1.1 The CPU and storage

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Created by
Asher Kelland

Cards (15)

  • An input device is any device that allows you to pass information from the outside world into a computer system.
  • An output device is any device that can take digitally stored data and convert it to another format that humans can process.
  • CISC processors deal with complex instructions that take more than one FDE cycle to complete.
  • RISC processors deal with simple instructions that take one clock cycle to complete.
  • GPUs excel at performing simple operations on larger data sets.
  • von Neuman architecture has unified memory for instructions and data.
  • Harvard architecture has separate memory for instructions and data.
  • The CPU is responsible for processing all data within a computer.
  • Stages of the FDE cycle in depth:
    PC --> MAR --> address bus --> control bus --> RAM location --> MDR --> CIR --> opcode and operand are decoded by the CU --> instruction executed --> PC incremented.
  • Optical storage represents 1s and 0s as pits and lands respectively.
    Optical storage is burnt onto a disc with a laser.
    Optical storage is read only.
    Pros/Cons:
    -Optical storage is prone to scratches.
    -Optical storage has slow access times.
    +Optical storage is cheap, portable and lightweight.
  • Magnetic storage represents 1s and 0s as north poles and south poles respectively.
    Magnetic storage is read via a mechanical drive head.
    Pros/cons:
    -Magnetic storage is fragile.
    -Magnetic storage has slow access times.
    +Magnetic storage is cheap and has a large capacity.
  • Flash storage represents 1s and 0s via a flow of electricity causing a change in charge that is read as either a 1 or a 0.
    Pros/Cons:
    -Flash storage is expensive.
    -Flash storage has limited read/writes.
    +Flash storage is durable and has fast access.
  • Virtual storage is the idea of storing and retrieving data over the internet rather than on a local device.
  • ROM stands for Read Only Memory. It is non-volatile / secondary storage that is not lost when the system is turned off. ROM contains the bootstrap / startup instructions for a computer.
  • RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It is volatile / primary storage that is not retained when the system is turned off. RAM holds the data currently needed to execute a program.