1.1: SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE TRE fin Flashcards
Mr Read
What is the purpose of the processor?
Processes data
Executes instructions
The ‘brains’
How is the processor speed measured?
A clock speed
the number of instructions executed (cycles) per second
What is the clock speed measure in?
Hz
What does a core do?
Executes instructions independently
What types of core can you have?
Dual core
Quad core
8 core
How many instructions per second can a dual core process compared to a single core?
Twice as many- it has double the clock speed
What is the definition of concurrent processing?
All processors processing simultaneously
What is threading?
Sending different instructions to different cores (in multi cores)
What memory is in the processor?
The cache
What is the purpose of the cache?
Acts as a link between the processor and the main memory
Holds commonly used instructions as programs are being executed
small, fast piece of memory
What are the names of the registers?
PC- program counter
MAR-memory address register
MDR-memory data register
CIR- current instruction register
What is the purpose of the accumulator?
Holds the result of the ALU’s calculation
What is the purpose of the ALU?
Completes the calculations/logic for the computer
What does the control unit do?
Synchronises the other components
Decodes instructions (only one that can)
What is the purpose of the program counter?
To store the next instruction address and increase the count of the programs