Intel’s IA-32 Architecture and Sun’s UltraSPARC Architecture
Intel’s IA-32 Architecture and Sun’s UltraSPARC Architecture
The purpose of this paper assignment is to compare the Intel’s IA-32 Architecture with Sun UltraSPARC Architecture at a relatively broad level. First, I will introduce a brief history of each architecture family, and then follow that with a framework for making the comparison. Thereafter I will evaluate one product from each architecture family on the basis of the framework. In the conclusion I will state the preferred product and briefly summarize my reason for the choice.
In the late 70's, Intel introduced the Intel 8086 processor, and then quickly introduced the 8088 processor, which was more cost-effective. These were one of the first 16-bit processors. From there on, Intel’s 32-bit version was and still is the most popular because it offers a very wide range of applications. The 8086 processor was selected for IBM’s PC (personal computer), which gave Intel the chance to broaden its horizon to develop a wide range of processors.
These processors were based on a range of Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC). CISC “allows the number of bytes per instruction to vary according to the instruction being processed”. It hardwires a set of instruction into a complex instruction. CISC uses variable length instructions, which increments by the length of the current instruction. This CPU design philosophy is considered to be a poor due to the complexity of the design.
The 8086 and 8088 introduced segmentation, which consist of a 16-bit segment register containing a pointer to a memory segment of up to 64Kbytes. They were also able to address up to 256 Kbytes without switching between segments using the four segment registers at a time. This allowed for a wide range of memory. But a 20-bit address that is formed to use a segment register pointer and an additional 16-bit pointer provides a total address range of 1 MByte, which allows for even more memory.
Down the IA-32 Architecture family came the Intel 286 or 80286. This processor was significant because it introduced the protected mode. The protected mode uses “segment register content as selectors or pointers into descriptor tables” which provides a 24-bit base address. This allows a maximum physical memory size up to 16 Mbytes for the support of virtual memory management and a variety of protection mechanisms. ]
Intel 386 or 80386 processor was the next processor to...