Architecture Examples And Hierarchy Samuel Njoroge

Architecture Examples and Hierarchy - Overview Architecture Levels Bus interconnection and Bridging Controller chips System Level architecture Board level architecture Chip Level architecture

What are the architectural ranges? Macroscopic – Entire Computer System Microsocopic – an integrated chip

Some Architectural terms System: This is the complete computer; it includes CPU, memory and I/O devices. System architecture describes the interconnection of components and buses Board: Individual circuit board that forms part of a computer. Board architecture describes the interconnection of chips and the interface to the bus Chip: Individual integrated chip that is used on a circuit board. Chip architecture describes the interconnection of functional units and gates Bus: Subsystem that transfers data and power between computer components Functional Unit: An entity of hardware capable of accomplishing specified purpose.

System level Architecture of PC Functional Units  Processor  Memory  I/O Interfaces Interconnections  High Speed Buses: - For functional units requiring high speed  Low speed buses: For functional units requiring low seed

Bus Interconnection and Bridging To interconnect buses we use Bridging With Bridge technology we can have multiple bridges Bridge technology enables backward compatibility (.e.g. old I/O devices can be used with new processor

Example of bridging A processor uses Peripheral Component Interconnect Bus (PCI) I/O devices uses Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA). These buses are incompatible and cannot be connected Solution: use Bridge Technology.

Physical Architecture of Bridge Design of bridge is complex The architecture of the Bridge uses special controllers – Controller Chips Separates high speed and low speed units onto separate chips. A controller can also provide an illusion of a bus

Example of PC architecture Two Controller chips A). Northbridge Chip:- Processor, Memory Advanced Graphic port (AGP). B.) Southbridge Chip:- LAN interface, PCI Bus, Printer and Input Ports

PC controller layout

Board Level Architecture For Board level Architecture I’ll use an example of a LAN Interface LAN Interface:  Connect computer to a Network  Transmit data between computers and network  Comprised of an individual circuit board with Processor and memory.

Board Level Architecture – LAN Interface. SRAM  Highest Speed  Used for Instructions. DRAM  Lower Speeds  Used for data transfer

Chip Level Architecture – Intel Network Processor Chip Level Architecture shows us the internal design of an integrated circuit that are concealed in a board level architecture

Example of the functional units on a Chip

Summary Architecture level of a system can be viewed at several layers of abstraction System architecture shows the entire computer system Board Architecture shows individual circuit board Chip architecture shows Individual integrated circuit Functional unit architecture shows individual functional unit on integrated circuit.

Works Cited. Essentials of Computer Architecture  Douglas E. Corner