Internal computer architrcture Flashcards

1
Q

what is the CPU

A

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

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2
Q

What is the RAM

A

Random access memory

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3
Q

what is the ALU and what does it do

A
  • the arithmetic logic unit does arithmetic and logic operations
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4
Q

what is the CU and what is its role

A

THE CONTROL UNIT:

  • control operation of fetch-execute cycle
  • Determines the type of an instruction
  • To execute (some) instructions;
  • To synchronise operation of processor;
  • To send control signals to other components;
  • To control the transfer of data between registers;
  • To handle interrupts
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5
Q

examples of registers within the CPU

A
  • IR
  • CIR
  • ACC
  • MDR
  • PC
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6
Q

what are registers

A

memory locations within the processor which work at very high speeds, and they are used to control the fetch decode execute cycle

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7
Q

summarise the PC

A
  • program counter
  • stores the address of the next instruction
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8
Q

summarise the MAR

A
  • memory address register
  • stores the address of the data or the instructions that are to be fetched from or sent to the memory
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9
Q

summarise the MDR

A
  • memory data register
  • temporarily stores the data that is to be sent to or fetched from the memory
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10
Q

summarise the CIR

A
  • current instruction register
  • stores the actual instruction being decoded and executed
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11
Q

what does the ACC do

A

the accumulator stores the result of calculations

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12
Q

summarise address bus

A

carries the address of the instruction or data in the MAR from the processor to the memory, unidirectional

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13
Q

summarise data bus

A

the data bus carries data between the processor and the memory, bidirectional

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14
Q

summarise the control bus

A

controls signals between the processor and the components, bidirectional

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15
Q

What does the status register do

A
  • Contains information about the state of the processor
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16
Q

What does the clock do?

A
  • It is the electronic unit that synchronises related components by generating regular pulses
  • Measured in hertz
  • The higher the clock rate, the faster, the computer may work
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17
Q

Summarise, general-purpose registers

A
  • temporarily holds data and instructions that are being processed by the cpu
18
Q

What is the program counter responsible for?

A

It holds the address of the next instruction to be executed

19
Q

What is the memory buffer register responsible for?

A

It’s used to temporarily stored the data which is read from a written to memory

20
Q

how does clock speed affect processor performance

A
  • the CPU is regulated with clock signals
  • the faster these cycles are, the more instructions can be executed per second
21
Q

how does cache size affect processor performance

A
  • A larger cache stores more frequently used data closer to the CPU, reducing data retrieval time.
  • improves CPU efficiency by reducing the need to fetch data from slower main(RAM) memory
22
Q

what is cache

A

small amount of expensive , fast memory inside/near to the CPU

23
Q

what are the levels of cache

A

L1 - embedded in the CPU chip, is the smallest and fastest
L2 - fairly fast and medium size (256kb - 2mb)

24
Q

what is a core

A

a complete copy of a CPU

25
how does the number of cores affect the performance of the processor
- multiple cores allow a CPU to perform parallel processing, where different tasks can be accessed simultaneously
26
what is the purpose of the CPU
to fetch, decode and execute instructions
27
what does fetch do
causes the next instruction to be fetched from main memory
28
what is a bus
a set of parallel wires connecting two or more components of a computer
29
purpose of the control bus
to transmit command, timing and specific status information between system components
30
what is a word
a fixed size group of digits which is handled as a unit by the processor
31
what is an I/O controller
a device which interfaces between an input or output device and the processor
32
what is the controller and what does it consist of
- an interface that allows connection of the controller to the system - a set of data, command and status registers - an interface that enables connection of the controller to the cable connecting the device to the computer
33
what is an interface
a standardised form of connection defining things like signals
34
examples of control signals
memory writes, reads, interrupt requests, clock, bus requests and grants
35
what does the data bus transfer
data and instructions
36
how does word length affect CPU performance
word length defines the amount of data a CPU can process at one time - larger word lengths allow for processing larger chunks of data in a single cycle
37
how does bus width affect CPU performance
address bus - the max memory address that can be transmitted is 2^n - 1 , higher width = more memory location accessed data bus - width of data bus tells us how many bits can be transferred simultaneously , larger width means more bits of data can be moved simultaneously
38
why is translation necessary
because the processor can only execute machine code instructions
39
explain why an instruction on couldn’t be processed directly from the MBR
- during the execute stage, MBR is used to store other data - MBR is not wired to the components that’ll execute the instruction
40
Describe: * what cache memory is * what cache memory is used for * how increasing the amount of cache memory can improve the performance of a processor.
- Memory that can be accessed very quickly; - Memory located on the processor What cache memory is used for: - To store most frequently used data How more cache memory improves performance: - More data can be stored in the cache; -data stored in cache can be accessed more quickly than data in main memory - this increases the probability of a cache hit