Chip Architecture

[Mishera]

Alright, this isn't exactly a question on cpu architecture, but more of a question on general pc hardware. I've been a reader of anandtech for a while now, however when the articles move towards the technical side I have trouble following what is being discussed. This is especially frustrating to me when reading the articles on chip architecture, as this is very interesting to me though I've had trouble finding a good point from which to build my understanding. And even though not to many people will admit it, I know I'm not the only one [*crickets]....

I've looked through several websites and consistently found a lack of such information, even in the forums. I suppose this would be the point where having a group of people interested in this would prove to be beneficial but unfortunately none of my friends are. A few years ago I built my first pc and since then I've built probably a dozen more for friends and family, so slowly with each one I'm acquiring a better understanding of computers, but recently money's been pretty tight. BTW even though some of the more savvy readers here may not like it, I think a few articles, or even a section devoted to this subject may be helpful for many of us newer ones and may even attract more people (looking at you Anand ).


Which brings me to my question: Where can I find more information on some of the more technical aspects of computing. I'm specifically looking for more hardware information and information on chip architecture. Books,websites, old articles, anything that would help me find a good starting point and methodology to continue work on my own. Ive noticed that many of the readers here are studying to work or are working in some of the fields that someday I also hope to be. Perhaps some of your insight and experiences will help me. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Jon

 

[Juncar]

You won't really find too much detailed information on these kinds of complex topics outside of academic and industry source.

That being said, I know that Intel releases some information that you can find here

http://www.intel.com/intelpress/comp_sys_design.htm

To get you started this book is what I had for my intro course to computer architecture

Computer Organization by
Carl Hamacher, Zvonko Vranesic, Safwat Zaky

It is fairly straight forward and mainly an intro level textbook. It talks about things like cache mapping, memory mapping, pipeline optimization, processor instructions and etc. There are other textbooks as well but this one is the one that I am familiar with. These are basics that should be understood before you tackle the more advance stuff like the information released by Intel.

 

[DanDaManJC]

This book was very good:

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Organ...ref=pd_sim_b_2

It was an easy read (well written) and does go over the basics of computer architecture. In the associated class, we ended up desigining what would be equivalent to an intel 386 cpu in verilog (verilog's a hw description language).

 

[tatteredpotato]

Or this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Syste...6682353&sr=1-1

 

[polarmystery]

I'm currently taking a Computer Architecture course for my master's program where we talk about the fundamentals in designing computer architecture. The book we are reading is here.

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Syste...dp_ob_title_bk

It talks about how a basic computer works all the way down to registers in a CPU and builds up to parallel processing, memory addressing, data transfer, i/o systems, bus design,etc. As others have stated, it's pretty academic in information. The design fundamentals they are using now are still in place shown in that book (Super scalar architecture, instruction level processing, register transfer language) but as the book was released in 2004, I think it only goes up to the Pentium 4 architecture. It discusses basic simple risc computer (SRC) design mostly to adapt you to conventional design.

 

[TuxDave]

No fans of the Hennessey and Patterson?

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Archi.../dp/1558605967

 

[Cogman]

Or this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Syste...6682353&sr=1-1

I have and can second that this is a pretty good book (It has A LOT in it, everything from cache to multithreading).

 

[mutz]

Alright, this isn't exactly a question on cpu architecture, but more of a question on general pc hardware. I've been a reader of anandtech for a while now, however when the articles move towards the technical side I have trouble following what is being discussed. This is especially frustrating to me when reading the articles on chip architecture, as this is very interesting to me though I've had trouble finding a good point from which to build my understanding. And even though not to many people will admit it, I know I'm not the only one [*crickets]....

this is very true mishera, it takes a lot of time digging around pieces of information which would allow one to fully comprehend technical documents and reviews,
you'r ofcourse not the only one in this boat, many are having difficulties having to folow forum posts from the side,
it also happens that many of the reviews, the wikipedia articles etc. requires background knowledge in order to follow thoroughly and impose a great challenge if possible at all to the casual reader.
most hardware posters do not take that into account, as well as most advanced users usually require posts to skip basic beginners data.

this creates a situation where people cannot follow what is being said and usually give up for the time being or leave the site.

a separate section for rookies with simple explanations can allow many to overcome the early confusion and difficulties, maybe a beginners sub-forum as well at each site,
to educate anyone who haven't got the time or chance to study these things by they're sleves running from site to site.

after all this is us, and when we take care of ourselves, we live better.

 

[Mishera]

I just want to thank everyone for their input. Sorry I took so long to reply, but last month was extremely busy. I noticed that the books mentioned were textbooks which would allude to Juncar's point that this may have to be done in a more academic setting, which at least right now will be pretty hard since most of my work is geared towards my current major (business). But these should hold me down until I decide whether I'll switch majors.

after all this is us, and when we take care of ourselves, we live better.

True indeed mutz. If only more people would live by this statement .

It seems that as great an idea it would be to provide some more information for those beginners, over my many years of viewing tech sites, that gap still persists. And as you said, most will probably give up, which is very unfortunate

If I could add one more thing I would say that too often we get caught so much in our own endeavors that we forget to help others. Just as we must dedicate ourselves to things we want to accomplish, we cant lose sight of helping our fellow man/women. This is true especially young people who hold so much hope and optimism for the world.

And when we can accomplish this, very often in return we help ourselves

Again thanks everybody.

 

[DanDaManJC]

I just want to thank everyone for their input. Sorry I took so long to reply, but last month was extremely busy. I noticed that the books mentioned were textbooks which would allude to Juncar's point that this may have to be done in a more academic setting, which at least right now will be pretty hard since most of my work is geared towards my current major (business). But these should hold me down until I decide whether I'll switch majors.

I think out of all the engineering courses I've taken.. the computer architecture stuff is the stuff that I feel would be most easily accessible outside a classroom or industry. The topic does get very detailed and there are some conceptually tough spots... but unlike the circuits courses, that you off with a bunch of physics and diff eqs (mathematical and scientific theory), the computer architecture and programming courses were just logic. Plus, at least the book I linked to, was actually very well written -- specifically geared to someone who's seeing this stuff for the 1st time.

 

[SeetheSeer]

Coming from a Computer Engineering graduate (in 1 week) of a top 10 engineering school:
I would highly recommend looking at some of Jon Stokes's work at ArsTechnica.com, especially his book Inside the Machine. I found his writing to be very accessible when I read it in High School. It's far above your average magazine/online article, but not preachy or academic like a textbook. You can find most of the information in the book in old articles at Ars, but the book will present it in a much more coherent and linear manner.

link to sample chapter: http://www.nostarch.com/download/insidemachine_ch4.pdf
link to his bio on Ars: http://arstechnica.com/author/jon-stokes/

That said, I ended up deciding to become a patent lawyer, so you could say he did me a disservice! Not like the world needs another lawyer...oh well.

No fans of the Hennessey and Patterson?

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Archi.../dp/1558605967

The introduction addresses the book as being a bridge to other such textbooks:

Inside the Machine is an introduction to computers that is intended to fill the gap that exists between classic but more challenging introductions to computer architecture, like John L. Hennessy’s and David A. Patterson’s popular textbooks, and the growing mass of works that are simply too basic for motivated non-specialist readers. Readers with some experience using computers and with even the most minimal scripting or programming experience should finish Inside the Machine with a thorough and advanced understanding of the high-level organization of modern computers. Should they so choose, such readers would then be well equipped to tackle more advanced works like the aforementioned classics, either on their own or as part of formal curriculum.

 

[Goi]

This book was very good:

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Organ...ref=pd_sim_b_2

It was an easy read (well written) and does go over the basics of computer architecture. In the associated class, we ended up desigining what would be equivalent to an intel 386 cpu in verilog (verilog's a hw description language).

This is the first book that computer engineers are introduced to computer architecture concepts. A very good book of the basics

No fans of the Hennessey and Patterson?

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Archi.../dp/1558605967

And this is the followup...the "bible" of computer architecture.

Anandtech, Arstechnica and Aceshardware used to cover computer architecture in more detail, up till when the intel Core architecture or thereabouts. After that, coverage seemed to dropped. Arstechnica openly declared that there's nothing interesting about CPU architecture anymore, and aceshardware seems to have been gone for a while...