1. 80486 Processor 80486 math co-processor is the first processor to have built-in math coprocessor. This being integrated on the chip allows it to execute math instructions 3 times faster. It has 8kb code data internal cache. It has five stage instructions pipeline scheme that allows it to execute instructions much faster than 386. It is 168 pin chip.

2. Signals of 80486 Address Bus : A31- A2 These are the address lines of the microprocessor, and are used for selecting memory I/O devices. However, for memory/IO addressing we also need another set of signals known as byte enable signals BE0 – BE3. These active-low byte enable signals (BE0# - BE3#) indicate which byte of the 32-bit data bus is active during the read or write cycle. Data Bus : D0-D31 This is bi-directional data bus with D0 as the least and D31 as the most significant data bit. Data Parity Group: The pins of this group of signals are extremely important, because they are used to detect the parity during the memory read and write operations. DP0-Dp3: These four data parity input/output pins are used for representing the individual parity of 4bytes (32bits) of the data bus.

3. Pchk#:the 486 checks the parities of the data bytes read and signals on the DP0-DP3, if error is found, 486 asserts the Pchk signal. Bus cycle signals M/IO#: This output pin differentiates between memory and I/O operations. D/C#: This output pin differentiates between data/control operations. W/R#: This output pin differentiates between read and write bus cycle. PLOCK#: This pseudo lock pin indicates that the current operation may require more than one bus cycle for its completion. The bus is to be locked until then. LOCK# : This output pin indicates that the current bus cycle is locked.

4. Bus control signals ADS# : The address status output pin indicates that a valid bus cycle definition and addresses are currently available on the corresponding pins. RDY# : This input pin acts as a ready signal for the current non-burst cycle. Bus Arbitration signals BREQ : This active high output indicates that the 80486 has generated a bus request. HOLD : This pin acts a local bus hold input, to be activated by another bus master like DMA controller, to enable to gain the control of the system bus. HLDA : This is an output that acknowledges the receipt of a valid HOLD request. BOFF#: When a CPU requests the access of the bus, and if the bus is granted to it, then the current bus master which is currently in charge of the bus will be asked to back off or release the bus.

5. Burst Control signals These signals are BRDY#, BLAST# are used to control burst mode memory reads and writes. To start the burst mode 486 sends out the first address and asserts the BLAST# signals. When the DRAM controller has the first data it asserts BRDY# signal. Since successive data has to be read, only lower address bits has to be changed. Bus Size Control BS8# and BS16# : The bus size-8 and bus size-16 inputs are used for the dynamic bus sizing feature of 80486. These two pins enable 80486 to be interfaced with 8-bit or 16-bit devices though the CPU has a bus width of 32-bits.

6. Interrupt Signals: RESET : This input pin reset the processor, if its goes high INTR : This is a maskable interrupt input that is controlled by the IF in the flag register NMI : This is a non-maskable interrupt input, of type 2. Cache Invalidation signals AHOLD: The address holds request input pin enables other bus masters to use the 80486 system bus during a cache invalidation cycle. EADS#: The external address input signal indicates that a valid address for external bus cycle is available on the address bus.

7. Cache Control signals KEN# : The cache enable input pin is used to determine whether the current cycle is cacheable or not. FLUSH#: The cache flush input, if activated, clears the cache contents and validity bits. Page caching control PCD, PWT : The page cache disables and page write-through output pins reflect the status of the corresponding bits in page table or page directory entry. Numeric Error Reporting FERR : The FERR output pin is activated if the floating point unit reports any error. IGNNE: If ignore numeric processor extension input pin is activated, the 80486 ignores the numeric processor errors and continues with processing of data.

8. Pentium processors

9. What was new? Two integer pipeline units are provided so that two instructions can be handled in parallel in the pipelines, providing superscalar performance, that is capability to complete more than one instruction in one clock cycle. Internal data paths of 128 and 256 bits are used to handle multiple data items of 32 bit size simultaneously for processing.

10. Pentium processor 486 has 5-stage pipeline 1.Fetch 2.Decode1 3. decode2 4.Data fetch from, or store to, the memory. (ALU) 5.Write the result, back to the destination register In Pentium, there are two pipelines provided for integer operation, after the decode stage. Floating point has 8-stage pipeline

11. Two-integer Pipelines Fetch Instruction Decode Instruction Generate Memory Addr Do Memory or ALU Operation Generate Memory Addr Write result to register F D1 D2 EE WBWB WBWB F- instruction Fetch Stage D1-Decode Stage 1 D2-Decode Stage 2 E-Exucute memory or ALU WB-Write back to destination U- Pipe V-Pipe

12. Branch Handling Static Predictions – based on instructions. Conditional Branch, branch address above the contents of EIP, it is not taken ; backward jump is taken. Loop – is always taken since the no of times the branch will be executed is high i.e. except for the last iteration.

13. The 4MB page and Flat memory The pentium supports the segmented paged model. But the size of the each page is 4mb rather than 4kb as in 386. In large programs, with systems having large physical memory, it becomes more efficient from operational point of view to have large pages, so that page swap overhead is reduced. Also it shrinks the page management tables. In flat memory model we specify the base address of all segments as 0. so that memory looks like one segment of size 4gb.

14. Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller(APIC) Advanced programmable interrupt is in the processor chip in contrast to 8086 which has priority interrupt controller external to processor. They can be programmed to respond to any I/O interrupts or even to external interrupt signals from 8259A In multiprocessor systems, they can communicate with other processors and perform inter-processor interrupt communications.

15. Multimedia Extension Technology This technology requires a large amount of data processing. Example of such processing is image processing, where several pixels need to be processed to produce the result. For such type of processing we have to use the concept of SIMD(single instruction, multiple data) and this concept was first introduced in Pentium processor. We have several MMX(Multimedia Extension) registers for this purpose. Sometimes floating point registers are also used for this process. The length of MMX data in pentium is 64-bits.

16. Model Specific Registers(MSRs) and Machine check(MC) exception In pentium processors the special registers were introduced called as MSR’s to indicate any h/w operation errors. The error types are indicated in these registers and recovery can be guided by these indications which provides a way for system management. The example of these errors can be When the bus memory or I/O operation cannot be completed During reset some of the h/w routines cannot be loaded. When a resource is held indefinitely by some agent, other devices are waiting for that, some kind of dead lock occurs.

17. The INIT pin and Built-in-Self Test(BIST) At the time of power-on this pin is made 1 and reset pin is made 0. the 1 on INIT pin will make the BIST program to execute and check the large part of the processor at least 70%(circuits). The test result will be eax register. If its contents are 0 it indicates circuit are perfect and the processor is ready for operation. If any other value in eax register, it indicates that processor circuit is damaged. Result in EAX reg : 0 -> no errors. Any other value -> processor faulty.

18. System Management Mode(SMM) Pentium provides a system management mode, intended for high-level functions such as power management and security This mode is entered into when an interrupt is generated at a special pin in the pentium processor, Executes CS:EIP; CS=3000H, EIP=8000H. All register conditions stored in SMM dump record prior to entry and the restored when returning to interrupted environment. It can create sleep mode and other power saving modes.