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In simpler CPUs, the instruction cycle is executed sequentially, each instruction being processed before the next one is started. In most modern CPUs, the instruction cycles are instead executed concurrently, and often in parallel, through an instruction pipeline: the next instruction starts being processed before the previous instruction has finished, which is possible because the cycle is ...
A CPU cache [71] is a hardware cache used by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the average cost (time or energy) to access data from the main memory. A cache is a smaller, faster memory, closer to a processor core , which stores copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations .
Copy data from a memory location or a register to a memory location or a register (a machine instruction is often called move; however, the term is misleading). They are used to store the contents of a register, the contents of another memory location or the result of a computation, or to retrieve stored data to perform a computation on it later.
The control unit (CU) is a component of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) that directs the operation of the processor. A CU typically uses a binary decoder to convert coded instructions into timing and control signals that direct the operation of the other units (memory, arithmetic logic unit and input and output devices, etc.).
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.
Registers are normally measured by the number of bits they can hold, for example, an 8-bit register, 32-bit register, 64-bit register, 128-bit register, or more.In some instruction sets, the registers can operate in various modes, breaking down their storage memory into smaller parts (32-bit into four 8-bit ones, for instance) to which multiple data (vector, or one-dimensional array of data ...
An alternative method is via instruction-based I/O which requires that a CPU have specialized instructions for I/O. [1] Both input and output devices have a data processing rate that can vary greatly. [2] With some devices able to exchange data at very high speeds direct access to memory (DMA) without the continuous aid of a CPU is required. [2]
In practice, CPUs in personal computers are usually also connected, through the motherboard, to a main memory bank, hard drive or other permanent storage, and peripherals, such as a keyboard and mouse. Graphics processing units (GPUs) are present in many computers and designed to efficiently perform computer graphics operations, including ...