CPUs

What is a CPU?

The CPU is certainly the most important PC component. CPU stands for Central
Processing Unit. Let us briefly study that name:

It is a processor, because it processes (moves and calculates) data.

It is central, because it is the center of PC data processing.
It is a unit, because it is a chip, which contains millions of transistors.

Speed, speed, speed

Without the CPU, there would be no PC. Like all other hardware components,
the CPUs are continually undergoing further development. You can see the
explosive technological development in data processing most clearly in the
development of newer and faster CPUs. The CPUs have for years doubled their
performance about every 18 months (Moore's Law), and there are no indications
that this trend will stop.

When we now look at all the CPUs from a broader perspective, we can see that:
The CPU history is closely tied to the companies IBM and especially Intel.
The CPUs have their roots back to Intel's chip 4004 from 1971.
You can identify seven or eight CPU generations up till today.
The compatibility concept has been important throughout the
development.
CPUs - brief review
CPU history starts in 1971, when a small unknown company, Intel, for the first
time combined multiple transistors to form a central processing unit - a chip
called Intel 4004. However, it was 8 years before the first PC was constructed.

PCs are designed around different CPU generations. Intel is not the only
company manufacturing CPUs, but by far the leading one. The following table
shows the different CPU generations.

They are predominantly Intel chips, but in the 5th generation we see
alternatives:
PC CPUs Year Number transistors

1st. Generation 8086 and 8088 1978-81 29,000

2nd. Generation 80286 1984 134,000

3rd. Generation 80386DX and 80386SX 1987-88 275,000

4th. Generation 80486SX, 80486DX, 1990-92 1,200,000

80486DX2 and 80486DX4

5th. Generation Pentium 1993-95 3,100,000

Cyrix 6X86 1996 --
AMD K5 1996 --
IDT WinChip C6 1997 3,500,000

Improved Pentium MMX 1997 4,500,000

5th. Generation IBM/Cyrix 6x86MX 1997 6,000,000
IDT WinChip2 3D 1998 6,000,000

6th. Generation Pentium Pro 1995 5,500,000

AMD K6 1997 8,800,000
Pentium II 1997 7,500,000
AMD K6-2 1998 9,300,000

Improved 6th. Mobile Pentium II 1999 27,400,000

Generation Mobile Celeron 18,900,000
Pentium III 9,300,000
AMD K6-3 ?
Pentium III CuMine 28,000,000

7th. Generation AMD original Athlon 1999 22,000,000

AMD Athlon Thunderbird 2000 37,000,000
Pentium 4 2001 42,000,000
Please notice that the mobile CPUs as well as Pentium III CuMine include very
large on-die L2-caches. These caches consist of millions of transistors.
We will now see what the CPU really does.

How does a CPU work?

The CPU is centrally located on the motherboard. Since the CPU carries out a
large share of the work in the computer, data pass continually through it. The
data come from the RAM and the units (keyboard, drives etc.).

After processing, the data is send back to RAM and the units.

The CPU continually receives instructions to be executed. Each instruction is a

data processing order. The work itself consists mostly of calculations and data
transport:

Data have a path to the CPU. It is kind of a data expressway called the system
bus. You can read more about the system bus in module 2b.
Two types of data
The CPU is fed long streams of data via the system bus. The CPU receives at
least two types of data:
Instructions on how to handle the other data.
Data, which must be handled according to the instructions.

What we call instructions is program code. That includes those messages, which
you continuously send to the PC from the mouse and keyboard. Messages to
print, save, open, etc.

Data are typically user data. Think about the letter, which you are writing to Aunt
Karen. The contents, letters, images, etc., are user data. But if you click "print,"
you are then sending program code (instructions):
8086 compatible instructions
The biggest job for the CPU consists of decoding the instructions and localizing
data. The calculations themselves are not heavy work.

The decoding consists of understanding the instructions, which the user program
sends to the CPU. All PC CPUs, are "8086 compatible." This means that the
programs communicate with the CPU in a specific family of instructions.
These instructions, originally written for the Intel 8086 processor, became the
blueprint for the "IBM compatible PC" concept. The 8086 from 1978 received its
instructions in a certain format.

Since there was a desire that subsequent CPU generation should be able to
handle the same instructions which the 8086 could, it was necessary to make the
instruction sets compatible. The new CPUs should understand the same
instructions. This backwards compatibility has been an industry standard ever
since. All new processors, regardless of how advanced, must be able to handle
the 8086 instruction format.

Thus, the new CPUs must use much effort to translate the 8086 instruction
format to internal instruction codes:
CISC, RISC, and VLIW instructions and their handling

The first CPUs had a so called Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC). This
means that the computer can understand many and complex instructions. The
X86 instruction set, with its varying length from 8 to 120 bit, was originally
developed for the 8086 with its mere 29000 transistors.

More instructions have been added within new generations of CPUs. The 80386
had 26 new instructions, the 486 added 6 and the Pentium another 8 new
instructions. This meant, that programs had to be rewritten to use these new
instructions. This happened for example with new versions of Windows . Hence,
some programs require a 386 or a Pentium processor to function.

You should also see module 3e09 on MMX, 3DNow! and other extensions to the
set of instructions.

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

The RISC instructions are brief and the same length (for example 32 bit long, as
in Pentium Pro), and they process much faster than CISC instructions.
Therefore, RISC is used in all newer CPUs. However, the problem is that the
instructions arrive to the CPU in 8086 format. Thus, they must be decoded.
For every new CPU generation, the instruction set has been expanded. The 386
came with 26 new instructions, the 486 with 6 new instructions, and Pentium with
8 new instructions. These changes mean that some programs require at least a
386 or a Pentium processor to work.

Dual pipeline: More work per clock stroke

There is also a continuous optimizing of the instruction handling process. One is
that the clock frequency increases, as we will see later - the faster, the better.
But what can the CPU do in one clock tick. That is critical to its performance. For
example, a 386 needed 6 clock ticks to add a number to a sub total. A job which
the 486 manages in only two clock ticks, because of more effective instruction
decoding.

5th and 6th generation CPUs can execute more than one of those operations in
one clock tick, since they contain more processing lines (pipelines), which work
parallel:
Floating point unit FPU
The first CPUs could only work with whole numbers. Therefore, it was necessary
to add a mathematical co-processor (FPU), when better math power was
needed. Later, this FPU was built into the CPU:

CPU FPU

8086 8087

80286 80287

80386 80387

80486DX Built in

80486SX None

Pentium and thereafter Built in

It is said that Intel's CPUs have by far the best FPU units. Processors from AMD
and Cyrix definitely have a reputation for providing sub standard performance in
this area. But, you may not utilize the FPU. That depends on the applications
(user programs) you are using. Common office programs do not use the floating
point operations, which the FPU can handle. However, 3D graphics programs
like AutoCad do. And all 3D-games like Quake rely heavily on FPU perfomance!
Therefore, if you use your PC in advanced design applications, the FPU
performance becomes significant. For some users, it is only of limited
importance.

Graphic overview of the processors

There are CPUs of many brand names (IBM, Texas, Cyrix, AMD), and often they
make models which overlap two generations. This can make it difficult to keep of
track of CPUs. Here is an attempt to identify the various CPUs according to
generation: