1.1 CPU, Input/Output And Storage

Question 1

Three main components of the CPU

Answer 1

Control unit, registers and the arithmetic logic unit

Question 2

Three main factors that affect the CPU’s performance

Answer 2

Cache size, clock speed and number of cores

Question 3

Pipelining

Answer 3

The process of completing steps of an instruction (such as the fetch decode execute parts) simultaneously within one core.

Question 4

Two different ways to build a processor

Answer 4

Von Neumann and Harvard

Question 5

What does RISC stand for?

Answer 5

Reduced instruction set computer

Question 6

What does CISC stand for?

Answer 6

Complex instruction set computer

Question 7

Why is using GPUs alongside CPUs beneficial?

Answer 7

GPUs can have thousands of cores for a lot cheaper as they’re a lot less complex than a CPU.

They can also do calculations extremely fast and can update multiple pixels simultaneously whereas a CPU would update each pixel individually.

Question 8

Multi Core processors

Answer 8

Simply having multiple cores on one chip and this means that multiple fetch-decode-execute cycles can be performed concurrently.

Question 9

Magnetic storage

Answer 9

Uses different kinds of magnetism on a magnetisable material to store data in the form of 1s and 0s.

Question 10

Benefits and drawbacks of magnetic storage

Answer 10

Benefits:
- cheap
- large capacity
- fast compared read/write speeds to optical storage

Drawbacks:
- easily broken as there are moving parts
- very heavy so not very portsble

Question 11

Solid state devices

Answer 11

These work through forcing electrons to get trapped in a barrier where they can be read and identified - this can appear as a flash of electrons.

Question 12

Benefits and drawbacks of SSDs

Answer 12

Benefits:
- very durable
- more portable than magnetic
- fastest read/write speeds

Drawbacks:
- expensive
- small capacity compared to magnetic

Question 13

Optical storage

Answer 13

The disks will have pits and lands (pits are shiny, lands are not). A laser will scan the disc as it spins around and analyse the pits and lands as being 1s and 0s.

Question 14

Benefits and drawbacks of optical storage

Answer 14

Benefits:
- cheap
- more durable than magnetic
- very portable

Drawbacks:
- smallest capacity
- slowest read/write speeds

Question 15

Virtual storage

Answer 15

When a large network is used for storage of multiple separate devices - e.g. the cloud.

Question 16

Difference between Harvard and Von Neumann

Answer 16

Von Neumann - keeps data and instruction data stored in the same memory

Harvard - separate storage and desperate buses for instruction and data