A)Component 1.1 - Hardware (Finished) Flashcards
What is the CPU?
Central Processing Unit. It is the main component in a computer for processing data and instructions.
What happens in the CPU?
All the data is read and acted upon.
What is RAM?
Random access memory.
What is RAM used for?
Ram is where all the data for a program is stored. The bigger the ram the faster big programs load.
What is the purpose of the motherboard?
The motherboard is what holds all the hardware together. Also moves data around.
What does the data bus do?
A data bus is the path along which data travels to be moved between parts of a computer
What does the address bus do?
It is where the address of the place (in memory) where data is to be saved or loaded from is sent
What does ALU stand for?
Arithmetic and Logic Unit.
What does the ALU do?
The ALU performs all mathematical calculations and logical operations on the CPU. It performs simple mathematical calculations on data that is stored in the registers temporarily, and can also do comparisons between data (Logical operations)
What does the controller in the cpu do?
The controller sends and receives signals from all parts of the computer, ensuring all processes take place at the right time and in the correct order
What is a register?
A register is a storage location found on the cpu (volatile) where data or control information is temporarily stored.
What is Internal Memory?
Internal memory is fast access temporary (volatile) storage on the CPU.
Where can data from internal memory be written pn or called back to?
It can be written to the RAM or called back to the registers for further processing.
What is the control bus?
The controller uses the control bus to send control signals to different parts of the computer.
What is the basis for the fetch-decode-execute cycle?
Von Neumann Architecture is the basis for the cycle.
What happens during the ‘fetch’ process of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?
The processor checks the program counter to see which instruction to run next
It indicates the address value in memory where the instruction is.
The processor fetches the instruction from the memory location and stores it in the registers
It then moves the program counter on one so that it points towards the next instruction.
What happens during the ‘decode’ part of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?
The control unit checks the instruction in the instruction register and decides it to determine what action is to be carried out.
What happens during the ‘execute’ part of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?
The actions that have been determined in the decode part actually happen
What is the ‘cache memory’ in the CPU?
Cache memory is a fast access type of memory
What is ‘clock speed’?
Clock speed is the, speed at which a processor operates. The faster the clock speed, the faster the computer is able to run the fetch-decode-execute cycle.
What is clock speed measured in?
The clock speed of a processor is measured in Hertz (Hz). One clock tick per second would be measured as 1 Hz. Therefore a processor running at 1000 clock ticks per second would be a 1000Hz or 1kHz processor.
What is Overclocking?
When a processor is set to run faster than its original design by increasing the clock speed
What is underclocking?
When you lower the CPU’s clock speed. Set to run lower than the original design
How does the number of cores in a CPU affect the computer?
Each core can run one instruction at a time. More cores means that more instructions can be run at a time making the cpu faster