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The Hardware/Software Interface
Chapter 1
Computer Abstractions
and Technology
Classes of Computers
Personal computers
General purpose, variety of software
Subject to cost/performance tradeoff
Server computers
Network based
High capacity, performance, reliability
Range from small servers to building sized
Embedded computers
Hidden as components of systems
Stringent power/performance/cost constraints
Hierarchy of memories
BAC/Sud BAC/Sud
Concorde Concorde
Douglas Douglas DC-
DC-8-50 8-50
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
BAC/Sud BAC/Sud
Concorde Concorde
Douglas Douglas DC-
DC-8-50 8-50
Clock (cycles)
Data transfer
and computation
Update state
B I 600ps 1.2
CPU Tim e
…by this much
CPU Tim e I 500ps
A
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 25
CPI in More Detail
If different instruction classes take different
numbers of cycles
n
Clock Cycles (CPIi Instruction Counti )
i1
Relative frequency
Class A B C
CPI for class 1 2 3
IC in sequence 1 2 1 2
IC in sequence 2 4 1 1
Sequence 1: IC = 5 Sequence 2: IC = 6
Clock Cycles Clock Cycles
= 2×1 + 1×2 + 2×3 = 4×1 + 1×2 + 1×3
= 10 =9
Avg. CPI = 10/5 = 2.0 Avg. CPI = 9/6 = 1.5
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 27
Performance Summary
The BIG Picture
Performance depends on
Algorithm: affects IC, possibly CPI
Programming language: affects IC, CPI
Compiler: affects IC, CPI
Instruction set architecture: affects IC, CPI, Tc
n
n
Execution time ratio
i1
i
Instruction count
MIPS
Execution time 106
Instruction count Clock rate
Instruction count CPI CPI 10 6
10 6
Clock rate
CPI varies between programs on a given CPU
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 32
§1.9 Concluding Remarks
Concluding Remarks
Cost/performance is improving
Due to underlying technology development
Hierarchical layers of abstraction
In both hardware and software
Instruction set architecture
The hardware/software interface
Execution time: the best performance
measure
Power is a limiting factor
Use parallelism to improve performance
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 33