Gregory's ServerFlip-flops are a key component of a microprocessor, holding a 0 or a 1 value. When the "clock" signal triggers, the flip-flop loads a new value. I examined the silicon die of the Intel 8086 processor (1978) and found 184 flip-flops (colored dots). 1/7
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 @lopta My home town was a lot smaller. The 8086 has twice as many transistors as my home town has people. |
Flip-flops have many roles in the 8086. They hold the instruction and various fields. They store condition flags such as carry. They hold the microcode address and the 21-bit micro-instruction. They implement state machines for reads and writes. They manage the prefetch queue.