Chapter 3 Hardware Flashcards
What is the role of the CPU
to fetch, decode, and execute instructions
What are the 4 main hardware components:
1) Input Devices
2) CPU
3)Primary Memory
4) Secondary Memory
5) Output Devices
What is Von Neumann Architecture
storing data and instructions and data in the same memory
What are the 2 main components of a CPU
1) Control Unit (CU)
2) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
What is the role of the ALU
to perform calculations needed to execute instructions
What are registers
Small memory locations within the CPU
What is the role of the Control Unit
sends control signals to different components instructing them what to do.
What is the role of an Accumulator?
Temporarily stores the results of the calculations performed by the ALU
What is the role of the Program Counter
Stores the address of the next instruction to be fetched from the main memory
What is the role of the Memory Address Register
Stores the address of the instructions/data to be fetched from or written to memory.
What is the role of the Memory Data Register
stores data that has been fetched from memory or being written to memory
What happens to the data sent from the MDR
data is sent to the ALU to be executed
What is the role of the Current Instruction Register
Holds the instruction the CPU is currently decoding
What is a microprocessor
Compact way of processing data and can be used in a wide range of electronic devices
What are the 3 types of busses
1) Data Bus
2) Control Bus
3) Address Bus
What is the role of the Data Bus
to transmit data from the CPU to the memory (bi-directional)
What is the role of the Control Bus
to transfer control signals from the Control Unit to other components in the computer system (Unidirectional)
What is the role of the Address Bus
Transfer addresses from the CPU to main memory
What happens in the Fetch, Decode, and Execute Cycle
1) Program counter checks for the address of the next instruction to be executed.
2) The contents of the Program Counter are copied into the Memory Address Register.
3) The control unit sends a memory read request through the control bus to the main memory.
4) Address is sent down the address bus into the main memory
5) Contents of main memory are sent down to Memory Data Register by the data bus.
6) Contents of the Memory Data Register are copied onto the Current Instruction Register.
7) Instructions in the Current Instruction Register are decoded.
8) The instruction is executed by the ALU and then the end result is stored in the accumulator.
What does one core do
runs a separate fetch, decode, and execute cycles
What is clockspeed
how many instructions the core can execute each second.
What is cache
small amount of memory situated within the CPU
What happens if you increase the amount of cache
allows more data to be stored and accessed faster that if it was in ram, causing the performance of the CPU to improve.
What is RAM (Random Access Memory)
Memory unit where data is currently in use and programs which are running and stored