Explaining CPU Architecture: Machine Cycle, Clock Cycle and Cores

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CPU Architecture

The design,

analysis and structure of a CPU.

Vastly different,

but they all meet the same goal.

CPU

Core:

A several system wrapped around in several systems to complete a task.

How these systems

work, how they work together.

CPU Cycle

The steps it goes

through to finish the task.

Clock

Rate:

A cycle that CPU and machines that steps they go through to go through

their task.

Four steps in a CPU

Cycle

Fetch, decode, execute and store.

Fetch: You get the

instruction.

Decode: Breaking the

instruction down in a way to be able to use it.

Taking the overall

instruction, and breaking it to small steps.

Execute: You're executing

the instruction.

Store: CPU stores the

result in a format that you'll understand.

Clock Rate: Why

do we read its clock rate?

In some systems of

the CPU, if its running on a clock rate and its faster than the queue, it

wouldn't work out electrically.

Some parts don't

work as fast as the CPU.

It's necessary for

the CPU to function.

You'll have

incompatibility issues over instructions if it operates without a clock

rate.

What's a clock rate?

One unit of work

per second (Hz) is equivalent to the number of steps in the CPU cycle.

Don’t confuse clock

rate with design, as these have to be of the same architectural design.

Its important to

understand how the clock rate works, but it's hard to use as a comparative

measure against different CPU generations.

Cores

Implementation of a

system repeated of its itself.

How many iterations

the system exists on a CPU.

Benchmarks vary on

CPUs.

E.g.: Four cores

CPU.

One instruction

per code.

Some software

operate on two threads or unlimitedly.

More cores doesn't

necessarily mean better. If it uses less cores than needed, only the

required number of cores will be used.