music
• By 1998, the Pentium began to climb in
processing speeds up to 450 MHz.
 Comparative History
-The Celeron
• K6 was doing well as a cost effective alternative to
the Pentium II, although it was an inferior chip
• In response, in 1998, Intel introduced its own
cheaper and inferiror microprocessor: the Celeron
• It was a stripped down version of the Pentium II
Comparative History
-AMD’s K6-2
• AMD fights back with an enhanced K6 to take on the
Pentium II: the K6-2
• Their K6 chip included what they called “3DNow”
technology
• 3DNow is an additional twenty-two instructions to better
handle audio, video, and graphic intensive programs
• AMD then releases K6-3 and proves to be a threat to
Intel
Comparative History
-Pentium III
• 1999-Intel responds by coming out with the
Pentium III
• It had an additional 70 instructions, improving its
ability to process advanced imaging, streaming
audio, video, & speech recognition programs
• One goal of the Pentium III was to enhance the
Internet experience
Comparative History
-the Athlon

• The Athlon was a new chip from the ground up

• It was capable of doing everything the Pentium III
could do, but was much cheaper
• The Athlon was beating out the Pentium III
Comparative History
-Celeron
• In 2000, Intel decidesIIto launch a two pronged attack
against AMD
• First, Intel fights for low-end market by introducing
the Celeron II
• It ranges in speed between 500 and 1100MHz.
• It was a stripped down processor with enhanced
speed
• It was fairly cheap, making it competitive
Comparative History
-Pentium IV
• Intel also introduces the Pentium IV
• It uses four main new technologies: Hyper
Pipelined Technology, Rapid Execution Engine,
Execution Trace Cache and a 400 MHz system bus
• Its major improvement was increased speed,
initially starting at 1.5Ghz with ability for
expansion
• Today it’s reaching upwards to a remarkable 3GHz
Comparative History
-Pentium IV
• The Pentium IV can now produce high quality
video
• stream radio and TV quality information across
the internet
• Render upscale graphics in real-time
• Perform several applications simultaneously
while connected to the Internet
Comparative History
-the Duron
• As result of Intel’s attack on AMD, Intel is once
again dominating the market
• AMD’s response to the Celeron II was the Duron,
released the same year (2000)
• It is a geared down version of the Athlon, but
edges out the Celeron
Comparative History
-Athlon XP
• The Athlon chip was destroying the Pentium III, but
now is destined for the graveyard
• In response to the Pentium IV, AMD enhanced the
Athlon by coming out with the XP series.
• Test show that an Athlon XP running 1.4GHz performs
nearly as well as a Pentium of 2Ghz
• The Athlon XP is a quality chip, but is fading away
under the onslaught of the heavy performance of the
Pentium IV