Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is the Control Unit?

A

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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

How many lines does a Bus normally consist of?

A

8, 16, 32, 64

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is a Bus?

A

A series of connectors that transfer signals between components

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the Control Signals? (5)

A
  • Memory Read
  • Memory Write
  • Bus Request
  • Bus Grant
  • Clock
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What does Control Signal: Bus Request do?

A

Indicates that a device is requesting use of the data bus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What does Control Signal: Bus Grant do?

A

Indicates that the CPU has granted access to the data bus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What does Control Signal: Clock do?

A

Synchronizes operations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

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

A
  • AND
  • OR
  • NOT
  • XOR
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

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

A
  • Add
  • Subtract
  • Divide
  • Multiply
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is the job of the ALU?

A

Performs arithmetic, logical and shift operations on data

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the job of the Accumulator?

A

Stores the results of the ALU

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What does the Program Counter do?

A

Holds the memory address of the next instruction to be executed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What does the Current Instruction Register do?

A

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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What does the Memory Data Register do?

A

Temporarily holds data moving between the processor and main memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What does the Processor do?

A

Carries out instructions from programs stored in memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
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

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is a usual Word Length?

A

8, 16, 32, 64

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Is the Data Bus Bi-Directional?
Yes
26
What factors affect Processor Performance? (3)
- Clock Speed - Number of Cores - Amount of Cache
27
What is the system Clock?
A series of regular ON/OFF signals are used to synchronize the operations of the processor components
28
What is Parallel Processing?
Using several processor cores working at the same time is known as parallel or concurrent processing
29
What is Cache?
Cache is a small amount of superfast (but expensive) memory that stores data and instructions that have recently been used by the processor
30
What is Pipelining?
Improves performance by overlapping stages in the FDE cycle or by breaking down the stages in an arithmetic instructions
31
What happens in Von Neumann Architecture?
Instructions and data are stored in a common main memory and transferred using a single shared bus
32
What happens in Harvard Architecture?
Data and instructions are separated into separate memories using different
33
What is an advantage of using Harvard Architecture?
Program instructions and data are no longer competing for the same bus
34
Where is Harvard Architecture used?
With specialist embedded systems and digital signal processing (DSP), where speed takes priority over the complexities of design
35
What are the advantages of Von Neumann Architecture?
- Cheaper - Simplifies the design on the CU - Data from memory and from devices are accessed the same way
36
How is Von Neumann and Harvard Architecture used in Desktop Computers?
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
What is CISC?
Complex Instruction Set Computers A large instruction set is used to accomplish tasks in as few lines of assembly language as possible
38
What is RISC?
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
What are the advantages of CISC? (3)
- Quicker to code - The compiler has less work to do - Less RAM is used for storing the code
40
What are the advantages of RISC? (3)
- Hardware is simpler because there are less complex instruction - Each instruction takes the same amount of time so pipelining is possible - Cheaper
41
What do Multi-Core Processors do?
Distribute workload across multiple processor cores, thus achieving significantly higher performance by performing several tasks in parallel
42
What is a disadvantage of Parallel Processing?
The software has to be written to take advantage of multiple cores
43
What is a Co-Processor?
An extra processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor
44
What is a GPU?
Graphics Processing Unit A specialized electronic circuit which is very efficient at manipulating computer graphics and image processing
45
What are 2 common types of Barcoding?
Universal Product Code version A (UPC-A), Code 128
46
What is UPC-A used for?
Retail and warehousing
47
What is Code 128 used for?
Transport and shipment tracking
48
What is the main difference between UPC-A and Code 128?
Code 128 can represent letters and numbers whilst UPC-A can only represent numeric digits
49
What are the properties of an Inkjet Printer? (3)
- Most common - Sold cheap - Ink cartridges are expensive
50
What are the properties of a Laser Printer? (5)
- Use dry powder - Colour or multi chrome - Used for businesses - Fast and reliable - Excellent print quality
51
What are RFID?
Radio Frequency ID Input/output devices that use a transponder and a receiver
52
What are some uses of RFID tags?
Shipment tracking, Banking and potential Barcode replacements
53
What is an Actuator?
Motors that are commonly used in conjunction with sensors to control a mechanism
54
What is an LCD monitor?
Liquid Crystal Display Contain groups of red, green and blue diodes to form each pixel. Require backlighting
55
Why is using LEDs in monitors better than CCFL? (6)
- Very bright very quickly - Image is sharper with more realistic/vivid colours - Brighter light - Thinner - Last almost indefinitely - Consume less power
56
What are advantages of OLED screens? (3)
- No need for backlighting - Less heat - Require less power
57
What are Multimedia Light Projectors?
Compact, high-resolution, full-colour projectors that can project text, images, video and audio content
58
What are the types of Memory? (2)
RAM, ROM
59
What are the features of RAM? (3)
- Read and write - Volatile - Stores OS, current programs and data
60
What are the features of ROM? (3)
- Read only - Not volatile - Stores bootstrap
61
What is Virtual Memory?
Virtual memory is part of the hard drive used as an extension to RAM
62
What is Primary Storage?
Volatile and usually refers to RAM
63
What is Secondary Storage?
Non-volatile storage
64
What are the features of a Hard Disk? (3)
- High capacity - Relatively cheap storage per TB - Fast read and write speeds
65
What are the features of Solid State? (6)
- Durable - Less capacity than Hard Disk - Faster than Hard Disk - More portable - Consumes less power - More expensive than Hard Disk
66
What are the features of a USB? (4)
- Can store up to 128GB - Cheap - Can be password protected - Useful for transferring data between computers
67
What are the 3 CD Formats?
CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
68
What is CD-ROM used for?
Software distribution
69
What is CD-R used for?
Copying files or documents so they can be easily stored offline
70
What is CD-RW used for?
Short- or medium-term backup, or transferring files from one computer to another
71
What are DVD and Blueray used for?
Storing feature-length films

OCR Computing A Level (13 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions