1 Hardware

Question 1

What is FDE?

Answer 1

Fetch, Decode, Execute cycle

Question 2

What is the purpose of the CPU?

Answer 2

To process data and instructions

Question 3

What is the purpose of the Control Unit?

Answer 3

It directs the flow of data and information around the CPU and coordinates other components in the CPU

Question 4

What is the purpose of the ALU?

Answer 4

The arithmetic and logic unit performs simple calculation’s and logical comparisons

Question 5

What is the purpose of the registers?

Answer 5

The registers are temporary storage spaces used in the FDE cycle

Question 6

What is the purpose of Cache memory / internal memory?

Answer 6

Cache memory is used to store data that is frequently accessed, it is split into three levels it is faster than RAM

Question 7

What is computer architecture?

Answer 7

The ay a computer is designed and laid out, the most common type is Von Neumann

Question 8

What is Harvard architecture?

Answer 8

An alternative architecture with the control unit as the most essential component

Question 9

What are the key features of Von Neumann architecture?

Answer 9

> The CPU is the most important component
Instructions and data are stored in memory
Data input/output is important.

Question 10

Why is storing instructions in memory important?

Answer 10

It allows the computer to be re-programmed more easily

Question 11

What is the purpose of buses?

Answer 11

They allow data to be transferred to different parts of the computer.

Question 12

What is the purpose of the address bus?

Answer 12

This carries the storage address of any data that needs to be loaded or saved

Question 13

What is the purpose of the Data bus?

Answer 13

It carries data to and from RAM as well as input/output deivces

Question 14

What is the purpose of the control bus?

Answer 14

The control unit uses the to send control signals to different parts of the computer

Question 15

What is the purpose of Fetch in FDE?

Answer 15

Fetch takes the address from the PC puts it in MAR from memory stores it in the instruction register and increments the program counter

Question 16

What is the purpose of Decode in FDE?

Answer 16

The control unit checks the instruction in the instruction register. The instruction is
decoded to find the action that needs to be carried out

Question 17

What is the purpose of Execute in FDE?

Answer 17

The instruction fetched is performed this depends on the nature of the instruction

Question 18

What is the purpose of the program counter?

Answer 18

It stores the RAM address of the next instruction to be fetched

Question 19

What is the purpose of the memory address register?

Answer 19

The MAR stores the RAM address of the instruction / data that is to be fetched

Question 20

What is the purpose of the memory data register?

Answer 20

THE MDR stores the instruction / data that has been transferred from RAM to the CPU

Question 21

What is the purpose of the current instruction register?

Answer 21

This register stores the instruction that has been fetched from RAM and is about to be decoded or executed

Question 22

What is the purpose of the Accumulator

Answer 22

The Acc stores the result of mathematical and logical calculations

Question 23

What are the levels of cache memory?

Answer 23

There is level 1, 2 and 3. 1 is the fastest but smallest and 3 is slowest but larger and is located outside the CPU

Question 24

How does cache memory work?

Answer 24

When the CPU looks for data, it looks in level 1 cache, then level 2 and then level 3. If the data is not found then the CPU searches in RAM instead which takes more time

Question 25

How does cache memory improve performance?

Answer 25

>It is closer to the CPU so is faster than RAM >More cache memory allows repeatedly used instructions to be accessed faster >Cache memory is expensive so computers only have a small amount

Question 26

What is clock speed?

Answer 26

Clock speed is the measure of how quickly a CPU can process instructions. measured in Ghz

Question 27

How does clock speed improve performance?

Answer 27

The faster the clock speed, the faster the computer can perform the FDE cycle resulting in better performance because more instructions can be processed each second.

Question 28

What is overclocking?

Answer 28

It's when the clock speed is increased, allowing the computer to perform faster but can lead to overheating an could damage the machine

Question 29

What is underclocking?

Answer 29

It's when the clock speed is decreased making the computer to perform slower but will increase

Question 30

What are cores in computers?

Answer 30

A core is a complete set of CPU components, a multi-core CPU has more than one set of components

Question 31

How do cores effect performance?

Answer 31

In theory dual core processor is twice as fast as a single core but sometimes one core may be waiting for another or software is not written for multiple cores

Question 32

What is a Reduced Instruction Set Computer?

Answer 32

>They process