Mike Meyers (CPUs) Flashcards
External Data Bus (EDB)
gives you a way to communicate with the man in the box (Artihmetic Logic Unit), so you can give him work to do.
Registers
Small, high-speed storage locations that temporarily hold data and instructions.
General-Purpose Registers
AX, BX, CX, DX ( the four most common registers)
Clock wire
The “bell” on a real CPU.
Clock Cycle
A single charge to the CLK (clock) wire.
How many clock cycles does a CPU needs?
It needs more than one clock cycle to get a result.
Clock Speed
the fastest speed that a CPU can operate, determined by the CPU manufacturer. (is its max speed)
1 Hertz (1Hz) =
1 Megabhertz (1MHz) =
1 Gigahertz (1GHz) =
1 cycle per second
1 Million cycles per second
1 billion cycles per second
System Crystal (Quartz Oscillator)
It determines the speed at which a CPU and the rest of the PC operate. it sends an electric pulse at a certain speed, many millions of times per second maintaining the time and speed synchronization. It’s like a metronome for the CPU. It sets the beat for the CPU’s activities.
Program
A set (series) of commands sent to a CPU in a specific order for the CPU to perform work.
Memory
Devices that in any way hold ones and zeros that the CPU accesses
RAM
stores programs and data that the CPU actively uses and is arranged in byte-sized rows.
Memory Controller Chip
A chip between the CPU and RAM to make the connection. The MCC contains special circuitry so it can grab the contents of any line of RAM and place that data or command on the EDB.
Address Bus
A second set of wires leading from the CPU to the memory controller chip (traditionally the Northbridge) that enables the CPU to address RAM
By turning the address bus wires on and off……..
By turning the address bus wires on and off in different patterns, the CPU tells the MCC which line of RAM it wants at any given moment.
