Topic 0

Introduction to Computer Organization

(modified by J. Nelson Amaral)
Reading: Up to page 28 of textbook
(Sections 1.1-1.5)
 Important Notice

This material will not be discussed in class

You are responsible for reading the textbook and understanding the
material

This material will be the subject of Quiz #0

 The Computer Revolution

“Moore’s law”:
“The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a
rate of roughly a factor of two per year ... there is no reason to believe it
will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years. That means by
1975, the number of components per integrated circuit for minimum
cost will be 65,000….”
(Electronics Magazine, 19 April 1965)
In 1970 Carver Mead (Caltech) coined
the term “Moore’s Law.”

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 2

The Computer Revolution

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 5

 Computers are Pervasive

Avionics GPS Computers in automobiles

Cell phones
World wide web Search engines Human genome project
Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 5
 Classes of
Computers
Desktop Computers
General purpose, variety of software
Subject to cost/performance trade-off

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

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 6

 The Processor Market “I think there is a world
market for maybe five
computers.”
(in millions)
Thomas J. Watson,
chairman of IBM, 1943

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 7

Below Your Program
Application software
Written in high-level language (HLL)
System software
Compiler: translates HLL code to
machine code
Operating System: service code
Handling input/output
Managing memory and storage
Scheduling tasks & sharing resources
Hardware
Processor, memory, I/O controllers

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 8

 Components of a Computer
The BIG Picture

Same components for

all kinds of computer
Desktop, server, embedded
Input/output includes
User-interface devices
Display, keyboard, mouse
Storage devices
Hard disk, CD/DVD, flash
Network adapters
For communicating with other computers

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 9

 Anatomy of a Computer
Output
device

Network
cable

Input Input
device device

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 10

 Through the Looking Glass
LCD screen: picture elements (pixels)
Mirrors content of frame buffer memory

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 11

 Twisting Rods in Color LCD

http://bucarotechelp.com/computers/anatomy/images/subpixel.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 12

Opening the Box

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 13

 Inside the Processor (CPU)

Datapath: performs operations on data

Control: sequences datapath, memory, ...

Cache memory
Small fast SRAM memory for immediate access to data

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 14

 Inside the Processor
AMD Barcelona: 4 processor cores

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 15

 Abstractions
The BIG Picture

Abstraction helps us deal with complexity

Hide lower-level detail
Instruction set architecture (ISA)
The hardware/software interface
Application binary interface
The ISA plus system software interface
Implementation
The details underlying and interface

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 16

 Networks
Communication and resource sharing
Local area network (LAN): Ethernet
Within a building.
Wide area network (WAN): the Internet
Wireless network: WiFi, Bluetooth

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 17

 Technology Trends
DRAM Capacity

Electronics technology continues

to evolve
Increased capacity and performance
Reduced cost

Year Technology Relative performance/cost

1951 Vacuum tube 1
1965 Transistor 35
1975 Integrated circuit (IC) 900
1995 Very large scale IC (VLSI) 2,400,000
2005 Ultra large scale IC 6,200,000,000
2013 Ultra large-scale IC 250,000,000,000

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 18

 Manufacturing ICs

Yield: proportion of working dies per wafer

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 19

 AMD Opteron X2 Wafer

X2: 300mm wafer, 117 chips, 90nm technology

X4: 45nm technology

Chapter 1 — Computer Abstractions and Technology — 20

 Image Sources
Besides the images copyrighted to Morgan Kaufman, this set of slides
include images extracted from the following websites:
http://blog.navx.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/18/gps_tomtom_iphon.jpg
http://www.asbavionics.com/ASB%20Avionics%20New%20Release%20Photo%206-6-07_small.jpg
http://www.kikm.org/images/Human%20Genome%20Project.jpg
http://www.simviation.com/hjg/aircraft/douglas/dc-8-50/dc-8-50_aeronaves_de_mexico_1963_51_xa-nus.jpg
http://www.skycontrol.net/UserFiles/Image/BusinessGA_img/200703/200703boeing-777-200LR-worldliner.jpg
http://www.searchengineoptimizationcompany.ca/img/Search-Engine-Marketing.jpg
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/b747/b747_02.jpg

http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_35/t63buhsr/story/iphone.jpg
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/06/iphone7%20copy.jpg
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flight-international/assets_c/2009/04/Concorde%20landing%20at%20Fairford-
thumb-450x448.jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/hhalpin/homepage/presentations/de2007/webearth.jpg
http://gigatekperu.com/pictures/big/1.jpg