CPU and Von Neumann Architecture Flashcards
What Is a CPU?
CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the circuitry that controls the manipulation of data.
What are the different parts of the CPU?
- Arithmetic/Logic Unit(ALU)
- Control Unit
- Registers
What does a ALU do?
The circuits that perform the arithmetic and logical operations on the data
What does the CU do?
The circuits that coordinate the activities of the CPU
What are registers?
Quick, small stores of data within the CPU
What is the Von Neumann Architecture?
Von Neumann Architecture is the first and most basic structure where the computer shared memory and bus for both data and instruction
What is the structure of the Von Neumann Architecture.
- Memory On the left
- ALU and CU in the middle together
- Input/Output on the right
What does memory do in the Von Neumann Architecture?
Instructions are executed and stored in the memory (Alongside the data) as binary values
= The stored program concept
What does ALU and CU do in the Von Neumann Architecture?
Instructions are executed sequentially
One instruction at a time is fetched from memory and passed to the CPU
Explain Clock speed in a CPU
Computers have a system clock which provides timing signals to synchronise circuits
CPUs are designed to operate at a specific frequency - and the system clock is raised to this rate by the processer, giving the clock speed(Hz)
The CPU needs a certain amount of clock ticks/cycles per instruction
Explain the Fetch-Execute cycle
Fetch:
The next instruction is retrieved by the CPU from the main memory
Decode:
The instruction is broken down to its indivdual components to determine what the instruction is, and what data is being used
Operator + operand
E.G ADD R1 R5
Execute:
The CU activates the necessary circuity/data transfer. The output of this stage is stored in a register, and data may be read/written from/to the main memory during this stage.
