System Hardware Flashcards
What does PC stand for?
Program counter
What does CPU stand for?
Central Processing Unit
What does the CPU do? (4 steps)
Fetch Decode Execute Store
Name 3 factors the affect CPU speed.
Clock speed
Cores
Cache size
What does RAM stand for?
Random Access Memory
What does ROM stand for?
Read Only Memory
What is RAM used for?
RAM stores data the CPU is currently working on.
e.g. running programs, websites, apps, etc
What is Secondary Storage? (Hard Drive, SSD)
The long term storage of the PC.
e.g. Where a Video Game is stored after you download it, so you don’t have to keep reinstalling it every time you want to play it
What is Primary Storage? (RAM, ROM, Cache)
Storage that is directly accessible to the CPU.
It holds the data and instruction the CPU is currently working on.
When you open an app (from secondary storage) all of its data is sent to the RAM, where it can be processed.
What is Clock Speed?
Measures the amount of cycles between the CPU and RAM.
What is Cache?
It stores programs that are frequently processed.
It is a physical part of the CPU, because it is quicker than Fetching it from the RAM
What do Cores do, and why is having more better for the PC?
Cores are individual processing units in the CPU, which read and process data from single computing tasks.
Having more Cores means the CPU can work on multiple processes at the same time.
What does 1Ghz represent?
1 billion cycles between the CPU and RAM per second
e.g. A 3.6 Ghz CPU will cycle 3.6 billion times a second.
What is a Bit?
A single binary value (0 or 1)
It is the smallest unit of data in a computer
How big is a Nibble?
4 bits
