How Processor Works | Its Components

What is Processor and how Processor works

A  (CPU) stands for the central processing unit. It is the electronic circuitry consisting of millions of transistors; it is essential to execute the instruction given to it. It also performs logic and arithmetic tasks specified by the program. It consists of mainly six components control unit (CU), arithmetic logic unit, cache, buses, registers, and clock.

­­­­­­­control unit (CU)

The control unit is a part of a Processor that directs the operations. The control unit is mainly used as a binary decoder to convert encoded instructions into control signals that manage the operation of the other units like memory, arithmetic logic unit, and input and output devices.

Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

An arithmetic logic unit is a combo of both digital circuits that work as an arithmetic task and bitwise operations on binary numbers. It is different from the floating-point unit, which works on floating numbers. It is the basic building block of many computer circuits, even the central CPUessor unit itself and graphics processing units.

Registers

A register is one of the smallest places where we can hold data it is part of the processor. A register may hold a storage address, instruction, or other data such as bits. A register provides a quickly accessible location for a processor to store data. At a time it may be read-only or write-only.

 All computers store small data in the register to quickly access it is help full and fast way to access data but it is a small amount of storage so in the register, we only store data for a short period of time and then use it. It helps full in such a way that the processor does not need to access the main memory repeatedly, which also helps to increase speed.

Cache

Cache memory is located very near the processor. It is faster and smaller and it is used to reduce time delation to get data from the main memory. Different CPUs have different cache memory levels like L1, L2, L3, and L4. When the CPU needs data for operation it first checks in cache memory and if data is not available there then it checks main memory.

There are three types of cache:

Data cache

Instruction cache

Translation lookaside buffer (TLB)

Buses

The bus is an eclectic path that is used to transmit data electronically inside different components of the computer. A bus basically consists of parallel wires, a printed circuit board, or aluminum tracks on the surface of the chip. A single wire carries one bit, this means that the number of wires tells how much data transmit through a bus, a bus with sixteen wires can carry only 16-bit data words, and hence defines the device as a 16-bit device.

There main types of buses:

Data Bus: The data bus carries data between the microprocessor (CPU) and memory (RAM).

Address Bus: The address bus carries the address of the memory location from which we use data.

Control Bus: The control bus carries the control signals, it is used to control the flow of data smoothly and accurately.

Clock

Clock Speed

The term ‘Clock’ addresses the number of electrical signals sent through the inner circuitry of a processor core, in 1 second. The clock speed determines the number of cycles the CPU executes in one second.

1 Hertz = 1 signal in one sec

1 Kilohertz = 1000 signals in one sec

1 Megahertz = 1.000.000 signals in one sec

1 Gigahertz – 1.000.000.000 signals in one sec

Machine cycle

A computer processor executes every time the complete cycle whenever it receives a machine code. It is a very basic CPU operation, today’s computers can easily perform millions of cycles per second. The machine cycle consists of three main steps: fetch, decode and execute

These are the machine cycle steps:

Fetch: In fetching the control unit requests instruction from primary memory and keeps it for further process.

Decode: After fetching the fetched instruction is then decoded.

Execute: In this step, the decoded data is executed and then the cycle is reaped for the next instruction.

Store: In this step data is stored after execution.

History

Vacuum tube: An electronic component that controls the flow of electrons in a vacuum chamber. It is consist of an anode plate and cathode filament in the vacuumed chamber. It is used as a display, switch, or amplifier screen in many older-model radios, televisions, computers, etc.

Transistor: Transistor: It is an electronic device made up of a three-layer semiconductor and the layers are made of pentavalent and trivalent elements. It works as a switch or in some cases as an amplifier. It is used in most electronic devices.

Integrated circuit (IC): It is the microelectronic circuit or combination of electronic elements as a single unit (e.g. transistors, diodes, resistors, etc.).

Microprocessor: It is also an electronic component and is part of the computer system. It is responsible for processing different processes. It is designed to solve logical and basic operational tasks such as addition/subtraction and I/O communications and management. It is consist of thousands of transistors.

CPU: It is the brain of the computer and it is responsible for performing all different kinds of operations.

CPU Made of

 CPU is basically built with three materials Silicon, Plastic, and copper. It is basically made of silicon elements. Silicon is a semiconductor and is most commonly found on Earth. Silicon is used to make transistors and the CPU is made up of millions of transistors. The transistor works as a switch. These switches work and process millions of processes.