1.1 System Architecture

Question 1

CPU

Answer 1

-The brains of the computer
- Purpose to fetch, decode and execute instructions

Question 2

Control Unit

Answer 2

Controls the flow of data inside the CPU with RAM and other devices

Question 3

ALU

Answer 3

• Arithmetic Logic Unit
• Carries out arithmetic operations such as + or -
• Carries out logic operations such as AND or OR

Question 4

Von Neumann architecture

Answer 4

Stored Program Concept. Instructions and data are stored in the memory.

Question 5

MAR

Answer 5

• Memory Address Register
• MAR holds the address of where data is to be fetched or stored

Question 6

MDR

Answer 6

• Memory Data Register
• MDR holds the data fetched from or to be written to memory

Question 7

Program Counter

Answer 7

PC holds the address of the next instruction in memory

Question 8

Accumulator

Answer 8

Holds intermediate calculation results

Question 9

Clock Speed

Answer 9

Number of instructions that can be carried out per second. 50Hz means 50 instructions per second.

Question 10

Number of Cores

Answer 10

Each core can process separate instructions. If you have 4 8GHz cores then the maximum number of instructions that can be processed per second is 32 billion, but not all programs can take advantage of multiple cores.

Question 11

Embedded Systems

Answer 11

Computers that are built into devices. The are dedicated systems with specific instructions such as dishwashers or microwaves.