Architecture Of A Computer

Question 1

What is inside a computer

Answer 1

Motherboard
CPU
Heatsink
RAM
Hard drive
Solid State Drive (SSD)
Expansion slots
Video card
Wi-Fi card
Power Supply Unit ( PSU)
GPU

Question 2

What is inside the processor, the Central Processing Unit (CPU)?

Answer 2

Arithmetic Logic Unit
Internal Memory/ Immediate Access Store (IAS)
Control Unit (CU)

Question 3

What does the CPU do?

Answer 3

The CPU processes everything from basic instructions to complex functions. It controls all input needs performs all calculations.

Question 4

What does the Control Unit (CU) do?

Answer 4

Controls all other elements of the cpu ensuring they do what they should when they should.

• Controls the operation of the cpu and the other hardware components by following a program.
• Organises the storage and transfer of data by using internal memory and special registers
• Performs the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle by using a register to step through instructions in sequence

Question 5

What does the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) do?

Answer 5

Performs calculations, comparisons, logical functions and bit-shift operations

Question 6

What is the decoder?

Answer 6

A logic circuit that exists to take the binary representation of an instruction and imitate the execution of the appropriate instruction. Usually exists as a part of the control unit

Question 7

What are registers and how many are there?

Answer 7

Registers are small pieces of memory located inside the CPU. There are 6 special registers.

Question 8

What are the 3 main types of memory?

Answer 8

RAM, ROM and Cache

Question 9

What is RAM?

Answer 9

RAM is random access memory

• Temporarily stores programs and data that are being used
• Can be changed
• The working memory of the computer
• Volatile

Question 10

What is ROM?

Answer 10

ROM is read only memory

• Permanently stores the booting up part of the OS
• Non-volatile
• Contents cannot be changed

Question 11

What is Cache?

Answer 11

Cache is fast access RAM placed close to the cpu

• Used for storing the most recently and most frequently accessed files.
• Volatile

Question 12

What are the 6 special registers?

Answer 12

• Current Instruction Register (CIR)
• Memory Data Register (MDR) (Also known as the memory buffer register or data buffer)
• Memory Address Register (MAR)
• Program Counter (PC)
• Accumulator
• General Purpose Registers

Question 13

What does the Current Instruction Register do?

Answer 13

Holds the instruction currently being executed

Question 14

What does the Memory Data Register do?

Answer 14

Holds the piece of data of data that has been fetched from memory

Question 15

What does the Memory Address Register do?

Answer 15

Holds the address of the next piece of memory to be fetched

Question 16

What does the program counter do?

Answer 16

The Program counter holds the location of the next instruction to be fetched from memory. It is automatically incremented between supplying the address of the next instruction and the instruction being executed

Question 17

What does the accumulator do

Answer 17

The accumulator stores any calculations performed by the arithmetic and logic unit

Question 18

What do the general purpose registers do?

Answer 18

General purpose registers store any transient data required by the program