1.3 An Example System – Wading through the Jargon

This book will introduce you to some of the vocabulary that is specific to computers. This jargon can be confusing, imprecise, and intimidating. We believe that with a little explanation, we can clear the fog.

For the sake of discussion, we have provided a facsimile computer advertisement (see Figure 1.1). The ad is typical of many in that it bombards the reader with phrases such as “64MB SDRAM,” “64-bit PCI sound card” and “32KB L1 cache.” Without having a handle on such terminology, you would be hard-pressed to know whether the stated system is a wise buy, or even whether the system is able to serve your needs. As we progress through this book, you will learn the concepts behind these terms.

Before we explain the ad, however, we need to discuss something even more basic: the measurement terminology you will encounter throughout your study of computers.

It seems that every field has its own way of measuring things. The computer field is no exception. So that computer people can tell each other how big something is, or how fast something is, they must use the same units of measure. When we want to talk about how big some computer thing is, we speak of it in terms of thousands, millions, billions, or trillions of characters. The prefixes for terms are given in the left side of Figure 1.2. In computing systems, as you shall see, powers of 2 are often more important than powers of 10, but it is easier for people to understand powers of 10. Therefore, these prefixes are given in both powers of 10 and powers of 2. Because 1,000 is close in value to 2¹⁰ (1,024), we can approximate powers of 10 by powers of 2. Prefixes used in system metrics are often applied where the underlying base system is base 2, not base 10. For example, a kilobyte (1KB) of memory is typically 1,024 bytes of memory rather than 1,000 bytes of memory. However, a 1GB disk drive might actually be 1 billion bytes instead of 2³⁰ (approximately 1.7 billion). You should always read the manufacturer’s fine print just to make sure you know exactly what 1K, 1KB, or 1G represents.

When we want to talk about how fast something is, we speak in terms of fractions of a second-usually thousandths, millionths, billionths, or trillionths. Prefixes for these metrics are given in the right-hand side of Figure 1.2. Notice that the fractional prefixes have exponents that are the reciprocal of the prefixes on the left side of the figure. Therefore, if someone says to you that an operation requires a microsecond to complete, you should also understand that a million of those operations could take place in one second. When you need to talk about how many of these things happen in a second, you would use the prefix mega-. When you need to talk about how fast the operations are performed, you would use the prefix micro-.

Now to explain the ad: The microprocessor is the part of a computer that actually executes program instructions; it is the brain of the system. The microprocessor in the ad is a Pentium III, operating at 667MHz. Every computer system contains a clock that keeps the system synchronized. The clock sends electrical pulses simultaneously to all main components, ensuring that data and instructions will be where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there. The number of pulsations emitted each second by the clock is its frequency. Clock frequencies are measured in cycles per second, or hertz. Because computer system clocks generate millions of pulses per second, we say that they operate in the megahertz (MHz) range. Many computers today operate in the gigahertz range, generating billions of pulses per second. And because nothing much gets done in a computer system without microprocessor involvement, the frequency rating of the microprocessor is crucial to overall system speed. The microprocessor of the system in our advertisement operates at 667 million cycles per second, so the seller says that it runs at 667MHz.

The fact that this microprocessor runs at 667MHz, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that it can execute 667 million instructions every second, or, equivalently, that every instruction requires 1.5 nanoseconds to execute. Later in this book, you will see that each computer instruction requires a fixed number of cycles to execute. Some instructions require one clock cycle; however, most instructions require more than one. The number of instructions per second that a microprocessor can actually execute is proportionate to its clock speed. The number of clock cycles required to carry out a particular machine instruction is a function of both the machine’s organization and its architecture.

The next thing that we see in the ad is “133MHz 64MB SDRAM.” The 133MHz refers to the speed of the system bus, which is a group of wires that moves data and instructions to various places within the computer. Like the microprocessor, the speed of the bus is also measured in MHz. Many computers have a special local bus for data that supports very fast transfer speeds (such as those required by video). This local bus is a high-speed pathway that connects memory directly to the processor. Bus speed ultimately sets the upper limit on the system’s information-carrying capability.

The system in our advertisement also boasts a memory capacity of 64 megabytes (MB), or about 64 million characters. Memory capacity not only determines the size of the programs that you can run, but also how many programs you can run at the same time without bogging down the system. Your application or operating system manufacturer will usually recommend how much memory you’ll need to run their products. (Sometimes these recommendations can be hilariously conservative, so be careful whom you believe!)

In addition to memory size, our advertised system provides us with a memory type, SDRAM, short for synchronous dynamic random access memory. SDRAM is much faster than conventional (nonsynchronous) memory because it can synchronize itself with a microprocessor’s bus. At this writing, SDRAM bus synchronization is possible only with buses running at 200MHz and below. Newer memory technologies such as RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) and SLDRAM (SyncLink DRAM) are required for systems running faster buses.

A Look Inside a Computer

Have you even wondered what the inside of a computer really looks like? The example computer described in this section gives a good overview of the components of a modern PC. However, opening a computer and attempting to find and identify the various pieces can be frustrating, even if you are familiar with the components and their functions.

Courtesy of Intel Corporation

If you remove the cover on your computer, you will no doubt first notice a big metal box with a fan attached. This is the power supply. You will also see various drives, including a hard drive, and perhaps a floppy drive and CD-ROM or DVD drive. There are many integrated circuits – small, black rectangular boxes with legs attached. You will also notice electrical pathways, or buses, in the system. There are printed circuit boards (expansion cards) that plug into sockets on the motherboard, the large board at the bottom of a standard desktop PC or on the side of a PC configured as a tower or mini-tower. The motherboard is the printed circuit board that connects all of the components in the computer, including the CPU, and RAM and ROM memory, as well as an assortment of other essential components. The components on the motherboard tend to be the most difficult to identify. Above you see an Intel D850 motherboard with the more important components labeled.

The I/O ports at the top of the board allow the computer to communicate with the outside world. The I/O controller hub allows all connected devices to function without conflict. The PCI slots allow for expansion boards belonging to various PCI devices. The AGP connector is for plugging in the AGP graphics card. There are two RAM memory banks and a memory controller hub. There is no processor plugged into this motherboard, but we see the socket where the CPU is to be placed. All computers have an internal battery, as seen at the lower left-hand corner. This motherboard has two IDE connector slots, and one floppy disk controller. The power supply plugs into the power connector.

A note of caution regarding looking inside the box: There are many safety considerations involved with removing the cover for both you and your computer. There are many things you can do to minimize the risks. First and foremost, make sure the computer is turned off. Leaving it plugged in is often preferred, as this offers a path for static electricity. Before opening your computer and touching anything inside, you should make sure you are properly grounded so static electricity will not damage any components. Many of the edges, both on the cover and on the circuit boards, can be sharp, so take care when handling the various pieces. Trying to jam misaligned cards into sockets can damage both the card and the motherboard, so be careful if you decide to add a new card or remove and reinstall an existing one.

The next line in the ad, “32KB L1 cache, 256KB L2 cache” also describes a type of memory. In Chapter 6, you will learn that no matter how fast a bus is, it still takes “a while” to get data from memory to the processor. To provide even faster access to data, many systems contain a special memory called cache. The system in our advertisement has two kinds of cache. Level 1 cache (L1) is a small, fast memory cache that is built into the microprocessor chip and helps speed up access to frequently used data. Level 2 cache (L2) is a collection of fast, built-in memory chips situated between the microprocessor and main memory. Notice that the cache in our system has a capacity of kilobytes (KB), which is much smaller than main memory. In Chapter 6 you will learn how cache works, and that a bigger cache isn’t always better.

On the other hand, everyone agrees that the more fixed disk capacity you have, the better off you are. The advertised system has 30GB, which is fairly impressive. The storage capacity of a fixed (or hard) disk is not the only thing to consider, however. A large disk isn’t very helpful if it is too slow for its host system. The computer in our ad has a hard drive that rotates at 7200 RPM (revolutions per minute). To the knowledgeable reader, this indicates (but does not state outright) that this is a fairly fast drive. Usually disk speeds are stated in terms of the number of milliseconds required (on average) to access data on the disk, in addition to how fast the disk rotates.

Rotational speed is only one of the determining factors in the overall performance of a disk. The manner in which it connects to-or interfaces with-the rest of the system is also important. The advertised system uses a disk interface called EIDE, or enhanced integrated drive electronics. EIDE is a cost-effective hardware interface for mass storage devices. EIDE contains special circuits that allow it to enhance a computer’s connectivity, speed, and memory capability. Most EIDE systems share the main system bus with the processor and memory, so the movement of data to and from the disk is also dependent on the speed of the system bus.

Whereas the system bus is responsible for all data movement internal to the computer, ports allow movement of data to and from devices external to the computer. Our ad speaks of three different ports with the line, “2 USB ports, 1 serial port, 1 parallel port.” Most desktop computers come with two kinds of data ports: serial ports and parallel ports. Serial ports transfer data by sending a series of electrical pulses across one or two data lines. Parallel ports use at least eight data lines, which are energized simultaneously to transmit data. Our advertised system also comes equipped with a special serial connection called a USB (universal serial bus) port. USB is a popular external bus that supports Plug-and-Play (the ability to configure devices automatically) as well as hot plugging (the ability to add and remove devices while the computer is running).

Some systems augment their main bus with dedicated I/O buses. Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is one such I/O bus that supports the connection of multiple peripheral devices. PCI, developed by the Intel Corporation, operates at high speeds and also supports Plug-and-Play. There are two PCI devices mentioned in the ad. The PCI modem allows the computer to connect to the Internet. (We discuss modems in detail in Chapter 11.) The other PCI device is a sound card, which contains components needed by the system’s stereo speakers. You will learn more about different kinds of I/O, I/O buses, and disk storage in Chapter 7.

After telling us about the ports in the advertised system, the ad supplies us with some specifications for the monitor by saying, “19” monitor, .24mm AG, 1280 x 1024 at 85Hz.” Monitors have little to do with the speed or efficiency of a computer system, but they have great bearing on the comfort of the user. The monitor in the ad supports a refresh rate of 85Hz. This means that the image displayed on the monitor is repainted 85 times a second. If the refresh rate is too slow, the screen may exhibit an annoying jiggle or wavelike behavior. The eyestrain caused by a wavy display makes people tire easily; some people may even experience headaches after periods of prolonged use. Another source of eyestrain is poor resolution. A higher-resolution monitor makes for better viewing and finer graphics. Resolution is determined by the dot pitch of the monitor, which is the distance between a dot (or pixel) and the closest dot of the same color. The smaller the dot, the sharper the image. In this case, we have a 0.28 millimeter (mm) dot pitch supported by an AG (aperture grill) display. Aperture grills direct the electron beam that paints the monitor picture on the phosphor coating inside the glass of the monitor. AG monitors produce crisper images than the older shadow mask technology. This monitor is further supported by an AGP (accelerated graphics port) graphics card. This is a graphics interface designed by Intel specifically for 3D graphics.

In light of the preceding discussion, you may be wondering why monitor dot pitch can’t be made arbitrarily small to give picture perfect resolution. The reason is that the refresh rate is dependent on the dot pitch. Refreshing 100 dots, for example, requires more time than refreshing 50 dots. A smaller dot pitch requires more dots to cover the screen. The more dots to refresh, the longer it takes for each refresh cycle. Experts recommend a refresh rate of at least 75Hz. The 85Hz refresh rate of the advertised monitor is better than the minimum recommendation by 10Hz (about 13%).

Although we cannot delve into all of the brand-specific components available, after completing this book, you should understand the concept of how most computer systems operate. This understanding is important for casual users as well as experienced programmers. As a user, you need to be aware of the strengths and limitations of your computer system so you can make informed decisions about applications and thus use your system more effectively. As a programmer, you need to understand exactly how your system hardware functions so you can write effective and efficient programs. For example, something as simple as the algorithm your hardware uses to map main memory to cache and the method used for memory interleaving can have a tremendous impact on your decision to access array elements in row versus column-major order.

Throughout this book, we investigate both large and small computers. Large computers include mainframes (enterprise-class servers) and supercomputers. Small computers include personal systems, workstations and handheld devices. We will show that regardless of whether they carry out routine chores or perform sophisticated scientific tasks, the components of these systems are very similar. We also visit some architectures that lie outside what is now the mainstream of computing. We hope that the knowledge that you gain from this book will ultimately serve as a springboard for your continuing studies within the vast and exciting fields of computer organization and architecture.

1.4 Standards Organizations

Suppose you decide that you’d like to have one of those nifty new .28mm dot pitch AG monitors. You figure that you can shop around a bit to find the best price. You make a few phone calls, surf the Web, and drive around town until you find the one that gives you the most for your money. From your experience, you know that you can buy your monitor anywhere and it will probably work fine on your system. You can make this assumption because computer equipment manufacturers have agreed to comply with connectivity and operational specifications established by a number of government and industry organizations.

Some of these standards-setting organizations are ad-hoc trade associations or consortia made up of industry leaders. Manufacturers know that by establishing common guidelines for a particular type of equipment, they can market their products to a wider audience than if they came up with separate-and perhaps incompatible-specifications.

Some standards organizations have formal charters and are recognized internationally as the definitive authority in certain areas of electronics and computers. As you continue your studies in computer organization and architecture, you will encounter specifications formulated by these groups, so you should know something about them.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of the professions of electronic and computer engineering. The IEEE actively promotes the interests of the worldwide engineering community by publishing an array of technical literature. The IEEE also sets standards for various computer components, signaling protocols, and data representation, to name only a few areas of its involvement. The IEEE has a democratic, albeit convoluted, procedure established for the creation of new standards. Its final documents are well respected and usually endure for several years before requiring revision.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU was formerly known as the Comité Consultatif International Télégraphique et Téléphonique, or the International Consultative Committee on Telephony and Telegraphy. As its name implies, the ITU concerns itself with the interoperability of telecommunications systems, including telephone, telegraph, and data communication systems. The telecommunications arm of the ITU, the ITU-T, has established a number of standards that you will encounter in the literature. You will see these standards prefixed by ITU-T or the group’s former initials, CCITT.

Many countries, including the European Community, have commissioned umbrella organizations to represent their interests within various international groups. The group representing the United States is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Great Britain has its British Standards Institution (BSI) in addition to having a voice on CEN (Comite Europeen de Normalisation), the European committee for standardization.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the entity that coordinates worldwide standards development, including the activities of ANSI with BSI among others. ISO is not an acronym, but derives from the Greek word, isos, meaning “equal.” The ISO consists of over 2,800 technical committees, each of which is charged with some global standardization issue. Its interests range from the behavior of photographic film to the pitch of screw threads to the complex world of computer engineering. The proliferation of global trade has been facilitated by the ISO. Today, the ISO touches virtually every aspect of our lives.

Throughout this book, we mention official standards designations where appropriate. Definitive information concerning many of these standards can be found in excruciating detail on the Web site of the organization responsible for establishing the standard cited. As an added bonus, many standards contain “normative” and informative references, which provide background information in areas related to the standard.