RISC Architecture - The Computer with Speed in Mind

The M series chip in MacBooks have brought about a revolution. Now we have processors providing higher speed, with lower battery usage. No wonder we hear ARM based laptops running 18 to 24 hours, on a single charge. This has even disrupted legacy chips like x86/x64 from market monopoly.

Behind the Scenes

All this is made possible by a chip architecture known as RISC. The acronym for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. As the name suggests, here less is more. Lower instruction set leads to less complexity and higher performance. Data is stored in registers and executed result in memory.

The Cycle

Every instruction execution goes through the following stages

Instruction fetch: In this stage, the processor fetch code for execution, from registers
Instruction decode: The code is then decoded, and analyzed
Operand fetch: The operands required is retrieved from registers
Instruction execution: The code is executed by the processor.
Result storage: The final data is stored in register or memory

Here the RISC schema uses a concept called pipelining to improve efficiency. Each instruction takes one clock cycle to complete. Through parallel computation, multiple instructions are started and run on various stages of execution. For example, when one instruction is decoded, another begins the fetch stage, while the third would have completed execution.

There is no limit to how many instructions can be run at any given time. It primarily depends on the hardware and memory capability.

Other Points

Frequently used operand is stored in CPU register.
More number of registers can be utilized to reduce memory traffic
Reduced register to memory operations

Uses

Used in mobile phones, tablets and laptops
Used in smart devices (Internet of things) where power consumption needs to be low.

Additional Information

Comments

Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Browsing Anonymous

Privacy is a major concern when browsing the internet. Your data could be eavesdropped by hackers, companies targeting ads or even rogue state actors. What gets revealed would be personal browsing history, location monitoring, IP addresses to name a few. Enter the tech... Virtual Private Network or simply known as VPN is a technology used to prevent unauthorized access of your private data. Even if a hacker penetrates the network and get hold of data packets, all that is revealed is gibberish. This is because all the information that passes through your device is encrypted and can be only revealed through a personal key. Internet Service Provider Before going further, a knowledge of Internet Service Provider (ISP) is needed. They are the backbone of the World Wide Web. ISP provides each device with a unique IP (Internet Protocol) address, bandwidth allocation and network security. When a website is searched, first it goes from your device to the Router or Modem which...

Ransomware - Trojan in Disguise

You log into the computer, and it boots up. But instead of seeing the welcome screen, you get a dialog box. "Your data has been encrypted. To recover, pay $$ of Bitcoin." The message also has a countdown timer, which indicates a payment deadline. Passwords, credit card details, personal videos/pictures all have been compromised. The hacker even threatens to leak everything online. What happened...... Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts personal data and blocks access to a computer/network. To regain control, a ransom needs to be paid. Usually this is through Bitcoin, or other crypto currencies. On payment, a key is given, which decrypts everything, and returns access to the system. However, you could be placed in a "Sucker's list" which is sold in the dark web. This can attract more ransomware attacks, in future. History.... Originating in the 90s, the attacks were first recorded in Russia. Since then, it has crossed into Europe and North America...

Clock Speed - Benchmark for Processors?

Intel i7 - Base Frequency 2.80 GHz, 4.70 GHz (Turbo Frequency) Intel i9 - Base Frequency 2.2 GHz, 5.8 GHz (Turbo Frequency) AMD Ryzen 7 - Base Frequency 3.4 GHz, 4.6 GHz (Max Boost Clock) Whenever we shop for a laptop or home PC, we note the processor speed. The saying being more the clock speed, higher the performance . However, efficiency of a chip is determined by a range of other factors What is clock speed? The CPU (Central Processing Unit), or processor performs various arithmetic operations, at any given time. This is performed by opening and closing billions of transistors, embedded within it. That constitutes a cycle. Simply put, clock speed is the number of cycles executed per second , calculated in GHz. So, a processor having 3 GHz speed, performs 3 billion cycles per second. Higher this ratio, better the performance. At least, in paper. But there are other things in play, when looking at the overall functionality. Multi Core processing A sing...

Technology

Search This Blog