Module 1 – 1.1.

2a (CISC VS RISC)

Instruction Set

At the core of all computers the is the instruction set: “Set of all instructions written in machine code that can be
recognised and executed by a given processing unit/CPU

There are two main categories of these instruction sets:

o CISC – Complex Instruction Set Computer
o RISC – Reduced Instruction Set Computer

CISC
- CISC aims to complete the task in as few lines of assembly as possible
this means the processor hardware and circuitry has to be more
complicated so it can understand and execute a series of operations.

-A CISC processor could include a specific instruction for multiplying two

numbers - e.g MULT

-When executed , this instruction would load the two values in to the
register , multiply and then store the result and diplay the result.

-MULT is an example of a complex instruction

-It resembles the original command from a high-level language:

Product = num1 * num2

-The compiler has to do very little work to translate the high-level language statement into assembly.

-However, this complex instruction might take more than one machine/clock cycle to execute

-Less common today than it use to be ,CISC architecure found in computer/laptop

RISC

-RISC processors aim to use simple instructions that will be executed within a single machine/clock cycle.

-A complex command such as MULT would not exist. We would need to separate it into a number of simpler
commands.

-E.g we would need four different lines of code in this example

 LDA R000 ,0000
 LDA R001, 0001
 PROD R000, R001
 STA 0010, R000

-There are more lines of code required in this architecure.

-The compiler has to do more work and more RAM is needed to store the assembly instructions.

-The process seems less effcient BUT------

-Eeach instruction can be completed in a single clock cycle

-These RISC instructions require fewer transistors and less complex hardware , leaving more room for general-
purpose registers and cache.
-As all instructions are uniform in terms of their execution time , pipelining is possible.

-The use of RISC processing results in lower energy requirements.

-RISC architecures have become incredibly popular in low-power and portable devices such as tablets, phones and
TVs. They also make up 90% of all processors today.

GOING BEYOND THE SPEC