Central Processing Unit 1.1 Flashcards
Purpose of cpu
- process data
- where all sorting, searching, calculating and decision-making takes place
F-D-E Cycle in simple terms
- fetches instructions from ram (from program)
- decodes those instructions
- executes order
What computer hardware does the cpu controlp
- input/output devices
- dvd drive
- sound system
- graphic system
Main components of the cpu
- controls unit
- arithmetic login unit
- registers
- cache
- clock
- date buses (3types)
Name the three types of data buses
- address bus
- data bus
- controls bus
Control unit - state 3 points
- monitors the flow of data between cpu/hardware = making sure the correct fast goes to the right hardware
- manages the input/output signals
- uses clock signal to synchronise the fde cycle
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) - 3 points
- handles data processing inside the CPU
- perform standard arithmetic operations (+-)
- performs comparisons and deals with logic (I.e is this value greater than that value)
Registers - 3 points
- type of memory located inside the cpu
- speeds processing up
- there are many registers in the cpu
- holds next instruction needed to be executed
- holds calculations/results and current instruction being decoded
Why do registers speed up retrieving data
-it is faster to shift data to/from the registers than getting it from ram all the time
Cache - 5 points
- aka immediate access store = fast type of ram
- faster to access by cpu than the ram
- slower to access by the cpu than the registers
- can have internal cache + external cache (outside the cpu)
- holds instructions that is frequently used/ will be used
Clock
- tiny quartz crystal
- ticks at a very fast , steady pace
- during each tick the cpu completes one fde Cycle
- average speed = 3GHz = 3,000 million orders per second the cpu does
What happens as data is moved closer to the cpu
Speed increases but less memory capacity
What happens at dat is moved out of the cpu
Memory capacity increases
But is slower
The buses
A set of wire /tracks laid Ona printed circuit board
-role is to carry data around the system
Data bus
Carries data around the system
Address bus
Carries information around the system
To the location of the data
-requests the location of data from ram
Control bus
Handles commands to control devices
E.g monitor
Fetch - decode - execute cycle
-the 3 steps followed by the cpu in order to process data
The fetch stage of the f-d-e cycle
- all programs are loaded in ram so that the cpu can have access to them
- cpu requests an address of data through an address bus
- data bus then carries this data from the ram to the cpu
- then stores them in its own registers
Decode stage of f-d-e cycle
-cpu works out instruction
Execute stage of f-d-e cycle
- data processing happens
- instructions are carried out on data
Journey of data
- input device sends data to the cpu = received by the control unit
- controls unit sends this data to the ram to be sued later
- then data will be transferred from ram to cache
- then sent to alu to be processed
- controls unit will send the processed data back to the output device