CPU and Von Neuman Architecture

Question 1

What is the purpose of the CPU

Answer 1

The CPU is often thought of as the ‘brains’ of a computer. The purpose of the CPU is to FETCH, DECODE and EXECUTE instructions.

Question 2

What does the control unit do?

Answer 2

controls the flow of data inside the CPU (to registers) and outside the CPU to RAM and input/output devices.

Question 3

What can the Cache memory do?

Answer 3

The Cache is very fast memory in the CPU. It is slower than the registers but faster than RAM. It stores frequently used data that the CPU can access quickly.

Question 4

Explain the idea of Von Neumann architecture

Answer 4

Von Neumann is based on the idea of a ‘stored program concept’. Both instructions and data are stored in the same memory in binary form.

Question 5

What does the MAR do?

Answer 5

holds the address of where data is to be fetched or stored.

Question 6

What does the MDR do?

Answer 6

holds the data fetched from or to be written to memory (RAM).

Question 7

What is the purpose of the PC (Register)

Answer 7

holds the address of the next instruction in memory.