Home >Common Problem >What is the relationship between machine cycle and clock cycle?
The relationship between machine cycle and clock cycle is: a machine cycle consists of several clock cycles. In a computer, the time it takes to complete a basic operation is called a machine cycle. The clock cycle, also known as the oscillation cycle, is the smallest time unit in the timing sequence.
#The operating environment of this article: windows10 system, thinkpad t480 computer.
Detailed introduction:
Machine cycle is also called CPU cycle. In computers, in order to facilitate management, the execution process of an instruction is often divided into several stages (such as fetching, decoding, execution, etc.), and each stage completes a basic operation. The time required to complete a basic operation is called a machine cycle. Generally, a machine cycle consists of several clock cycles.
The clock cycle T, also known as the oscillation cycle, is generated by the on-chip oscillation circuit OSC of the microcontroller. It is often defined as the reciprocal of the clock pulse frequency and is the smallest time unit in the timing sequence. For example, if the clock frequency of a microcontroller is 1MHz, its clock period T should be 1μs. Since the clock pulse is the basic working pulse of the computer, it controls the working rhythm of the computer, so that every step of the computer's work is unified to its pace. Obviously, for the same type of computer, the higher the clock frequency, the faster the computer will work. However, since different computer hardware circuits and devices are not exactly the same, the clock cycle frequency ranges they require are not necessarily the same.
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