Unit 1.1 System Architecture Flashcards
Used for gcse
What is hardware?
Physical components of a computer system
Give three examples of input devices
Keyboard, Mouse and Touchpads
Give three examples of output devices
Speakers, Headhpones and printers
Give three examples of storage devices
Floppy disk, Hard disk drive and Magnetic card
Give two examples of processing devices
Motherboard and Sound card
Who was John von Neumann
He was a Hungarian gentlemen who came up with the idea of modern computer architecture, he was also a mathematician
What does the term ‘computer architecture’ mean
Set of rules and methods that describe the functionality, organisation and implementation of compter systems
What are the two basic premises of ‘Von Neumann’ architecture
Data and programs are stored in the same location.
Data and programs are saved as binary
What does CPU stand for
Central Processing Unit
What is the purpose of the CPU
Carries out all of the processing of instructions
What is it made up of?
Made up of transistors (Small electronic switch)
What determines the speed of the CPU?
Clock Chip determines the speed and it controls the timing of signals. It works by containing quartz, which vibrates at a constant rate when an electric current is applied to it
What speed would a typical processor work at?
4-6 GHZ (Giga hertz)
How many instructions per second is this?
Four billion instructions per second.
What process does the CPU continually carry out?
The CPU continually carries out the fetch-decode-execute-cycle
What happens after the computer is switched on?
The order in which a computer searches for non-volatile data storage devices containing program code to load the operating system
PT.1)
What are the two vital components of the CPU?
Ram is a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly. Its location is close to the motherboard and CPU to reach the computers processors.
PT.2)
What are the two vital components of the CPU
Motherboard is a printed circuit board containing the principal components of a computer. It offers the connections that help all the components of a computer working together, and it allows all the parts of the computer to receive power and communicate with one another.
How do data and control signals move around and between components?
Buses
What are the 3 main types?
Data bus
Control bus
Address bus
What is a register
A register is a temporary storage area built into a CPU. Some registers are used internally and cannot be access outside the processor; while others are user-accesible
PT.1)
State the main 5
Accumulator stores the results of calculations carried out by the ALU
PT.2)
State the main 5
Current instructions register stores the most recently fetched instruction while it is waiting to be decoded and executed
PT.3)
State the main 5
Memory Address Register stores the location of where da
