Protocols

Protocols is a set of rules or an agreement that specifies a common language that computers on a network use for communication with other computers. It also specifies the conditions under which a particular method of doing it. They give the specfication on how the computers talk with each other. There are various protocols suites available.

       Ethernet : This is used to transfer information on a LAN.It specifies a number of wiring and signaling standards for the physical layer, two ways of network access (Media Access Control/Data Link Layer) and a common address format.

     Internet Protocol (IP) : This protocol provides communicable global addresses of to the computers. The computers identify each other by the IP addresses.

    Transport Control Protocol (TCP) : This protocol guarantees reliable, proper delivery of data from the sender to the receiver.It breaks large message, transports them reliably and reassembles them.

    File Transfer Protocols (FTP) : This is used to connect two computers over the Internet so that user of one computer can transfer files and perform file commands on the other computer. It exchnage files over any network that supports TCP/IP protocol.

   Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) : This protocol used to retrieve Web Page from a Web server.

   Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) : This protocol is used for email transmission.

Internet

Internet Or inter-networking refers to a wide network through which computers are interconnection globally with one another, and capable of sharing resource among themselves.

    This network is called 'internet' (with a lower case i). the 'INTERNET' refers to millions of computers, connection in a gigantic network, which communicate via TCP/IP protocols. This collection of computers store immense quantity of information. Computer networks are very common in businesses and government establishments. But the Internet is different from all others in two aspects. First, it is the biggest network in the world, and second it is freely accessible to the public.

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was founded on May 1, 1969. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. While initially it manufactured its own processors, the company became fables after Global Foundries was spun off in 2009.

AMD's main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.

AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the  x86 architecture and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of Scansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

AMD is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based) personal computers. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor Nvidia have dominated the discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) market.

The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered clone of the Intel 8080 microprocessor. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice processor elements (Am2900, Am29116, Am293xx ) which were used in various minicomputer designs.

            In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with Intel, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086 and 8088 processors. IBM wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286 under the same arrangement, but Intel canceled the agreement in 1986 and refused to convey technical details of the i386 part. AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal rights to use derivatives of Intel's micro-code. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to develop clean room designed versions of Intel code.

In 1991, AMD released the Am386, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486 was used by a number of large original equipment manufacturers, including Compaq, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product, the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever less viable strategy for AMD.

Celeron Processor

Intel Celeron processor is the low-end (and low cost) member of the family of microprocessors from Intel that is based on its P6 architecture. Although it is based on the same architecture as the Pentium II, it lacks some high- performance features of the Pentium II line.

       Celeron models later than the 300. A include an L1 and L2 cache on the microchip, meaning that the cache is accessed at the same clock speed that the processor operates with. The Celeron L2 cache is smaller (128 kilobyte’s) than the Pentium II's (512 KB). However, because the Celeron L2 cache is on the processor chip and the Pentium II's is not, their effective L2 speeds are closely comparable. With clock speeds up to 466 MHz, Celeron processors are attractive to power users at first glance, but they should be compared to the Pentium II's computing power in order to get an idea of their useful application.

 

In ZDNet's CPU mark 99 benchmark tests, the Celeron processors compared favorably with Pentium II processors. Intel is marketing the processor as a chip for the basic PC. They view it as providing performance Good enough for home and business users doing word processing and Internet surfing. Power users and serious gamers may want to think about spending more for the Pentium II's top performance.

Celeron can be mounted in a Slot 1 motherboard or in a Socket 370 motherboard. Like Intel's other P6 microprocessors, the Celeron can be used for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP).

Xeon Processor

Intel Xeon Processor is a 400 MHz Pentium microprocessor from Intel for use in "mid-range" enterprise servers and workstations on a network.On a server motherboard from Intel, up to eight (and later even more) Xeon processors will be able to do multiprocessing sharing the same 100 MHz bus. Xeon is replacing the Pentium Pro as Intel's main enterprise microchip.

     Xeon is designed for Internet and large transactional database servers as well as for engineering, graphics, and multimedia applications that require moving a lot of data around quickly. Xeon is the high end of the Pentium line (Celeron is the low end).
Xeon is based on the Pentium microprocessor's P6 architecture. It's designed to work with a new and faster Peripheral Component Interconnect bus and Accelerated Graphics Port. Xeon features:

•   A faster L1 and L2 cache, either 512 Kbytes or 1 Mbytes, that runs at the same 400 MHz clock speed of the processor.

•   A faster bus to carry data between the processor, RAM, and I/O devices. The 450NX PCI set is a chipset that works at a 100 MHz clock speed and supports up to 8 GB of extended data output RAM memory.

• A larger Accelerated Graphics Port ( AGP ) chip set called the 440GX AGP set that also runs at 100 Mhz. It supports 2 GB of 100 MHz SDRAM.

•  An extended server memory architecture that provide for 36-bit addresses, allowing up to 64 GB of physical memory to be addressed.

•   Everything pre-mounted in a motherboard package for faster manufacturing

Typically, a computer with a Xeon microprocessor would use a Windows NT, NetWare, or UNIX operating system. Xeon-based systems are expected to offer competition to Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, and others in the workstation market, but its primary market is expected to be the mid-range server.

         

  

Intel

Intel Started  in the year 1968. Intel created first microprocessor in the year 1971. Over the year, Intel has modified the microprocessor to make it faster, efficient and reliable. Reduction in size of transistors also reduced the size of the microprocessor.

Intel has created microprocessor families that are customizable to suit the system used for different purpose. The speed, performance and price of a microprocessor differ from one microprocessor family to another.

           

            Intel also makes Motherboard Chipsets, Network Interface Controllers and Integrated Circuits, Flash Memory, Graphic Chips, Embedded Processors and other devices related to communications and computing.                                                                                        

                    Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until 1981. Although Intel created the world's first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became its primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the computer industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes illegal tactics in defense of its market position, particularly against Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry. The 2013 rankings of the world's 100 most valuable brands published by Millward Brown Optimor  showed the company's brand value at number 61.

                 The various  Intel micro-processors created from 1971 to till date.

1971 :- 4004

1972 :- 8008

1974 :- 4040/8080 

1979 :- 8088

1982 :- 80286

1985 :- 80385 Series

1989 :- 80486 series

1993 :- Pentium Family

1997 :- Pentium II Family

1998 :- Celeron / Xeon Family

1999 :- Pentium III Family

2000 :- Pentium 4 Family

2002 :- Pentium 4 Processor HT

2005 :- Pentium D Processor, Dual- core

2006 :- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

2008 :- Intel Core 2 Quad Processor

2010 :- Intel Core i3 Processor

2010 :- Intel Core i5 Processor

2010 :- Intel Core i7 Processor

      

                            Intel Microprocessor Timeline

   

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)

  The CISC microprocessors have the instruction built into the microprocessor. These instruction take up space in the microprocessor and leave less space for program processing. Some microprocessor perform  specific tasks, such as those used for  performing scientific calculation. The extra instructions built into the microprocessor take up valuable space in the microprocessor. The processing time taken to execute the extra instruction is also wasted.

                        To overcome these problem, a new architecture called RISC came into picture. The microprocessors using RISC architecture have limited instruction built into it. This requires few transistors to be built into the microprocessor to make up for the time delay in processing the instruction . The reduction in instructions also saves the space in the microprocessor. The RISC microprocessor is cheaper to build than the CISC processor. This processor is favorable for scientific purposes where limited instruction are required.

Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)

Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)

The Microprocessors using CISC architecture have many instruction built into it. This saves the processing time for performing tasks. The time is saved because the required instructions are available in the microprocessor itself and it does not have to retrieve the instruction from the program stored in the external memory, such as the RAM.

                            The CISC architecture helps the microprocessor to speed up the execution of programs requiring instruction. However, the instruction built into the microprocessor affects the performance of the microprocessor. This is because more time is taken to process the instruction and also the space available on the microprocessor for processing reduces. To overcome this problem, more transistors need to be built into the microprocessor to maintain the speed of microprocessor. This type of processor is useful for general purpose computing. It is generally used in personal computers (PCs).

   

                         ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) :-

Cache levels

Caches that are used in computers are fast pools of memory that are designed to speed up the transfer of data between fast and slower devices. Aside from being used to buffer data, caches can possess software support logic, enabling them to begin processing procedures in advance.
Most of the modern computer  use two or three cache levels so that processor does not have to wait for longer time for information from the memory.

                 Different types of cache levels are:-

L1 Cache :-  L1 or Level 1 cache is referred to the cache which is built in the processor. This is the fastest cache in the computer. This cache is also known as primary cache or internal cache. The most common size of this type of cache memory is 8 KB to 64 KB.

L2 Cache :-  L2 or Level 2 cache was located outside the processor i.e. commonly present on the motherboard. The most common size of this type of cache memory is 64 KB to 8 KB. L2 cache can also reduce data access time by buffering the data that processor is about to request from memory, as well as program instructions. L2 cache is secondary to the CPU and is slower than L1 cache, despite often being much larger. In addition, data that is requested from L2 cache is copied to L1 cache. Requested data is removed from L2 cache if it is an exclusive cache, and stays there if it is an inclusive cache. L2 cache is most often unified, which means that it is used to store both program data and instructions.

L3 Cache :-   L3 or Level 3 cache all modern processor have L2 cache on them, thus the cache on the motherboard is referred to as L3 cache. Often only high end workstations and servers need L3 cache. Currently only the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition features L3 cache. L3 has been part of the CPU or externally mounted near the CPU on the motherboard. It comes in sizes and speeds.

            L3 cache is a memory cache that is built into the motherboard. It is used to feed the L2 cache, and is typically faster than the system's main memory, but still slower than the L2 cache.

  

  

Different Cache Levels

Back Side Bus (BSB)

   BSB refers to the bus that connects the CPU to the L2 cache. The speed of BSB is totally dependent on the speed of the CPU. 

                 The L2 cache stores the instruction and data that need to be processed. Whenever these data and instructions are needed by the processor ,the information is transferred using BSB. Since BSB transfers data directly to the CPU, it is very fast as compared to Front Side Bus(FSB). BSB describes the interface between the L1 cache on the processor with the L2 cache.

Front Side Bus:-

Front Side Bus (FSB)

  FSB is also known as the Processor Bus, Memory Bus, or System Bus and connects the CPU (chipset) with the main memory and L2 cache. 

The FSB can range from speeds of 66 MHz, 133 MHz, 100 MHz, 266 MHz, 400 MHz, and up. The FSB is now another important consideration when looking at purchasing a computer Motherboard or a new computer.

            The FSB communicates with components through the computer’s chipset. The chipset consists of two processors, known as the Northbridge and the Southbridge. These two chips collect data from specific components, channeling all information to the CPU through the front side bus.

                          The speed of the front side bus is measured in Megahertz or Gigahertz, just like the processor. Most computers' processors run faster than their system buses, so the FSB speed is typically a ratio of the processor speed. For Example :- a Pentium 4 processor that runs at 2.4 GHz may have an FSB speed of only 400 MHz . The CPU to FSB ratio would be 6:1. A Power Mac G5, however, with a 2.0 GHz processor, has a 1.0 GHz front side bus. 
 Therefore, its CPU to FSB ratio is 2:1.


                                                                  Back Side Bus :-

Microprocessor

  
 Microprocessor is an electronic component that is used by a computer to do its work. microprocessor is an integrated circuit that engineers imprint onto a small  Silicon Semiconductor Chip.

        It is a Central Processing Unit on a single integrated circuit chip containing millions of very small components including Transistors, Resistors, and Diodes that work together. Microprocessors help to do everything from writing to searching the Web. Everything a computer does is described by lots of precise instructions, and microprocessors carry out these instructions at incredible speed-many millions of times a second.

          Microprocessors are responsible for performing the majority of a computer's processing tasks, which include making calculations, managing data and following input instructions. With personal computers, the term "microprocessor" is synonymous with the term "central processing unit" or CPU.

Example :-  Microprocessor include 8085, 8086, Pentium, i3, i5 etc.

              

        Three basic characteristics differentiate Microprocessors :-

 Instruction Set :-  An Instruction Set or Command Set is the basic set of commands understood by the microprocessor. When compiled the High-Level instructions of the programming language are transformed into the Machine-Level commands for a specific microprocessor. Two important  factors in instruction set design are decoder simplicity and code density.

                    The decoder reads the next instruction from memory, and then routes the component pieces of that instruction appropriately. The design of the instruction set can dramatically affect the complexity and, therefore, the speed of decoding the instructions. Code density is the combined size of the instructions needed to perform a particular task. Higher density improves memory utilization.

Bandwidth :-  In order to carry out instructions, microprocessors transmit data in bits, or units of binary notation that appear as either ones or zeros. The maximum number of bits that a microprocessor can process while carrying out a single instruction is known as bandwidth. The higher a microprocessor's bandwidth, the more processing power a microprocessor has. For example, a microprocessor with a bandwidth of 32 bits is more powerful than a microprocessor with a bandwidth of 16 bits.

Clock-Speed :-   Alternatively referred to as Clock Rate and Processor Speed, Clock Speed is the speed that the microprocessor executes each instruction or each vibration of the clock. The CPU requires a fixed number of  cycles to execute each instruction. The faster the clocks rate, the faster the CPU, or the faster it can execute instructions. Clock Speeds are usually determined in MHz, 1 MHz representing 1 million cycles per second, or in GHz, 1 GHz representing 1 thousand million cycles per second. The higher the CPU speed the better a computer will perform in a general sense.

                              Other components can improve a computer's performance as well like memory (RAM) and the motherboard as well as the number of cores that a processor has like dual core or quad core.