1.1.2

• CISC - Complex instruction set
• CISC has more complicated instructions available which require many cycles to complete whereas RISC is restricted to a small instruction set that each takes only a single cycle to complete.

  CISC requires more complex hardware circuits to carry out instructions which support simpler software coding.
• RISC - Reduced instruction set
• Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC) take an

  opposite approach. A minimum number of very simple instructions, each taking one clock cycle, are used to accomplish all the required operations in multiple general purpose registers
• CISC:

  More complex instruction set, Requires more cycles per

  instruction, More complex hardware circuits, , Can use less RAM for

  intermediate results
• RISC:

  Reduced number of operations, Requires one cycle per instruction, Hardware less complicated, Processing can be slower than CISC. More RAM needed to handle intermediate results
• Primary goal of CISC architecture is to complete a task in as

  few lines of code as possible.

  RISC processors only use simple instructions that can be

  executed
• A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialised electronic circuit which is very efficient at manipulating computer graphics and image processing. It consists of thousands of small efficient cores designed for parallel processing. It can process large blocks of visual data simultaneously.
• GPU's are designed to perform the calculations

  associated with graphics, 3D graphics require significant computation, GPUs have specific instruction sets specifically designed for graphics processing, Parallel processing. Graphics card/embedded onto main processor
• Parallel processing is the simultaneous

  processing of data.
• Virtual storage (cloud storage): Data is stored across multiple servers and locations, hosted by third parties. Data is transmitted over the internet to a data centre and can be accessed as needed.
• Personal computers and mobile devices can have dual-core or quad-core processors, while supercomputers can have thousands of cores.
• Multi-core processors distribute workload across multiple processor cores, achieving higher performance by performing tasks in parallel.
• MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) involves giving different instructions to different CPUs, allowing for independent processing of data.
• SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) involves cutting data into pieces and processing them with a single instruction on different CPUs.
• Multicore systems have more than one processing unit in a single processor, allowing for independent processing of instructions at the same time.
• Array Processor (SIMD - Single Instruction Multiple Data) is used in graphic cards and game consoles.
• Parallel processing can be used with multiple cores, where each core works on the same task or separate tasks simultaneously.
• Pipeline (SISD - Single Instruction Multiple Data) is used inside a CPU, where one instruction is executed on a single piece of data.