Hardware And Software

Question 1

The CPU controls

Answer 1

The operation of the CPU and other hardware
The storage and transfer of data
The FDE cycle

Question 2

RAM is

Answer 2

Random Access Memory that is volatile and stores the programs and data currently being used

Question 3

ROM is

Answer 3

Read Only Memory that is non volatile and stores the booting up part of the OS program

Question 4

Cache is

Answer 4

High speed fast access RAM that is placed close to the CPU it stores the most recently and frequently accessed files it is also volatile

Question 5

Name the registers

Answer 5

The current instruction register 
The memory data register 
The memory address register 
The program counter 
The accumulator

Question 6

The instruction register

Answer 6

Holds the instruction currently being executed

Question 7

The memory data register

Answer 7

Holds the piece of data that has been fetched from memory

Question 8

The memory address register

Answer 8

Holds the address of the next piece of memory to be fetched

Question 9

The program counter

Answer 9

Holds the location of the next instruction to be fetched it is automatically incremented between supplying the address of the next instruction being executed and the instruction being executed

Question 10

The address bus

Answer 10

Takes the memory address to the ram

Question 11

The data bus

Answer 11

Takes the data from the memory to the CPU

Question 12

The five steps of the Fetch stage are

Answer 12

1. The program counter copies the address of the next instruction it contains to the MAR
2. The MAR places the address to be used on the address bus
3. The MAR triggers a read signal that causes main memory to place the instruction being asked for on the data bus
4. The instruction on the data bus is loads into the MDT
5. The MDR copies the instruction to the CIR

Question 13

In what step of the FDE does the CPU decode the instruction and prepares various areas within the chip in readiness of the next step

Answer 13

Decode

Question 14

What happens in the execute step

Answer 14

Processing takes place the instruction is executed and the result is stored in another register and the CPU starts another cycle

Question 15

What are the four key factors about CPU architecture

Answer 15

Cores
Clock speed
Cache size
Processor type

Question 16

What is a Core

Answer 16

A core is a processing unit which contains an ALU, control unit and registers. They communicate with each other using channels which use up some of the extra speed they provide

Question 17

What is Clock Speed

Answer 17

Clock speed indicates how fast the CPU can run. It is measured in mega or giga hertz and corresponds with how many instruction cycles the CPU can deal with a second. It can be increased through over clocking but there are limits as the CPU cannot always keep up with the overclocked speed and overheat

Question 18

How can cache improve the CPUs performance

Answer 18

Increasing the cache which is fast access RAM placed close to the CPU means more instructions that the CPU uses regularly can be stored there making them quicker to access improving the CPU

Question 19

Advantages of tape streamers

Answer 19

Cheap per Mb of storage
Can store large amounts of data(over 100GB)
Can be set up to do the back up overnight or over the weekend
Robotic archive and backup systems can swap tapes in and out automatically

Question 20

Disadvantages to tape streamers

Answer 20

Serial access means data can be quite slow to access
Need a special piece of equipment to record and read data
Less robust than other media as the tape can easily break