1. Microprocessors
Chapter 4

2. Historical/Conceptual
Intel
AMD ?

3. CPU Core Components The Man in the Box Clock
External Data Bus
Registers
AX, BX, CX, DX
Code book
Clock
System crystal
Back to the External Data Bus

4. Memory
Memory and RAM
Address Bus
Memory controller chip (MCC)

5. Modern CPUs Developers Technology Intel AMD Model names Code Names
Desktop versus Mobile
Technology
Clock multipliers
64-bit processing
Virtualization support
Parallel execution
Pipelining
Multithreading
Multicore processing
Integrated memory controller
Integrated graphics processing unit
Security

6. CPU Technology Clock multipliers 64-bit processing
Added circuitry that allows the CPU to run faster than the external data bus
Useful if the running process is CPU-bound
Requires having cache on the CPU to be effective
64-bit processing
Allows for 64-bit data values to be operated on in a single step
x86 – CPUs based on original CPU instruction sets
x64 – CPUs based on new 64-bit instruction sets
x86-64 – CPUs with instruction sets including both 32-bit and 64-bit instructions
Virtualization support
Added instructions for memory management and privileged instruction support

7. CPU Technology Parallel execution Multiple execution units Pipelining
CPU will have an integer unit and a floating point unit that can execute at the same time
CPU may have multiple copies of the same types of units
CPU may have multiple pipelines
Pipelining
Execution of an instruction is broken down into distinct stages with separate circuitry to handle each phase
Fetch – Decode – Execute - Store
Pipeline stalls, wait states
Branch prediction

8. CPU Technology Cache Multithreading Multicore processing
Small fast set of SRAM used to hold instructions and data that are likely to be used soon
L1, L2, and L3 levels are common
Cache hits, cache misses
Multithreading
Run 2 threads of a program at the same time
Does not double performance
OS and application must support multithreading
Multicore processing
2, 4, 6, or 8 execution units on the same chip
They share the caches and RAM
Does not require OS to be aware of multicores ?

9. CPU Technology Integrated memory controller
IMC is moved from the motherboard to the CPU to better handle memory accesses
Integrated graphics processing unit
Cheaper than having a separate GPU in the system
Generally less capable than a dedicated GPU
Share system RAM with CPU
AMD’s version is better
Security
NX bit technology blocks access to sections of memory
Intel: XD bit
AMD: Enhanced Virus Protection
ARM: XN
CompTIA: Disable execute bit

10. Current Intel CPUs
Click here

11. Selecting and Installing CPUs
Selecting a CPU
Must work with motherboard, socket
Installation Issues
Bent pins
Zero insertion force sockets
Cooling
Heat sinks
Fans
Overclocking

12. Troubleshooting CPUs
Symptoms of Overheating
Catastrophic Failure

13. Intel Core M