cycles per instruction (CPI)

The computing power ofmicroprocessors and computers is specified in various characteristic values. Million Instructions per Second( MIPS) is a characteristic value for determining computer performance, Cycles per Instruction ( CPI) and Instructions per Cycle( IPC) others.

CPI computing power describes the number of clock cycles required to execute individual instructions. When determining the CPI value, one divides the number of clock cycles required to execute a program by the number of instructions. For example, if 5,000 instructions are required for a program and the program is executed in 20,000 clock cycles, then the CPI value is 4. A high CPI value indicates that more clock cycles are required than if the CPI value is lower. The dimensionless CPI value does not indicate how high the clock rate of the system is.

For systems that execute multiple instructions per clock cycle, the number of instructions executed per cycle, Instructions per Cycle (IPC), is used instead of the CPI value.