1.1

Process data and insutructions by constantly repeating the fetch execute cycle

The part of the central processing unit that controls the flow of information through the processor.
Decodes instructions as part of the fetch execute cycle

A temporary storage space for one intruction or address

Arithmetic and Logic Unit - does all mathematical calculations and makes all logical decisions

A type of memory used to temporarily store frequently used data or programs for quick access; similar to RAM but faster.

the basic process performed by the CPU. On each cycle the CPU fetches the next instruction from RAM, interprets it and executes it.

modern computer structure consisting of four subsystems: memory, I/O, ALU, and control unit

A register that tracks the RAM address of the instruction that is to be fetched.

​The MDR stores the instruction that has been transferred from RAM to the CPU.

A register that tracks the RAM address of the next instruction to be fetched, increments by 1 each cycle.

The ACC stores the result of mathematical or logical calculations

- Costly, so most PCs only have a small amount

- It provides data at a faster rate then RAM
- A computer with more cache memory should have a higher performance because more repeatedly used instructions can be stored and accessed faster

A measure of how quickly the CPU can process instructions, measured in GHz (amount of fetch - execute cycles per second)

The faster the clock speed, the faster the computer can perform the FDE cycle, resulting in better performance because more instructions can be processed each second

A complete set of CPU components, each core is able to perform it's own FDE cycle
A multi core CPU has more than one set of components within the same CPU

- A computer with more cores will have a higher performance because it can process more instructions at once, each core can execute a set of instructions

- If one core is waiting for another to finish, performance may not increase
- Some software is not written to make use of multiple cores

A computer system built into a larger machine to provide a means of control
They perform a specific pre programmned task stored in ROM

- Combindation of hardware and software
- Only perform specific tasks
- Small amount of storage
- Low processing power

- Washing machines
- Digital cameras
- Sat-Navs

The set of all instructions that a CPU can execute, including arithmetic, logic, and control operations.

A technique where multiple instructions are overlapped in execution, improving CPU performance by allowing the next instruction to start before the previous one is completed.

A memory management technique that provides an idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine.

A signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention.

Ensuring that changes in the values of shared data in the cache of one core are reflected in the cache of all other cores to maintain data consistency.