System Architecture Flashcards
What is the CPU?
Central processing unit:
It fetches,decodes and executes instructions
Explain the fetch decode execute cycle
The cpu fetches the next instruction from RAM,works out what to do with instruction and then carries out instruction
What is the control unit?
Controls the flow of data to registers and to RAM and inputs/outputs
What is the arithmetic logic unit?
It does all the calculations like addition,subtraction,comparisons and logic operations
What is cache?
Very fast memory in the cpu,stores frequently used data
What is Von Neumann architecture?
Both instructions and data are stored in the same memory in binary
What is the memory address register?
It holds the address of where data is to be fetched and stored
What is the memory data register?
It holds the data fetched from or to be written to memory
What is the program counter?
Holds the address of the next instruction in memory
What is the accumulator?
It holds the results of calculations
What is clock speed?
The number of instructions a single processor can carry out per second
What is cache size?
Larger cache gives the cpu faster access to frequently used instructions without having to fetch them from RAM.
What are cores?
The bigger the number of cores used, the more instructions the cpu can carry out at once
What are embedded systems?
They are computers built into other devices e.g dishwashers
