CPU

Question 1

what is the CPU?

Answer 1

central processing unit

Question 2

what does the CPU do?

Answer 2

uses fetch decode execute cycle
fetch - from cache
decode - from ALU
execute - with control unit

Question 3

characteristics affecting the CPU

Answer 3

clock speed, number of cores, cache size

Question 4

3 main parts of the CPU?

Answer 4

control unit, ALU, cache

Question 5

what does the control unit do?

Answer 5

execute instructions from ALU

Question 6

what does the ALU do?

Answer 6

performs calculations from the cache

Question 7

what does the cache do?

Answer 7

stores regularly used data for the CPU

Question 8

accumulator?

Answer 8

stores results of calculations

Question 9

program counter?

Answer 9

holds memory address of the instruction

Question 10

memory address register (MAR)?

Answer 10

holds any memory address about to be used by CPU

Question 11

memory data register (MDR)?

Answer 11

holds the data or instruction

Question 12

what is clock speed?

Answer 12

number of instructions that can be carried out per second (Hz)

Question 13

how does the clock speed affect CPU?

Answer 13

higher clock speed = more instructions

Question 14

how does the number of cores affect CPU?

Answer 14

more cores = more instructions it can carry out at once

Question 15

what is the cache?

Answer 15

data storage in CPU faster than RAM

Question 16

how does the cache size affect CPU?

Answer 16

larger cache = faster access to more data