CPU Flashcards
Why does a computer need a fan?
to extract hot air from computer case, so it doesn’t overheat
PSU
power supply unit, supplies power to hardware
RAM
main memory
Motherboard
the main circuit board of the computer, where all the hardware is connected
CU
control unit-
- overall control of CPU
- manages FDE cycle
- controls data flow inside and
outside CPU
ALU
arithmetic logic unit-
- completes all calculations
- e.g mathematical, logical,
comparison
- contains accumulator
Cache
- very fast memory in CPU
- slower than registers but faster
than RAM - stores regularly used data
- will be checked first if CPU
needs data
Cache levels
L1- quickest, lowest capacity
L2- slower than L1, holds more
L3- slower than L2, holds more
Registers
- temporarily hold bits of data
needed by CPU - fastest memory
- e.g accumulator, MAR, MDR, PC
Von Neumann Architecture
- designed 1945
- how most computers are used
today - system where CPU runs
programs stored in memory - programs consist of
instructions/data stored in memory address
Embedded Systems
- computers built into other
devices - dedicated to a single task
- e.g dishwasher, washing
machine - cheaper and more efficient
- firmware
CPU
central processing unit -
- fetches and executes
instructions stored in memory
- brain of the computer
Hardware and Software
hardware - physical parts of computer system
software - non physical parts of a computer system
Clock cycle
represents one complete operation of the CPU, FDE cycle and storing data
Clock speed
- number of clock cycles per
second - Hz
- more ticks, more instructions
per second
Overclocking
- increasing CPU speed
- processes may not always be
complete when next instruction
begins - can cause overheating
Input devices
keyboard, mouse, microphone
Output devices
monitor, printer, speaker
Cores
- processing unit in CPU which
performs the instructions - more cores don’t make
processes faster - more cores allow more
instructions to run at the same
time if the program allows it
PC
program counter, holds location of next instruction/data address in main memory
MAR
memory address register -
- contents of PC copied here,
then transferred to main
memory to retrieve data at
address
MDR
memory data register -
- once data/instructions bough
from memory address to main
memory, they are placed in the
MDR
Fetch
- PC incremented for each
instruction executed - contents of PC put in MAR
- address transferred to main
memory - data/instruction that has been
addressed is transferred back
to processor and held in MDR
Decode
decoded into op-code and operand
op-code = what you need to do
operand = what data do you use
