CPU
The
CPU is the centerpiece of any modern day
computer. They are the small piece of
silicon that everything revolves around. Located on your
mainboard usually with a big
heat sink over it, the
CPU does all the calculating and a lot of the
data transfer in your computer. Most
processors nowadays would be considered
microprocessors, and if they run a
computer they are
CPU's. They can be
networked,
distributed systems,
multiprocessors, or
multicomputers. Which all involves
parallel programming. Examples of large collections of CPU's involves
ASCII White and
TeraGrid.
Types
Below is an incomplete list of various
processors and the company that marketed them. Most current types are included,
server,
workstation,
desktop,
mobile, and some
embedded. This is an incomplete random list, historical processors are not listed here. If there is a processor you want to see on this list /msg me.
ARM
ARM1
ARM2
ARM3
ARM6
ARM7
Intel
Pentium Pro
Pentium II or Pentium 2
Pentium III or Pentium !!!
Pentium 4
Xeon
Itanium / Itanium 2
StrongArm (initially acquired from DEC)
StrongArm 2
IXP 1200
IXP 220/225
AMD
K6
K6-2
Athlon
Athlon 4
Athlon XP
Duron
Sledgehammer/Opteron
Apple
G3
G4 or PowerPC
M68000
Sun
Sparc
UltraSparc II
UltraSparc III
DEC
Alpha 21164
Cray
Cray T3E
Cray MTA
Cray SV1
Cray SV2
Cray SX-6
NEC
The Insides
Common Von Neumann Central Processing Unit
+---------+ +----+ +----------+
| Control |<--->| PC | | |
| Unit | +----+ | Datapath |
| |<---------------| |
| |--------------->| |
+---------+ +----------+
| ^ ^ |
| | | |Memory
| | | | Bus
| | | V
| | +----------+
| +---------------------| |
+---------------------->| Memory |
| |
+----------+
The datapath is further broken down into :
(PC & Control Word From Control Unit)
| |
| |
V V
+-----------+ +----------+ +----------+
| | | | | |
|Instruction|---->| Register |----->| ALU |--+-->|To Memory / Cache
| Fetch | | File | | | |
| | | | | | |
+-----------+ +----------+ +----------+ |
^ |
| WriteBack |
+-------------------------+
This is a large oversimplification for modern
superscalar processors. Actual architecture may differ slightly from this floor plan as far as where memory accesses occur and how the stages are
pipelined. Also possibly included in modern
processors but not shown above are:
ISA, or an
Instruction Set Architecture is the assembly language that a processor runs on. See
assembly code for some examples of how it works. Here are some common ISA's.
Then you have the
ISA extensions used to emulate parallel
vector processors with
SIMD operations, such as
MMX,
SSX, and
3DNow!. Checkout
MMX Optimization Guide for more information. Of course all assembly languages are plagued with the
little-endian and
big-endian notation problems.
Creation
Silicon,
semiconductor,
transistor,
lithography,
solid state physics,
p-n junction,
diode,
FAB,
IEEE, and of course
Silicon Valley
It's All about the Pentiums
This is a work in progress. Suggestions on errors, additions, removals, broken links, etc. are readily welcomed.
Things to still be included: how they are made, parallel, applications, languages, developments, codenames, intricate parts (btb etc), uses.