1.1 Structure & Function of the Processor

• What is the primary responsibility of the CPU?

  Processing all data within the computer
• Name one component of the CPU.

  Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)
• What is the function of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)?

  Performs arithmetic calculations and logic comparisons
• What is the purpose of registers in the CPU?

  Temporary storage/memory locations inside the CPU
• What is the Program Counter (PC)?

  Stores the address of the next instruction
• What does the Accumulator (ACC) do?

  Stores values temporarily after calculations
• What is the Memory Address Register (MAR)?

  Stores addresses for data in memory
• What is the Memory Data Register (MDR)?

  Stores data/instructions before sending to memory
• What is the Current Instruction Register (CIR)?

  Holds the fetched instruction before decoding
• What does the ALU consist of?

  Arithmetic circuit, logic circuit, and registers
• What is the function of the arithmetic circuit in the ALU?

  Performs arithmetic operations like addition
• What operations does the logic circuit in the ALU perform?

  AND, OR, NOT, and XOR operations
• What is the purpose of buses in the CPU?

  Transport data around the ALU and CPU
• How many types of buses connect the CPU with RAM?

  Three types of buses
• What does the data bus do?

  Holds data being sent to/from the CPU
• What is the function of the address bus?

  Holds addresses being sent to/from the CPU
• What does the control bus do?

  Sends signals to determine read/write mode
• What are the stages of the Fetch-Decode-Execute Cycle?

  1. Fetching an instruction from memory
  2. Decoding the instruction
  3. Executing the instruction
• What happens during the fetching stage of the cycle?

  The PC is loaded with the instruction address
• What is the role of the MAR during fetching?

  Stores the address to read data from
• What does the PC do after fetching an instruction?

  It increments by 1
• What happens during the decoding stage?

  The instruction is split into opcode and operand
• What does the ACC do during execution?

  Stores the value being inputted or outputted
• What is the role of the MDR during execution?

  Holds data before sending to memory
• What does the MAR do when storing a value?

  Stores the address where data is sent
• What happens when the instruction STA count is executed?

  The value from ACC is stored in memory location 16
• How is CPU performance measured?

  1. Clock speed
  2. Number of cores
  3. Cache

  
• What does clock speed indicate?

  How many state changes the CPU performs
• What is a typical clock speed for a computer?

  2.3 GHz
• How does a higher clock speed affect CPU performance?

  Executes more instructions per second
• What is a core in the context of a CPU?

  A processing unit within the CPU
• What is parallel processing?

  Multiple cores executing tasks simultaneously
• How does a dual-core processor compare to a single-core processor?

  Executes tasks more quickly with two cores
• What is the role of the Control Unit (CU) in the CPU?

  Decodes instructions and controls data movement
• What are the specific functions of the Control Unit (CU)?

  Decodes instructions and manages data flow
• What is the purpose of status flags in the ALU?

  Indicate conditions like overflow or zero
• What are the types of cache memory?

  L1, L2, and L3 cache levels

  
• What is the significance of the fetch-decode-execute cycle?

  It processes instructions repeatedly in the CPU
• What are the implications of having more than one core in a CPU?

  Increased processing speed through parallel tasks
• How does clock speed relate to CPU efficiency?

  Higher clock speed generally increases efficiency