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In computer architecture, a bus (historically also called a data highway [1] or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer or between computers. [2] It encompasses both hardware (e.g., wires, optical fiber) and software, including communication protocols. [3] At its core, a bus is a shared ...
Some other computer architectures use different modules with a different bus width. In a single-channel configuration, only one module at a time can transfer information to the CPU. In multi-channel configurations, multiple modules can transfer information to the CPU at the same time, in parallel.
A common example is the Data General Nova, which was a 16-bit design that performed 16-bit math as a series of four 4-bit operations. 4-bits was the word size of a widely available single-chip ALU and thus allowed for inexpensive implementation. Using the definition being applied to the 68000, the Nova would be a 4-bit computer, or 4/16.
In computer architecture, a control bus is part of the system bus and is used by CPUs for communicating with other devices within the computer. While the address bus carries the information about the device with which the CPU is communicating and the data bus carries the actual data being processed, the control bus carries commands from the CPU and returns status signals from the devices.
Laptop computer using an Efficeon processor. CPUs feature SIMD instruction sets (Advanced Vector Extensions and the FMA instruction set etc.) where 256-bit vector registers are used to store several smaller numbers, such as eight 32-bit floating-point numbers, and a single instruction can operate on all these values in parallel.
In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units [a] are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A computer that uses such a processor is a 64-bit computer.
A processor with 128-bit byte addressing could directly address up to 2 128 (over 3.40 × 10 38) bytes, which would greatly exceed the total data captured, created, or replicated on Earth as of 2018, which has been estimated to be around 33 zettabytes (over 2 74 bytes). [1] A 128-bit register can store 2 128 (over 3.40 × 10 38) different values.
For example, the Pentium Pro processor is a 32-bit machine, with 32-bit registers and instructions that manipulate 32-bit quantities, but the external address bus is 36 bits wide, giving a larger address space than 4 GB, and the external data bus is 64 bits wide, primarily in order to permit a more efficient prefetch of instructions and data. [7]