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CPU, stands for Central Processing Unit. It is responsible for carrying out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions.

2 votes

Do CPUs have big circuits such as asynchronous multipliers or BCD to binary converters?

Of course, it depends on the type of CPU. Primitive 8 bits CPUs had no multiplier (until the MC6809 which had a 8bits x 8bits multiplier :-). …
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5 votes
Accepted

What are advantages / disadvantages of horizontal and vertical microprograms?

This questions seems dated, about the way computers and instruction sets were designed in the 70's. AFAIK, micro-ops in x86 CPUs have about 100 bits, and are decoded separately in each operation unit …
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0 votes

MULT in a RISC - should instructions take the same amount of time in a RISC system

nothing, even if it is slow in first versions/low end variants, because it can be more easily enhanced than series of additions and shift instructions, or relying on dynamic patching of code depending on CPU
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4 votes

Can x86 Instruction Set be changed with microcode update?

a large amount of microcode, a part of this microcode can be downloaded in RAM and can be updated, principally for fixing bugs (and maybe for more hidden purposes such as disabling some parts of the CPU … nVidia Denver with has an internal processor which dynamically translates the ARM instruction set, some rumors pretended that this project was initially targeting x86 before being redesigned as an ARM CPU
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0 votes

Can a CPU instruction be split into 2 inputs?

You should look into "state machines". Simple CPUs with variable length instructions have some kind of state machine. Default state is fetching the opcode, then it fetches parameters or do memory acce …
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