DRAM capacity

1000M
1000M~2004
~2004
1000

256M

100

512M

Mbit capacity

64M
10

16M

1M

64K

0.1

4M

256K

15K
0.01

0.001
1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

Hardware Computer Organization for the

1998

2000

Abstract view of a computer

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Abstraction layers

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Memory hierarchy
There is a hierarchy of memory
In order to maximize processor throughput, the fastest memory is
closest to the processor
Primary Cache
- Also the most expensive
CPU
2K- 1,024K byte (<1ns)
Notice:
- The exponential rise in capacity
Bus Interface Unit
with each layer
- The exponential rise in access time
Secondary Cache
256K - 4MByte (10ns)
in each layer
Main Memory
1M 2 Gbyte (30 ns)
Hard Disk
40 - 250 GByte ( 100,000 ) ns
Tape Backup
50G - 10TByte (seconds)
Internet
All knowledge/Forever

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Hard disk drive

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Representing a number as a voltage

Represent the data value as a voltage or current along a single
electrical conductor (signal trace) or wire
24.56345
RADIO
SHACK

24.56345 V

Direction of signal

Problems:
Measuring large numbers is difficult, slow and expensive
How do you represent +/- 32,673,102,093?

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Zero volts
(ground)

Parallel transmission of 0 to 9
Represent the data value as a voltage or current along multiple
electrical conductors
Let each wire represent one decade of the number
Only need to divide up the voltage on each wire into 10 steps
0 V to 9 volts
Can have considerable slop between values before it causes
problems

4.2
RADIO
SHACK

2
4
5
6
3
4
5
Zero volts
(ground)

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Binary data transmission

Represent the data value as a voltage or current along multiple, parallel,
electrical conductors
Let each wire represent one power of 2 of the number ( 20 through 2N )
Only need to divide up the voltage on each wire into 2 possible steps
0 V no volts or some volts greater than zero (on or off )
Can have lots of slop between values
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
210
211
212
213
214
215

Hardware Computer Organization for the

on
off
on
off
off
on
on
on
off
off
off
on
on
on
on
off

1
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0

A simple AND circuit

Digital computers force us to deal with number systems other than decimal
- ALL digital computers are collections of switches made from transistors
- A switch is ON or OFF
- A binary (digital) system lends itself to using electronic on/off switching
Principles of Logic (a branch of Philosophy ) are useful to describe the digital
circuits in computers
- True/False, 1/0, On/OFF, High/Low all describe the same possible states
of a digital system
An electrical circuit, with ordinary switches, is a convenient display

on/off
on/offswitch
switch

C
CC==AAand
andBB

Battery Symbol
Light bulb (load)

Hardware Computer Organization for the

Decimal representation
Writing a number is the same in all number systems
Each column of the number represents the base that the number
is raised to
Example: 65,536
= 216
10

104

103

102

101

100

Notice
Noticehow
howeach
eachcolumn
columnisisweighted
weightedby
by
the
thevalue
valueof
ofthe
thebase
baseraised
raisedto
tothe
thepower
power
+

6 x 100 =

3 x 101 =

30

5 x 102 =

500

5 x 103 =

5000

6 x 104 =

60000

65536

Hardware Computer Organization for the

10

Binary numbers
Just like decimal numbers, binary numbers are represented as the
power of the base:
Example: 10101100
Bases of Hex and Octal

1
0
1
0
1
1
0
0

x 27
x 26
x 25
x 24
x 23
x 22
x 21
x 20

= 128
=
0
= 32
=
0
=
8
=
4
=
0
=
0

128

64

27

26

32
25

16
24

10101100

8
23

4
22

21
1

172

1
20

10

172

Hardware Computer Organization for the

11

Binary and octal numbers

Lets look at our example again:
Notice that because 8 = 23 we can easily convert binary to octal
- Just group columns of three and treat as binary within a
column to get octal number from 0 to 7
82

81

128

64

27

26

2 (2
6

32
25

2 ) 2 (2
0

0 thru 192

16
24

80

8
23

4
22

21

2 ) 2 (2
0

0 thru 56

2
20
2

172

2)

4 x 80 = 4
5 x 81 = 40
2 x 82 = 128

0 thru 7

Hardware Computer Organization for the

12

Binary and hex

Hexadecimal is the same principle as octal
- Hexadecimal is the most common number system in computer
science
- Octal was common with minicomputers but is now a special
function counting system
Back to our example: 10 x 16 + 12 x 1 = 172 = AC (Hex)
161

160

128

64

27

26

25

24

23

24(23

22

21

20)

20 ( 23

32

16

4
22

21

22
1

21
1

1
20
20)

Hardware Computer Organization for the

13

Bits, bytes, nibbles, words, etc.

Bit (1)
D3

D0
Nibble (4)

D7

D0
Byte (8)

D15

D31

D0

Word (16)

D0
Long (32)

D63

D0
Double (64)

D127

D0
VLIW (128)

Hardware Computer Organization for the

14

A Seven Segment Display using BCD

0000

0001

0010

0011

0101

0100

carry
the
one

0110

0111

1000

1001

0001

Hardware Computer Organization for the

0000

15