Hardware

• What is the purpose of the CPU?

  The purpose of the CPU is to process data and instructions. It is where all the searching, sorting, calculating and decision making takes place in the computer. The CPU will issue instructions to other devices depending on the results of the processing.
• What is RAM?

  • RAM is used as main memory. It acts as a temporary store for program instructions and data that are currently in use
• What will the RAM contain at any one time?

  -The operating system (or part currently in use)

  -The software currently in use

  -The data which the software is using
• Why can the RAM only store things temporarily?

  It can only store things temporarily because it is volatile-it must be constantly be powered or it will lose any data it is holding.
• Why can programs held in RAM be run quickly?

  Because the CPU can access any memory location at any time,programs held in RAM can run very quickly.
• What memory is RAM used as?

  Main memory
• How is the RAM accessed by the CPU?

  directly accessed by the CPU
• What does RAM stand for?

  Random access memory
• What are the two major componenets of the CPU?

  -Control Unit

  -Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
• What are also used to carry out operations?

  Registers
• What is a register?

  A register is a very fast memory location in the CPU itself.
• Label the parts

  A) Control Unit

  B) ALU

  C) Registers

  
• What type of registers would an 8-bit CPU have?

  Registers that are each 8 bits
• What is the name for memory locations that the CPU uses?

  Registers
• What two types of operations the ALU performs on Data?

  -Arithmetic(addition,subtraction,multiplication,division)

  -Logical operations(comparing data to one another-Is A>B)
• What does the Control unit do?

  coordinates and controls all of the activities taking place within the CPU

  -It decodes instructions then executes them

  -It recieves signals from the system clock

  -It directs the timing and control of other parts of the CPU
• What does the clock control?

  The timing of the processor
• What is clock frequency?

  number of clock cycles which occur each second.
• What will a faster clock speed result in?

  faster processing of instructions
• What does the clock do?

  switches between 0 and 1's several million times per second and synchronises all CPU operations.
• What is clock speed measured in?

  Hertz(Hz)
• What is 3Ghz in Hz?

  3 billion clock cycles per second
• What is the FDE cycle?

  -Fetch

  -Decode

  -Execute
• What does fetch do in the FDE cycle?

  causes the next instruction to be fetched from main memory
• What does decode so in the FDE cycle?

  decodes the instruction to work out what the instruction is
• What does execute do in the FDE cycle?

  the instruction is executed
• Where are instructions placed in?

  RAM
• What are busses?

  A set of parallel wires connecting two or more components of the computer.
• What is the address bus?

  stores the address of the memory or device controller to be read from or written to
• What is the data bus?

  carries data throughout the computer system
• What does the control bus do?

  uses control signals to control all acitvities within the CPU