Computer System Architecture

Performance
(CST 363 -2)
Lecture - 03
 Objective
• Von Neumann Architecture
• How programs are translated into the machine
language
– And how the hardware executes them
• The hardware/software interface
theermanikkirathu

• What determines program performance

– And how it can be improved
• How hardware designers improve performance
• What is parallel processing

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 Why Computer Architecture
• Improve Performance
• Build a New Computer
• Buy a New Computer
• Some solutions to Problem

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 Von Neumann Architecture –
Hardware components
• The hardware for a Von Neumann machine
consists of three principle components;
processor, memory, and I/O facilities.

•Both programs and data are stored in the

memory
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 Computer
• It’s a Programmable multi task electronic
device
• Computer Architecture is plan of the overall
functionality and Design.

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 Integrated Circuit
• Integrated circuit Also called a chip.
iniaththal

• A device combining dozens to millions of

transistors.

Transistor
Integrated Circuit

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 Computer Revolution
Munnettam

• Progress in computer technology

– Underpinned by Moore’s Law
• Makes novel applications feasible
– Computers in automobiles
– Cell phones
– Human genome project
– World Wide Web
– Search Engines
• Computers are pervasive
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 Classes
• Personal computers
– General purpose, variety of software
– Subject to cost/performance tradeoff parimttam

• Server computers
– Network based
– High capacity, performance, reliability
– Range from small servers to building sized

• Supercomputers
– High-end scientific and engineering calculations
– Highest capability but represent a small fraction of the overall
computer market

• Embedded computers
– Hidden as components of systems
– Stringent power/performance/cost constraints

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 Post PC
• Personal Mobile Device (PMD)
– Battery operated
– Connects to the Internet
– Hundreds of dollars
– Smart phones, tablets, electronic glasses
• Cloud computing
– Warehouse Scale Computers (WSC)
– Software as a Service (SaaS)
– Portion of software run on a PMD and a portion run in
the Cloud
– Amazon and Google

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 Performance
• Algorithm Valimurai

– Determines number of operations executed

• Programming language, compiler, architecture
– Determine number of machine instructions executed per
operation
• Processor and memory system
– Determine how fast instructions are executed
• I/O system (including OS)
– Determines how fast I/O operations are executed

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 Idea’s
• Design for Moore’s Law
• Use abstraction to simplify design
• Make the common case fast
• Performance via parallelism
• Performance via pipelining
• Performance via prediction
padinilai
• Hierarchy of memories
Panineekkam

• Dependability via redundancy

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 Software Abstraction

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 How your Program works
• Application software
– Written in high-level language
• System software
– Compiler: translates HLL code to machine code
– Operating System: service code
• Handling input/output
• Managing memory and storage
• Scheduling tasks & sharing resources
• Hardware
– Processor, memory, I/O controllers

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 How your Program Works
• High-level language
– Level of abstraction closer to problem
domain
– Provides for productivity and portability
• Assembly language
– Textual representation of instructions
• Hardware representation
– Binary digits (bits)
– Encoded instructions and data

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 Hardware Abstraction

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 Computer Hardware

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 Processor

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 Processor
• Data path: performs operations on data
• Control: sequences data path, memory, ...
• Cache memory
– Small fast SRAM memory for immediate access
to data

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A/L Operating Systems 20
A/L Operating Systems 21
A/L Operating Systems 22
 Processor

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 Performance
• Response time
– How long it takes to do a task
• Throughput Munnettam

– Total work done per unit time

• e.g., tasks/transactions/… per hour
• How are response time and throughput affected by
– Replacing the processor with a faster version?
– Adding more processors?
• We’ll focus on response time for now…

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 Performance
• Define Performance = 1/Execution Time
• “X is n time faster than Y”
Performanc e X Performanc e Y
= Execution time Y Execution time X = n

• Example: time taken to run a program

• 10s on A, 15s on B
• Execution TimeB / Execution TimeA
= 15s / 10s = 1.5
• So A is 1.5 times faster than B
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 Execution Time
kalinthathu

• Elapsed time
– Total response time, including all aspects
• Processing, I/O, OS overhead, idle time
– Determines system performance
• CPU time
– Time spent processing a given job
• Discounts I/O time, other jobs’ shares
– Comprises user CPU time and system CPU time
– Different programs are affected differently by CPU
and system performance

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• Response time also called execution time is
the total time required for the computer to
complete a task, including disk accesses,
memory accesses, I/O activities, operating
system overhead, CPU execution time, and so
on.
• Throughput also called bandwidth. Another
measure of performance, it is the number of
tasks completed per unit time.

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 CPU Execution Time
• Also called CPU time.
• The actual time the CPU spends computing for
a specific task.
• Does not include time spent waiting for I/O or
running other programs.

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 Clock Cycles
Kurikkappadukirathu

• Also referred as ticks, clock ticks, clock

periods, clocks, cycles.
• The time for one clock period, usually of the
processor clock, which runs at a constant rate.
• Clock period - the length of each clock cycle.

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 CPU Clock
• Clock period: duration of a clock cycle
– e.g., 250ps = 0.25ns = 250×10–12s
• Clock frequency (rate): cycles per second
– e.g., 4.0GHz = 4000MHz = 4.0×109Hz

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 System Bus, Data Bus

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 CPU Time
• Performance improved by
– Reducing number of clock cycles
– Increasing clock rate
– Hardware designer must often trade off clock rate
against cycle count

CPU Time = CPU Clock Cycles  Clock Cycle Time

CPU Clock Cycles
=
Clock Rate
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 CPU Time Example
• Computer A: 2GHz clock, 10s CPU time
• Designing Computer B
– Aim for 6s CPU time
– Can do faster clock, but causes 1.2 × clock cycles
• How fast must Computer B clockBbe?1.2  Clock CyclesA
Clock Cycles
Clock RateB = =
CPU Time B 6s
Clock CyclesA = CPU Time A  Clock Rate A
= 10s  2GHz = 20  10 9
1.2  20  10 9 24  10 9
Clock RateB = = = 4GHz
6s 6s
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 Instruction Count & CPI
• Instruction Count for a program
– Determined by program, ISA and compiler
• Average cycles per instruction
– Determined by CPU hardware
– If different instructions have different CPI
• Average CPI affected by instruction mix
Clock Cycles = Instruction Count  Cycles per Instruction
CPU Time = Instruction Count  CPI  Clock Cycle Time
Instruction Count  CPI
=
Clock Rate
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 Cycle Per Instruction
• Computer A: Cycle Time = 250ps, CPI = 2.0
• Computer B: Cycle Time = 500ps, CPI = 1.2
• Same ISA
• Which is faster, and by how much?
CPU Time = Instruction Count  CPI  Cycle Time
A A A
= I  2.0  250ps = I  500ps
CPU Time = Instruction Count  CPI  Cycle Time
B B B
= I  1.2  500ps = I  600ps

B = I  600ps = 1.2
CPU Time
CPU Time I  500ps
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 Clock Cycles Per Instruction
• Which is the average number of clock cycles
each instruction takes to execute.
• Is often abbreviated as CPI.

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 Instruction Count
• Instruction Count is the number of
instructions executed by the program.

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 CPI
• If different instruction classes take different
numbers of cycles
n
Clock Cycles =  (CPIi  Instruction Count i )
i=1

Relative frequency

Clock Cycles n
 Instruction Count i 
CPI = =   CPIi  
Instruction Count i=1  Instruction Count 

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 CPI Example
• Alternative compiled code sequences using
instructions in classes A, B, C
Class A B C
CPI for class 1 2 3
IC in sequence 1 2 1 2
IC in sequence 2 4 1 1

Sequence 1: IC = 5 Sequence 2: IC = 6
Clock Cycles Clock Cycles
= 2×1 + 1×2 + 2×3 = 4×1 + 1×2 + 1×3
= 10 =9
Avg. CPI = 10/5 = 2.0 Avg. CPI = 9/6 = 1.5

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 Summary
• Performance depends on
– Algorithm: affects IC, possibly CPI
– Programming language: affects IC, CPI
– Compiler: affects IC, CPI
– Instruction set architecture: affects IC, CPI, Tc

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