Internal computer architrcture Flashcards

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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 does it do

A
  • Coordinates all activities of the CPU
  • Directs flow of data between the CPU and other devices
  • Accepts, decodes and handles execution of instructions
  • sends memory reads and writes to main memory
  • makes use of the status register and clock
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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
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 accessed data closer to the CPU, reducing data retrieval time.
  • improves CPU efficiency by reducing the need to fetch data from slower main 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
Q

how does the number of cores affect the performance of the processor

A
  • multiple cores allow a CPU to perform parallel processing, where different tasks can be accessed simultaneously
26
Q

what is the purpose of the CPU

A

to fetch, decode and execute instructions

27
Q

what does fetch do

A

causes the next instruction to be fetched from main memory

28
Q

what is a bus

A

a set of parallel wires connecting two or more components of a computer

29
Q

purpose of the control bus

A

to transmit command, timing and specific status information between system components

30
Q

what is a word

A

a fixed size group of digits which is handled as a unit by the processor

31
Q

what is an I/O controller

A

a device which interfaces between an input or output device and the processor

32
Q

what is the controller and what does it consist of

A
  • 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
Q

what is an interface

A

a standardised form of connection defining things like signals

34
Q

examples of control signals

A

memory writes, reads, interrupt requests, clock, bus requests and grants

35
Q

what does the data bus transfer

A

data and instructions

36
Q

how does word length affect CPU performance

A

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
Q

how does bus width affect CPU performance

A

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
Q

why is translation necessary

A

because the processor can only execute machine code instructions