Unit 1 - Systems Architecture

Question 1

What is the CPU

Answer 1

A CPU is the brains of the computer, it controls all operations that happen within the computer.

Question 2

What is the language that computers talk in?

Answer 2

The language computers use is called Binary and consists of 1s and 0s.

Question 3

How does Binary work

Answer 3

This is because computers use transistors which operate as a switch, with the states of being either on or off. The on of off-state depend on if electricity is flowing through them or not

Question 4

What is the Arithmetic Logic Unit?

Answer 4

The ALU performs all the arithmetic (maths) and logical operations within the CPU

Question 5

What is the Control Unit?

Answer 5

The Control Unit works within the CPU to control the flow of data. It tells the computer’s memory, arithmetic/logic unit and input and output devices on how to respond to a program’s instructions.

Question 6

What is the Cache?

Answer 6

Special high speed memory used to store frequently used instructions.

Question 7

What are Registers?

Answer 7

High speed memory located dotted around the CPU to store small amounts of data that are needed during processing.

Question 8

What does MAR stand for?

Answer 8

memory address register

Question 9

What is MAR used for?

Answer 9

IT stores where data is stored which will be fetched to the CPU.

Question 10

What does MDR sand for?

Answer 10

Memory Data Register

Question 11

What is MDR used for?

Answer 11

It holds the contents from the address in the MAR.

Question 12

What is the Programme counter used for?

Answer 12

It is a special purpose register used by the processor to hold the address of the next instruction.

Question 13

What is the Accumulator used for?

Answer 13

the accumulator is a register in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored

Question 14

What is the Fetch Decode Execute Cycle?

Answer 14

Fetches instructions .
goes through processes.
Decodes to machine code.

Question 15

What are the Factors affecting Processor speed?

Answer 15

Clock speed
Number of Cores
Cache

Question 16

What is Clock speed?

Answer 16

the operating speed of a computer or its microprocessor expressed in cycles per second (megahertz).

Question 17

What is Clock Speed measured in?

Answer 17

Generally measured in billions (1,000,000,000) Gigahertz Ghz

Question 18

How does Clock speed correlate to computer speed?

Answer 18

The more clocks cycles, the more instructions can be executed per second, means a fast computer

Question 19

What is Over Clocking?

Answer 19

Overclocking is when you go into your bios and change it to work at a higher capacity, but with higher risks.

Question 20

What is a CPU core?

Answer 20

In summary, a core is a small CPU or processor built into a big CPU or CPU socket.

Question 21

How do CPU cores affect performance?

Answer 21

In theory the processor is 2 or 4 times faster because it is able to execute 2 or 4 times as many instructions.

Question 22

What are different examples of CPU cores?

Answer 22

Dual core- 2 cores

Quad core- 4 cores

Question 23

What is Cache?

Answer 23

Small very fast memory that is stored on the processor.

Question 24

Why is Cache used?

Answer 24

Stores decoded instructions as they are decoded

Instructions that are not used are replaced with newer instructions.

Question 25

What is an Embedded system?

Answer 25

A computer system that is built into another device

Question 26

What are some examples of embedded systems?

Answer 26

Smart fridge
Sat nav
Smart lights

Question 27

Where are embedded systems used?

Answer 27

They can be used in restaurants, schools, banks, and many other places,

Question 28

How are embedded systems designed?

Answer 28

They are designed specifically for a certain purpose