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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the purpose of the CPU?
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This is often described as the Brain of the computer.
The purpose of the CPU is to Process data. It is where all the searching, sorting, calculating and Decision making takes place in the computer. |
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Where does CPU fetch the data and instructions from and where does it store them?
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It gets the data from main memory then stores them in its own temporary memory areas.
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What is the name of the internal temporary memory areas?
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Registers
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For the fetch part of the cycle to happen, the CPU places the address of the next item in a vital hardware path. What is this called?
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Address Bus
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Data from this bus then moves from the main memory into the CPU by travelling along another bus. What is its name?
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Data Bus
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The next step is for the CPU to make sense of the instructions, what is this process called?
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Decode
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The CPU is designed to understand a specific set of commands which are different for every make of CPU. What are these set of commands called?
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Instruction set
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The CPU decodes the instructions but what does it do next?
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Prepares the specific areas within the chip for the next process
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What is the name of the part of the cycle where the actual data processing takes place?
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Execute
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List the three main jobs of the control unit.
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1. It controls and monitors the hardware attached to the system to make that the commands given to it by the application software are used. For example, if you send something to print, the control unit will keep a check that the instructions are sent to the printer correctly.
2. It controls the input and output of data so that the signals go to the right place at the right time 3. It controls the flow of data within the CPU – which is the Fetch-Execute cycle described above. |
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The CPU reads data and programs kept on the backing storage, but where does it store it?
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In the IAS’s memory
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Why does the CPU need to store data and programs in the IAS?
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Because the Backing storage is much too slow for the applications to run directly.
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The ALU manipulates or acts upon the data. List the name of the parts of the ALU and say what they do?
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1. Arithmetic part – which does exactly what you think it should – it performs the calculations on the data e.g. 3 + 2 = 5
2. Logic part – this deals with the logic and comparisons. For example, it workds out if one value is greater, less than or equal to another. |
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How many instructions can a computer process at any one time?
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1
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How is the clock speed measured?
How many instructions per second would a computer running at 3GHz carry out? |
It is measured in clocks per second. 3 thousand GHz
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The faster the speed the better the performance, but what is the downside of this fact?
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It runs hotter and uses more power
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What does “overclocking” mean?
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They adjust the clock to run faster than the CPU was really designed for. However, this makes the CPU run hotter and so extra cooling fans also have to be purchased.
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Explain what the term dual core means
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It contains 2 CPU’s and a quad – core contains 4.
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List, starting with the first one it looks at, the order the CPU looks at different storage areas it can access.
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CPU
Cache RAM Hard Disk |
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The cache memory is known as volatile memory. Explain the term volatile.
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i.e. when the computer is shut down, the data stored there is lost.
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If the cache is larger how does this affect the performance of the CPU?
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The larger the cache size, the better the performance because you are able to store more data locally.
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