The decode stage

• 1: The instruction held in the CIR is decoded by the decode unit
• The instruction is made up of two parts:

  • Opcode: what to do
  • Operand(s): what to do it to
• The operand can contain the actual data or a memory address where the data is found
• 2: The instruction is carried out and the contents of the targeted memory location are loaded into the accumulator in the CPU