Grade 11 Text Book LU 2

Question 1

Name the 2 Parts to the CPU

Answer 1

Control Unit (CU)
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

Question 2

What do the parts of the CPU contain

Answer 2

Registors

Question 3

What does the CU do?

Answer 3

The CU section of the CPU controls the execution of each instruction.

Question 4

What does the ALU do?

Answer 4

Calculations and logical comparisons.

Question 5

What does the accumulator do?

Answer 5

The accumulator is the register that stores the result of each execution. When data is saved, it is written from the accumulator to RAM.

Question 6

What is the purpose of registers and what ram is it made from?

Answer 6

The purpose of the registers is to store the current instruction and its data. These registers are made from a fast type of RAM called static RAM (SRAM).

Question 7

What is SRAM?

Answer 7

This type of RAM is extremely fast but very expensive. SRAM does not contain capacitors which have to be constantly refreshed increasing the access time of SRAM.

Question 8

What is Serial Processing?

Answer 8

The processor had a single core where the problem was broken into a set of instructions that are executed sequentially, one after the other, and on a single processor.

Question 9

What is parallel processing?

Answer 9

The concept of parallel processing is a method of simultaneously breaking up and running program instructions on multiple microprocessors, thereby reducing processing time. Another way is if the user runs different programs simultaneously, each program can run on its own processor.

Question 10

What is hyperthreading?

Answer 10

Hyperthreading was developed before it was possible to create separate cores on a single processor chip, by duplicating the registers on the chip. This allowed the next instruction to be preloaded into a second set of registers while the first set of registers was being processed reducing the time it took switch between instructions.

Question 11

Who developed hyperthreading?

Answer 11

developed in 2002, Intel’s first effort in parallel processing.

Question 12

What is Multiprocessing?

Answer 12

Multiprocessing is having multiple CPUs, called cores, on a single CPU chip. Many processes can run at the same time instead of appearing to run at the same time.

Question 13

What is cache memory

Answer 13

Cache memory stores blocks of program instructions and data that have been pre-fetched from RAM in the hope that these instructions or data will be needed next by the CPU. Between the CPU and RAM, cache memory exists. It is made from SRAM (static RAM) chips, which have faster access speed than DRAM (dynamic RAM, normal RAM).

Question 14

The different levels of cache and describe them

Answer 14

Level 1 cache is a very small amount of memory built-in with the internal circuitry of the CPU chip. L1 cache usually has the same speed as the CPU’s internal speed.
* Level 2 cache memory can be located on the CPU chip, slightly further away from the internal CPU circuits. L2 cache is usually slightly larger than L1 cache, and usually has slower access, running at half the CPU’s internal speed.
* Many motherboards also have Level 3 cache on the actual board itself, but closer to the CPU than RAM. L3 is larger and has slower access than L1 and L2.

Question 15

What does the cache do?

Answer 15

Cache (pronounced cash) stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere.

Question 16

What is RAM?

Answer 16

RAM is the main memory in chips on modules attached to dedicated slots on the motherboard. RAM stores the programs currently in use and the data associated with them.

Question 17

What is DRAM?

Answer 17

DRAM stands for Dynamic RAM which is the type of chip used for this memory. Each DRAM chip contains a capacitor which loses its charge and must be refreshed many times per second

Question 18

What is SDRAM?

Answer 18

The S in SDRAM stands for Synchronous DRAM. The refreshing of the RAM chips is synchronised with the CPU so that the CPU does not have to wait while refreshing takes place.

Question 19

What does DDR mean?

Answer 19

Double Data Rate (DDR) means that data is transferred twice as fast as when data was transferred only once every clock pulse.

Question 20

What is latency?

Answer 20

An important aspect of all RAM (and other components) is latency which is the time taken for a component to respond. Leads to waisted clock ticks.

Question 21

What is a motherboard?

Answer 21

A motherboard is a central printed circuit board that connects components and devices to each other.

Question 22

Why is a clock generator needed on a motherboard?

Answer 22

To synchronise all computer opperations.

Question 23

What is System Clock?

Answer 23

In general, the clock refers to a microchip that regulates the timing and speed of all computer functions. Within this chip is a crystal that vibrates at a specific frequency when electricity is applied.

Question 24

What is overclocking?

Answer 24

Overclocking is the practice of making computer components run at speeds faster than designed by manipulating the frequencies at which the component is set to run.

Question 25

2 Different ways of overclocking

Answer 25

• Per component - the CPU operates faster than the system clock by changing its own clock multiplication factor.
• The whole system – the system clock is increased affecting all components that detect the system clock and multiply by a factor.

Question 26

How can overclocking be achieved?

Answer 26

Overclocking can be achieved by either increasing the system clock or the clock multiplication factor to increase the frequency of a component.

Question 27

3 Different types of cooling

Answer 27

• Fans
• Liquid cooling
• Heat sinks

Question 28

Difference between Speed/bandwidth and Throughput

Answer 28

The speed referred to as bandwidth, is the theoretical speed of data, whereas throughput (caused by latency and other factors) is the actual speed of data.

Question 29

What is a internal buss/Front side buss

Answer 29

FSB was initially a parallel bus that connected all components on the motherboard. Since then, point-to-point serial connections replaced the FSB in other connections (SATA, PCI Express, and DMI). Front-side buses usually connect the CPU and RAM.

Question 30

What is a data bus?

Answer 30

The data bus transfers the actual instruction or data between the CPU and RAM.

Question 31

What dictates the size of the registers?

Answer 31

The number of bits that the data bus can deliver to the CPU dictates the size of the registers on the CPU.

Question 32

What does the size of the registers indicate?

Answer 32

The register size indicates how much information the processor can operate on at one time and how it moves data around internally within the chip.

Question 33

What it the address bus?

Answer 33

An address bus transfers the physical address of the instruction or data between the CPU and RAM.

Question 34

What does a bigger address bus do?

Answer 34

The width of the address bus determines the amount of memory a system can address.

Question 35

What it the Control Bus?

Answer 35

The control bus carries commands between the CPU and RAM, for example if the data is being read or written to the device the appropriate (read or write) signal will be sent.

Question 36

What is an External Bus?

Answer 36

There are many important buses that are external to the motherboard to attach external devices.

Question 37

What is a PCI Express?

Answer 37

PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) slots are used to connect graphics cards, RAID cards, Wi-Fi cards or SSD’s (Solid-State Drives) to the motherboard.

Question 38

What is SATA

Answer 38

A Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is a computer bus interface used to connect mass storage devices such as hard drives to a computer motherboard. SATA 3 interface can work with SATA 2/1 Ports but will be slower (Backwards compatible)

Question 39

What is a USB?

Answer 39

Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology was designed to standardise the connection of just about any peripherals to computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power.

Question 40

What is NVMe?

Answer 40

Non-Volatile Memory Express NVMe is computer communication bus interface that connects SSDs to the motherboard. The bus allows SSDs to read/write at a much higher speed than via a SATA communication bus.

Question 41

What is M.2 Format?

Answer 41

The M.2 format is designed for manufacturers to install a variety of high-speed devices that require very little power, in small spaces. M.2 cards include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios and SSDs. The M.2 slot can use any of the following communication buses: SATA 3.0; PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0 and NVMe.

Question 42

What is Disk Cache?

Answer 42

Disk Cache is a hardware mechanism for improving the time it takes to read from or write to a hard disk. Instead of reading data line by line from a slower disk drive, the line and the next few lines are read into the cache

Question 43

What is browser cache?

Answer 43

Every time a website is accessed, a copy of the website is kept in the browser cache on your local hard disk. This cache also stores all files you have downloaded from the web including web pages, images, music, videos and it also stores all cookies.