Paper 1 (my version) Flashcards
ALU definition
part of the CPU that completes all the arithmetical and logical calculations
Control Unit definition
component of the processor which directs the operations of the CPU
CU jobs (5)
- accepting next instruction
- decoding instructions
- storing resulting data into memory
- managing flow of data between CPU and other components
- controlling and coordinating CPU activities
PC definition
holds address of next instruction to be executed
ACC definition
stores results from calculation
MAR definition
holds address of location that is to be read from or written to
MDR definition
temporarily stores data that has been read or data that needs to be written
CIR definition
holds the current instruction being executed, divided up into operand and opcode
Data bus
bi-directional bus used for transporting data and instructions between components
Address bus
used to transmit the memory addresses specifying where data is to be sent to or retrieved from
Control bus
bi-directional bus carrying command and control signals to and from every other component in a computer
Fetch Decode Execute
The complete process of retrieving an instruction from store, decoding it and carrying it out. Also known as the instruction cycle.
Factors affecting performance of CPU (3)
- clock speed
- cache
- number of cores
What is the purpose of pipelining?
To reduce the amount of CPU which is kept idle, thereby improving efficiency and performance
Von Neumann Architecture definition (3)
- a computer architecture with a single control unit, ALU and special registers within the CPU
- instructions and data are stored in the same place in memory, in the same format
- instructions and data use the same set of buses
Approaches to overcome Von Neumann bottlenecking (3)
Caching, prefetching, multithreading
Von Neumann bottleneck
idleness of the processor due to the shared buses being unable to fetch instructions and data from memory fast enough
Von Neumann Architecture disadvantages (3)
program can be corrupt, overwritten, bottleneck
Harvard Architecture Advantage
quicker execution as memory and data can be fetched in parallel
RISC advantages (4)
- enables pipelining as each instruction is the same length and takes a single cycle to complete
- program runs faster
- simple hardware as fewer circuits are needed for the lower number of operations,
- lighter and produces less heat
RISC definition (2)
- Reduced instruction set computer
- instruction set is comprised of a small number of simple, fixed length instructions
CISC definition (2)
- Complex instruction set computer
- instruction set comprised of a large number of complex variable length instructions
CISC advantages (2)
- programming simple as single instruction can do complex operation
- code small so little RAM needed to store instructions
CISC info (6)
- emphasis on hardware
- multiple instruction sizes and formats
- less registers
- more addressing modes
- extensive use of microprogramming
- pipelining difficult