Unit 1 - Systems Architecture Flashcards
What is the CPU
A CPU is the brains of the computer, it controls all operations that happen within the computer.
What is the language that computers talk in?
The language computers use is called Binary and consists of 1s and 0s.
How does Binary work
This is because computers use transistors which operate as a switch, with the states of being either on or off. The on of off-state depend on if electricity is flowing through them or not
What is the Arithmetic Logic Unit?
The ALU performs all the arithmetic (maths) and logical operations within the CPU
What is the Control Unit?
The Control Unit works within the CPU to control the flow of data. It tells the computer’s memory, arithmetic/logic unit and input and output devices on how to respond to a program’s instructions.
What is the Cache?
Special high speed memory used to store frequently used instructions.
What are Registers?
High speed memory located dotted around the CPU to store small amounts of data that are needed during processing.
What does MAR stand for?
memory address register
What is MAR used for?
IT stores where data is stored which will be fetched to the CPU.
What does MDR sand for?
Memory Data Register
What is MDR used for?
It holds the contents from the address in the MAR.
What is the Programme counter used for?
It is a special purpose register used by the processor to hold the address of the next instruction.
What is the Accumulator used for?
the accumulator is a register in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored
What is the Fetch Decode Execute Cycle?
Fetches instructions .
goes through processes.
Decodes to machine code.
What are the Factors affecting Processor speed?
Clock speed
Number of Cores
Cache
What is Clock speed?
the operating speed of a computer or its microprocessor expressed in cycles per second (megahertz).
What is Clock Speed measured in?
Generally measured in billions (1,000,000,000) Gigahertz Ghz
How does Clock speed correlate to computer speed?
The more clocks cycles, the more instructions can be executed per second, means a fast computer
What is Over Clocking?
Overclocking is when you go into your bios and change it to work at a higher capacity, but with higher risks.
What is a CPU core?
In summary, a core is a small CPU or processor built into a big CPU or CPU socket.
How do CPU cores affect performance?
In theory the processor is 2 or 4 times faster because it is able to execute 2 or 4 times as many instructions.
What are different examples of CPU cores?
Dual core- 2 cores
Quad core- 4 cores
What is Cache?
Small very fast memory that is stored on the processor.
Why is Cache used?
Stores decoded instructions as they are decoded
Instructions that are not used are replaced with newer instructions.
