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Computing - GCSE > S5 - Components of a computer system > Flashcards

S5 - Components of a computer system Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the purpose of a computer ?

A

To take data, process it and then output it. They were built to complete task more efficiently than humans.

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2
Q

What is software ?

A

The programs that a computer system runs. This can be subdivided into application software and system software.

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3
Q

What are embedded systems ?

A

Computers built into larger devices like dishwashers or TVs. They are used as control systems.

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4
Q

What can be found inside a regular PC ?

A

A power supply, case cooling fan, CPU heat sink and cooling fan, CPU, optical drive, RAM sticks, hard disk drive, motherboard and the graphics cards slots.

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5
Q

What is the CPU ?

A

The Central Processing Unit it processes all the data and instructions.

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6
Q

What are the main parts of the CPU ?

A

The control unit(CU), the arithmetic logic unit(ALU), the cache, the clock and buses.

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7
Q

What is the job of the CU ?

A

It’s the overall control for the CPU, it executes program instructions through the fetch-decode-execute cycle. And it controls the flow of data inside and outside the CPU.

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8
Q

What is the job of the ALU ?

A

It does all the calculations, and performs the logic operations (AND, OR and NOT) and binary shifts.

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9
Q

What is the cache ?

A

It’s very fats memory, faster than the RAM - it stores regularly used data to access quickly. Very expensive and have low storage capacity compared to RAM and secondary storage.

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10
Q

What does the clock do ?

A

It sends out a signal that cycles between 1 and 0, the signal is used to synchronise when instructions are done. The number of clock cycles per second is called the clock speed.

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11
Q

What are buses ?

A

Collections of wires used to transmit data between components of the CPU and to other parts of the computer system. Processors may have different buses for carrying data, instructions and memory addresses.

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12
Q

What are registers ?

A

Located in the CPU - temporarily holds tiny bits of data, very quick to read/write to.

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13
Q

What are the two main types of architecture ?

A

Von Neumann and harvard.

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14
Q

What is the fetch decode execute cycle ?

A

The process of carrying out instructions in the CPU.

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15
Q

What is the fetch instruction ?

A

The CU reads the memory address of the instruction, the instruction stored in that address is copied to one of the registers, the memory address is incremented to point to the address of the next instruction ready for the next cycle.

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16
Q

What is the decode instruction ?

A

The instruction copied from memory is decoded by the CU.

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17
Q

What is the execute instruction ?

A

The instructions is carried out.

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18
Q

What is RAM ?

A

Random Access Memory - the main memory of the computer, can be read and written to and is volatile. It’s where all data, files and programs are stored while in use.

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19
Q

What does volatile mean ?

A

Temporary memory - it requires power to retain its data.

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20
Q

What does non-volatile mean ?

A

Permanent memory - it keeps its contents without power.

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21
Q

What is ROM ?

A

Read Only Memory - non-volatile memory, comes on a small factory made chip built into motherboard containing all instructions(BIOS) for a computer to properly boot up.

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22
Q

What type of memory do ROM chips use ?

A

Most commonly flash memory - a non-volatile memory that stores data in electrical circuits by trapping electrons.

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23
Q

What type of ROM/RAM requirements does a non-embedded system have ?

A

Much more RAM because they often need to write data to main memory, ROM is typically only used for BIOS which doesn’t use much memory. Both are stored on motherboard away from CPU.

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24
Q

What type of ROM/RAM requirements does an embedded system have ?

A

More ROM as they don’t write much data to memory, they don’t have secondary storage so ROM is used to store all programmes. Both are stored on same chip as the CPU to reduce physical space needed and cost.

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25
Q

What affects the CPU performance ?

A

Clock speed, cores and cache.

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26
Q

How can clock speed affect the CPU performance ?

A

Generally clock speed is 3.5GHz (3.5 billion clock cycles per second), which determines the number of instructions processed per second - meaning the higher the clock speed the more instructions per second. Clocks can be overclocked to make them run faster - but it can cause the CPU to overheat.

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27
Q

How can the CPU’s cores affect its performance ?

A

Each core processes data independently, meaning the more cores a CPU has the instructions it can execute at once.

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28
Q

How can cache size affect the CPU performance ?

A

The larger the cache the more data can be stored to be accessed more quickly than the RAM.

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29
Q

How can cache type affect the CPU performance ?

A

There are three different levels of cache memory - L1, L2 and L3, higher the level higher the storage but the slower it is. Cache is speed is determined by how far from the CPU it is, L1 is quick because its on the CPU, where L3 is slower because its on the motherboard.

30
Q

How can the RAM affect the overall performance of a computer ?

A

If a computer has too little may not be able to keep all app data loaded so may be slower, the more it has the smoother it can run.

31
Q

How can the GPU affect the overall performance of a computer ?

A

Graphics processing units - handle graphics and image processing, relieving processing load on CPU. Integrated into the motherboard, but you can install dedicated ones for graphics intensive apps.

32
Q

How many tiers of storage are there ?

A

There are two main tiers, primary and secondary storage.

33
Q

What is primary storage ?

A

The memory areas that the CPU accesses directly - CPU registers, cache, ROM and RAM. It has the fastest read/write speeds and is mostly volatile.

34
Q

What is secondary storage ?

A

Non-volatile storage, that isn’t directly accessible by the CPU - where all data not currently in use is stored, including magnetic hard disk drives, solid state drives, CDs and SD cards. Much slower read/write speeds than primary.

35
Q

What is a HDD ?

A

A hard disk drive - traditional internal storage in PCs and laptops, and generally very long lasting and reliable despite their moving parts - can however be damaged by large impacts.

36
Q

What are hard disk drives made of ?

A

A stack of magnetised metal disks spinning at a rate between 5400 and 15000 rpm (revolutions per minute).

37
Q

How is data stored in HDDs ?

A

Magnetically in small areas called sectors within circular tracks - read/write heads on a moving arm used to access sectors on the disks.

38
Q

Aside from HDDs what other types of magnetic storage are there ?

A

Another type is magnetic tape - high capacity and low cost to GB ratio, used by large organisations backing up large amounts of data. Stored in cassettes and written/read sequentially by tape drive making it slow to find specific data stored but has very fast read/write times.

39
Q

What are SSDs ?

A

Solid state drives - have no moving parts, and use a type of flash memory. And used for internal storage. Has faster read/write times than HDDs giving quicker boot up times on programs and files.

40
Q

What are hybrid drives ?

A

Drives using solid state drives for OS and programs and hard disk drives for data.

41
Q

What other storage methods use flash memory ?

A

USB pen drives and memory cards slower than SSDs and have a shorter read/write life. Used to expand storage capacity of small devices - cameras, phones etc. and have a high capacity to size ratio.

42
Q

What are the advantages of HDDs over SSDs ?

A

HDDs cheaper, higher capacity, longer read/write life - SSDs can only be written a certain number of times before deterioration.

43
Q

What are the advantages of SSDs over HDDs ?

A

They’re faster, don’t require defragmenting and are more shockproof and are silent.

44
Q

What is the storage media ?

A

The actual thing that holds the data.

45
Q

What is the storage device ?

A

The thing that reads and writes data to the media.

46
Q

What are optical discs ?

A

A form of cheap robust secondary storage like CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.

47
Q

How much storage to optical disks have ?

A

CDs can hold around 700MB, DVDs can hold around 4.7GB, and Blu-Rays can hold around 25GB.

48
Q

How is data stored in discs ?

A

As microscopic indentations on the shiny surface of the disc - and data is read by shining a laser beam on the surface and detecting the changes in the position of the reflected beam based on the indentations.

49
Q

What forms do optical discs come in ?

A

Read-only (CD-ROM etc.), write only, (DVD-R etc.), and rewritable (BD-RW etc.)

50
Q

Why is the use of discs declining ?

A

Streaming/downloading services have reduced the need, phones and tablets don’t have optical drives, and while DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs used to be popular for backing up data but modern flash storage has higher capacity and faster read/write times.

51
Q

What are the advantages of optical discs ?

A

They’re cheap per GB, portable and won’t be damaged by water or shocks, but can be scratched.

52
Q

What is cloud storage ?

A

A service where files can be uploaded via the internet to a remote server (where it’s usually stored on HDDs or SSDs) - normally paid for through a subscription though some provide a limited service for free.

53
Q

What are the benefits of cloud storage ?

A

Files accessible from any connected device, can be shared or made public, easy to increase available storage, don’t need to buy expensive hardware or IT staff to manage it, cloud host provides security and backups for you and it can be cheap/free if not much storage is required.

54
Q

What are the drawbacks of cloud storage ?

A

Needs an internet connection to access files, potential slow upload/download speeds, dependent on the host for security/backups, data vulnerable to hackers, unclear who has ownership of cloud data and subscription fees may be expensive in the long term.

55
Q

How does the average read/write speeds of different storage methods compare ?

A

(fastest) SSD, HDD, magnetic tape, memory card, optical disc (slowest)

56
Q

How does the average cost of different storage methods compare ?

A

(most) SSD, memory card, HDD, optical disc, magnetic tape (least)

57
Q

How does the average capacity of different storage methods compare ?

A

(highest) magnetic tape, HDD, SSD, memory card, optical disc (lowest)

58
Q

What is an OS ?

A

An operating system - a complex piece of software found on most computer systems.

59
Q

What are the functions of the OS ?

A

Communicate with I/O devices via device drivers, provide platform for applications to run on and a user interface, controls memory management and allocation, organises CPU and its processing tasks, deals with file and disk management, and manages system security and user accounts.

60
Q

What are I/O devices ?

A

Input/Output devices - allow computers to take inputs (keyboard, microphone etc.) and give outputs (monitors, speakers etc.).

61
Q

What are device drivers ?

A

Essentially translators for the signals between the OS and the device.

62
Q

How does the OS communicate with I/O devices ?

A

Via a device driver, when a system is booted up OS chooses correct device driver for the device it detects - if new devices connect the system automatically finds/installs a new matching device driver.

63
Q

What does updating device drivers achieve ?

A

The device manufacturers may do so to fix bugs, add features or improve the performance of their device, updates can be installed automatically by the OS or manually by the user.

64
Q

How does the OS manage applications ?

A

It allows a platform for applications to run on and manages system resources to allow computers to run multiple applications at once (multitasking), allows applications to access hardware and other peripheral devices when needed including RAM and secondary storage.

65
Q

What is a user interface ?

A

Provided by the OS - a platform on which applications can be accessed, most desktop computers use GUIs that are WIMP-based - ideal for a mouse and keyboard but devices with different input methods (touchscreens) may have different interfaces.

66
Q

What are GUIs ?

A

Graphical interfaces.

67
Q

What does a WIMP-based GUI consist of ?

A

Where applications are displayed with Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers.

68
Q

Are applications universal to OS’s ?

A

No, they are generally written for a particular OS and will take advantage of its unique features.

69
Q

How does the OS control memory management ?

A

When apps are opened the OS copies necessary parts of the app to memory, as well as additional parts when needed; it manages how much RAM programmes have access to; and when running multiple applications at once it makes sure they don’t overwrite or interfere with each other.

70
Q

How does the OS make sure apps don’t overwrite or interfere with each other ?

A

It allocates certain applications certain memory addresses, keeping their processes in separate locations.

71
Q

P

A

54

Computing - GCSE (7 decks)

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