Can anyone here give me a detailed understanding of what MIPS is? What is its relevance in computer systems?
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Can anyone here give me a detailed understanding of what MIPS is? What is its relevance in computer systems?
Hi,
Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages or MIPS, is the result of a project
Implemented at Stanford University, the aim of this project was to simplify processor design by reducing the hardware interlocks between the five pipeline stages.
The result is that only a single execution cycle instructions can access the 32-bit general registers, hence the compiler will be able to schedule instructions without conflicts.
This also make Load, Store, and branch instructions have a one cycle delay to account for.
However, and due the importance of multiply and divide instructions, a dedicated HI/LO pair of multiply/divide registers are needed which do have hardware interlocks, because these instructions take several cycles to execute and complicate the scheduling.
Thank you
MIPS is known also as “Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages”. It is a RISC or Reduced Instruction Set Computer and ISA or Instruction Set Architecture created by MIPS Technologies. The older architectures of MIPS were originally in 32-bit versions and it was only later that they added the 64-bit versions. Universities and technical schools that offer computer architecture courses frequently study the MIPS architecture.
The primary applications of MIPS are used in embedded systems like for example in routers, Windows CE devices, and residential gateways as well as in video game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation Portable and the Sony PlayStation 2. During the late 80s and 90s the application of MIPS were also used by NEC, Siemens Nixdorf, Digital Equipment Corporation, Pyramid Technology, Tandem Computers, and more.
Regards
Sharath Reddy