Stages of a Datapath
Problem: a single, atomic block which
executes
executes an instruction
instruction (performs all
necessary operations beginning with fetching
the instruction) would be too bulky and
inefficient.
Solution: break up the process of executing
an instruction into stages, and then connect
the stages to create the whole datapath.
Smaller stages are easier to design
design.
Easy to optimize (change) one stage without
touching the others.
Stages of a Datapath (2)
There is a wide variety of MIPS instructions:
so what
h t generall steps
t
d
do th
they h
have iin
common?
Stages
St
1.
2
2.
3.
4.
5.
Instruction Fetch
Instruction Decode
ALU
Memory Access
Register Write
Stages of a Datapath (3)
Stage 1: Instruction Fetch.
No matter what the instruction is, the 32-bit
instruction word must first be fetched from
memoryy ((the cache-memoryy hierarchy).
y)
Also, this is where we increment PC
(that is, PC = PC + 4, to point to the next
i t ti
instruction;
b
byte
t addressing
dd
i so + 4)
4).
Stages of a Datapath (4)
Stage 2: Instruction Decode
Upon fetching the instruction, we next gather data
from the fields (decode all necessary instruction
data).
)
First, read the opcode to determine instruction
type and field lengths.
Second, read in data from all necessary registers.
For add, read two registers.
For addi,
addi read one register
register.
For jal, no read necessary.
Stages of a Datapath (5)
Stage 3: ALU (Arithmetic-Logic Unit)
The real work of most instructions is done here:
arithmetic (+, -, *, /), shifting, logic (&, |),
comparisons
p
((slt).
)
What about loads and stores?
lw $t0, 40($t1)
The address we are accessing in memory =
the value in $t1 plus the value 40.
We do this addition at this stage
stage.
Stages of a Datapath (6)
Stage 4: Memory Access
Actually only the load and store instructions do
anything during this stage; for the other
instructions,, theyy remain idle during
g this stage.
g
Since these instructions have a unique step, we
need this extra stage to account for them.
As a result of the cache system, this stage is
expected to be just as fast (on average) as the
others.
Stages of a Datapath (7)
Stage 5: Register Write
Most instructions write the result of some
computation into a register.
Examples: arithmetic
arithmetic, logical
logical, shifts
shifts, loads
loads, slt
What about stores, branches, jumps?
Theyy do not write anything
y
g into a register
g
at
the end.
These remain idle during this fifth stage.
+4
1 Instruction
1.
Fetch
ALU
Da
ata
mem
mory
rd
rs
rt
rregisters
PC
insttruction
me
emory
Datapath: Generic Steps
imm
2 Decode/
2.
Register
Read
3 Execute 4.
3.
4 Memory 5.
5 Reg
Reg.
Write
Datapath Walkthroughs: add
add $r3,$r1,$r2 # r3 = r1+r2
Stage 1: Fetch this instruction, increment PC.
Stage 2: Decode to find that it is an add
instruction then read registers $r1 and $r2.
instruction,
$r2
Stage 3: Add the two values retrieved in stage 2.
Stage
g 4: Idle ((nothing
g to write to memory).
y)
Stage 5: Write result of stage 3 into register $r3.
+4
4
2
imm
reg[1]
[1]
reg[1]+reg[2]
reg[2]
ALU
Da
ata
mem
mory
re
egisters
add r3, r1, r2
PC
instrruction
memory
Datapath Walkthroughs: add (2)
