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OCR Computing A Level > Unit 1 Components of a Computer > Flashcards

Unit 1 Components of a Computer Flashcards

1
Q

What are the components of a CPU? (4)

A
  • Control Unit
  • Buses
  • ALU
  • Dedicated Registers
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2
Q

What is the Control Unit?

A

Part of the processor that coordinates the activity of all other components

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3
Q

How many lines does a Bus normally consist of?

A

8, 16, 32, 64

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4
Q

What is a Bus?

A

A series of connectors that transfer signals between components

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5
Q

What are the Control Signals? (5)

A
  • Memory Read
  • Memory Write
  • Bus Request
  • Bus Grant
  • Clock
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6
Q

What does Control Signal: Memory Read do?

A

Causes data from the addressed location in RAM to be placed on the data bus

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7
Q

What does Control Signal: Memory Write do?

A

Causes data on the data bus to be written into the addressed location in RAM

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8
Q

What does Control Signal: Bus Request do?

A

Indicates that a device is requesting use of the data bus

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9
Q

What does Control Signal: Bus Grant do?

A

Indicates that the CPU has granted access to the data bus

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10
Q

What does Control Signal: Clock do?

A

Synchronizes operations

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11
Q

What are the Logical Operations of the ALU? (4)

A
  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT
  • XOR
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12
Q

What are the Arithmetic Operations of the ALU? (4)

A
  • Add
  • Subtract
  • Divide
  • Multiply
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13
Q

What is the job of the ALU?

A

Performs arithmetic, logical and shift operations on data

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14
Q

What is the job of the Accumulator?

A

Stores the results of the ALU

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15
Q

What are the Dedicated Registers? (5)

A
  • Program Counter (PC)-
  • Current Instructions Register (CIR)
  • Memory Address Register (MAR)
  • Memory Data Register (MDR)
  • Accumulator
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16
Q

What does the Program Counter do?

A

Holds the memory address of the next instruction to be executed

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17
Q

What does the Current Instruction Register do?

A

Holds the current instruction (which is split into opcode and operand)

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18
Q

What does the Memory Address Register do?

A

Holds the address in memory where the processor is required to fetch or store data from or to

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19
Q

What does the Memory Data Register do?

A

Temporarily holds data moving between the processor and main memory

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20
Q

What does the Processor do?

A

Carries out instructions from programs stored in memory

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21
Q

What is the Fetch section of the FDE Cycle? (4)

A
  • The address of the next instruction is copied from the PC to the Memory Address Register
  • The instruction held at that address is copied to the Memory Data Register
  • Simultaneously, the contents of the Program Counter (PC) are incremented
  • The contents of the MDR are copied to the current Instruction Register
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22
Q

What is the Decode section of the FDE Cycle? (3)

A
  • The instruction held in the CIR is decoded
  • It is split into operand and opcode to determine the type of instruction it is
  • Additional data, if required, is fetched from memory and passed to the accumulator
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23
Q

What is the Execute section of the FDE Cycle?

A

The instruction is executed and the result held in accumulator or stored in memory

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24
Q

What is a usual Word Length?

A

8, 16, 32, 64

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25
Q

Is the Data Bus Bi-Directional?

A

Yes

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26
Q

What factors affect Processor Performance? (3)

A
  • Clock Speed
  • Number of Cores
  • Amount of Cache
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27
Q

What is the system Clock?

A

A series of regular ON/OFF signals are used to synchronize the operations of the processor components

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28
Q

What is Parallel Processing?

A

Using several processor cores working at the same time is known as parallel or concurrent processing

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29
Q

What is Cache?

A

Cache is a small amount of superfast (but expensive) memory that stores data and instructions that have recently been used by the processor

30
Q

What is Pipelining?

A

Improves performance by overlapping stages in the FDE cycle or by breaking down the stages in an arithmetic instructions

31
Q

What happens in Von Neumann Architecture?

A

Instructions and data are stored in a common main memory and transferred using a single shared bus

32
Q

What happens in Harvard Architecture?

A

Data and instructions are separated into separate memories using different

33
Q

What is an advantage of using Harvard Architecture?

A

Program instructions and data are no longer competing for the same bus

34
Q

Where is Harvard Architecture used?

A

With specialist embedded systems and digital signal processing (DSP), where speed takes priority over the complexities of design

35
Q

What are the advantages of Von Neumann Architecture?

A
  • Cheaper
  • Simplifies the design on the CU
  • Data from memory and from devices are accessed the same way
36
Q

How is Von Neumann and Harvard Architecture used in Desktop Computers?

A

There is one main memory for holding both data and instructions, but cache memory is divided into an instruction cache and a data cache so data and instructions are retrieved using Harvard architecture

37
Q

What is CISC?

A

Complex Instruction Set Computers
A large instruction set is used to accomplish tasks in as few lines of assembly language as possible

38
Q

What is RISC?

A

Reduced Instruction Set Computers
A minimum number of very simple instructions, each taking one clock cycle, are used to accomplish all the required operations in multiple general purpose registers

39
Q

What are the advantages of CISC? (3)

A
  • Quicker to code
  • The compiler has less work to do
  • Less RAM is used for storing the code
40
Q

What are the advantages of RISC? (3)

A
  • Hardware is simpler because there are less complex instruction
  • Each instruction takes the same amount of time so pipelining is possible
  • Cheaper
41
Q

What do Multi-Core Processors do?

A

Distribute workload across multiple processor cores, thus achieving significantly higher performance by performing several tasks in parallel

42
Q

What is a disadvantage of Parallel Processing?

A

The software has to be written to take advantage of multiple cores

43
Q

What is a Co-Processor?

A

An extra processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor

44
Q

What is a GPU?

A

Graphics Processing Unit
A specialized electronic circuit which is very efficient at manipulating computer graphics and image processing

45
Q

What are 2 common types of Barcoding?

A

Universal Product Code version A (UPC-A), Code 128

46
Q

What is UPC-A used for?

A

Retail and warehousing

47
Q

What is Code 128 used for?

A

Transport and shipment tracking

48
Q

What is the main difference between UPC-A and Code 128?

A

Code 128 can represent letters and numbers whilst UPC-A can only represent numeric digits

49
Q

What are the properties of an Inkjet Printer? (3)

A
  • Most common
  • Sold cheap
  • Ink cartridges are expensive
50
Q

What are the properties of a Laser Printer? (5)

A
  • Use dry powder
  • Colour or multi chrome
  • Used for businesses
  • Fast and reliable
  • Excellent print quality
51
Q

What are RFID?

A

Radio Frequency ID
Input/output devices that use a transponder and a receiver

52
Q

What are some uses of RFID tags?

A

Shipment tracking, Banking and potential Barcode replacements

53
Q

What is an Actuator?

A

Motors that are commonly used in conjunction with sensors to control a mechanism

54
Q

What is an LCD monitor?

A

Liquid Crystal Display
Contain groups of red, green and blue diodes to form each pixel. Require backlighting

55
Q

Why is using LEDs in monitors better than CCFL? (6)

A
  • Very bright very quickly
  • Image is sharper with more realistic/vivid colours
  • Brighter light
  • Thinner
  • Last almost indefinitely
  • Consume less power
56
Q

What are advantages of OLED screens? (3)

A
  • No need for backlighting
  • Less heat
  • Require less power
57
Q

What are Multimedia Light Projectors?

A

Compact, high-resolution, full-colour projectors that can project text, images, video and audio content

58
Q

What are the types of Memory? (2)

59
Q

What are the features of RAM? (3)

A
  • Read and write
  • Volatile
  • Stores OS, current programs and data
60
Q

What are the features of ROM? (3)

A
  • Read only
  • Not volatile
  • Stores bootstrap
61
Q

What is Virtual Memory?

A

Virtual memory is part of the hard drive used as an extension to RAM

62
Q

What is Primary Storage?

A

Volatile and usually refers to RAM

63
Q

What is Secondary Storage?

A

Non-volatile storage

64
Q

What are the features of a Hard Disk? (3)

A
  • High capacity
  • Relatively cheap storage per TB
  • Fast read and write speeds
65
Q

What are the features of Solid State? (6)

A
  • Durable
  • Less capacity than Hard Disk
  • Faster than Hard Disk
  • More portable
  • Consumes less power
  • More expensive than Hard Disk
66
Q

What are the features of a USB? (4)

A
  • Can store up to 128GB
  • Cheap
  • Can be password protected
  • Useful for transferring data between computers
67
Q

What are the 3 CD Formats?

A

CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW

68
Q

What is CD-ROM used for?

A

Software distribution

69
Q

What is CD-R used for?

A

Copying files or documents so they can be easily stored offline

70
Q

What is CD-RW used for?

A

Short- or medium-term backup, or transferring files from one computer to another

71
Q

What are DVD and Blueray used for?

A

Storing feature-length films

OCR Computing A Level (13 decks)

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