4.1 Central Processing Unit (CPU) Architecture

Understand the basic Von Neumann model for a computer system and the stored program concept.

Taught in: The Von Neumann model and the stored program · 5 questions

Understand the purpose and role of registers, including the difference between general purpose and special purpose registers.

Special purpose registers including Program Counter (PC), Memory Data Register (MDR), Memory Address Register (MAR), the Accumulator (ACC), Index Register (IX), Current Instruction Register (CIR) and the Status Register.

Taught in: The four registers behind every instruction: PC, MAR, MDR, CIR, Registers: the CPU's own tiny worktop · 11 questions

Understand the purpose and roles of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), the Control Unit (CU), the system clock and the Immediate Access Store (IAS).

Taught in: The ALU and the Control Unit, The system clock and the Immediate Access Store · 10 questions

Understand how data are transferred between the various components of the computer system using the address bus, data bus and control bus.

Taught in: The address, data and control buses · 5 questions

Understand how different factors contribute to the performance of the computer system.

Including processor type and number of cores, the bus width, clock speed and cache memory.

Taught in: What makes a computer fast: clock speed, cores, bus width and cache · 5 questions

Understand how different ports provide connection to peripheral devices.

Including connection to Universal Serial Bus (USB), High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and Video Graphics Array (VGA).