Microprocessors advancement generations Research Paper

Microprocessors advancement generations - Research Paper Example Microprocessors or processors are the core components of any information system contributing to the goals of an organization. The microprocessor or processor â€Å"interprets and carries out, or processes, instructions and data contained in the software† the microprocessor evolved from the creation of transistors in to integrated circuits. Moreover, the integration of these components is vast in this current age of information technology, where every now and then, computing devices are expanding their usage beyond imagination and finds a new product to take their place. Today, microprocessors are comprised of over millions of transistors that are integrated to a small chip that can be easily located on the fingertips (Betker, Fernando and Whalen 29). However, the factor that makes these microprocessors better from the other is the speed on which it operates. Microprocessor clock speed is measured in Mega Hertz (MHz), Giga Hertz (GHz) and TeraFLOPS. Microprocessors Advancement Generations The first general purpose microprocessor, composed on a single chip was launched in 1971. The microprocessor was capable to operate on an eight-bit architecture along with the implementation capacity of four bits. Moreover, the microprocessor includes 2300 transistors with a capability to perform less than 0.1 million instructions per second (MIPS). After the invention of the first general purpose microprocessor, 8008 right bit microprocessor was invented. The microprocessor was built on 3500 transistors as compared to the general-purpose microprocessor with 2300 transistors.... Moreover, a language was also introduced for operating the system named as assembly language. The processor was built on 29000 transistors along with features including memory protection and floating point co processor. Moreover, in 1981, IBM a company for manufacturing commuting devices launched the latest version of Intel’s 8086. The microprocessor was named as 8088. The second generation was triggered by a significant improvement in the architecture of microprocessors as Motorola launched the first 32-bit microprocessor named as Motorola 68000. The processor was equipped with general-purpose registers supporting less than 1 million instructions per second. Motorola 68000 was used with Apple Mac, Silicon graphics and Apollo systems. The third generation was started by the first commercial microprocessor named as MIPS2000 based on Reduced Instructions Set Computing (RISC). Moreover, the processor supported instructions and data cache simultaneously. As compared to the previou s processor supporting less than one MIPS, MIPS 2000 was capable of providing five to eight MIPS. The total transistors that were embedded on the processor were 125,000 thousand. The fourth generation of microprocessors was started by the introduction of 64-bit architecture. The processor supporting the 64-bit architecture was MIPS 4000. As compared to the third generation microprocessor i.e. MIPS 2000, MIPS 4000 capability was unmatched. Instead of installing the caches separately on the motherboard of the computer, it was integrated in the microprocessor. The features for integrated cache are on chip and off chip i.e. as a secondary cache. Moreover, floating point was also integrated on the chip. The microprocessor is