Name:_____________________________________ Grade: 9 ______________

Fetch – Execute Cycle

1. State the purpose of the CPU

This is the central processing unit that will carry out functions process any type
of data and calculate, sort it or make any decisions.

2. Briefly explain what happens during the ‘Fetch’ part of the Fetch-Decode-
Execute Cycle.

During the fetch part the CPU will find and get the necessary data and
instructions and store them in its own internal memory location (IAS) or in the
registers

3. Briefly explain what happens during the ‘Decode’ part of the Fetch-Decode-
Execute Cycle.

During the decoding step the CPU will decipher the instructions it has obtained
as it has been designed to understand a certain type of commands called the
instruction set.

4. Briefly explain what happens during the ‘Execute’ part of the Fetch-Decode-
Execute Cycle.

In the final execute stage the, now that the CPU understands the instructions, it
will then move on to execute the instructions

5. What happens once the complete cycle is complete?

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Name:_____________________________________ Grade: 9 ______________

Once this cycle completes it will repeat for another set of instructions.

6. There are three main parts to the CPU, the Control Unit, the Immediate Access
Store and the Arithmetic and Logic Unit.

a) Explain the purpose of the Control Unit

This controls the flow of data through the CPU. It also controls interactions
between the different parts of the CPU. It tells the different components, as well
as any linked hardware, how to respond to the instruction given.

b) Explain the purpose of the Immediate Access Store

This is the memory found inside a CPU and is used to hold not only data but
also the instructions needed to process that data. It is also more commonly
known as the CPU memory. The CPU needs to hold the data and instructions
here before processing as it would be much too slow bringing them directly from
the main memory to be processed. The data and instructions are firstly loaded
into the main memory and then brought into the IAS to be processed.

c) Explain the purpose of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit

This is an internal part of the CPU that carries out calculations on data. The
arithmetic part uses the usual operators such as multiply. divide, add and
subtract. The logic part carries out comparisons such as 'equal to greater than'
and 'less than!. Values need to be placed in the accumulator for calculations to
be carried out.

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Name:_____________________________________ Grade: 9 ______________

7. Briefly explain why the CPU cannot access data directly from the hard disk

There is no direct connection of the hard drive and the CPU. Additionally, HDD
is a secondary storage type and it allows for very slow data processing.

8. Briefly explain the purpose of the clock in the CPU

Measures the number of cycles of instructions that take place in the CPU usually
they are measured in GigaHertz per second.

9a What would be an average speed for a clock in a home PC.

3 GHz

9b. How many instructions per second would this allow the CPU to process?

300 billion instructions

9c. Explain why your computer performance would be improved if you purchased
a CPU with a faster clock speed.

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Name:_____________________________________ Grade: 9 ______________

More instructions can be carried out in a shorter time with smoother and
accurate execution

10a. Explain what is meant by the term, ‘overclocking’

Increases the rate of the clock to perform more actions.

10b. What is the main problem caused by overclocking and how can it be
overcome?

Overheating can be a problem as the clock will move at a faster rate. This may
cause damage to the physical components. It may even cause often crashes

11a. Explain what is meant by a dual-core and a quad-core device.

11b. Explain why a dual-core device does not double the processing power.

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Name:_____________________________________ Grade: 9 ______________

12. Explain the purpose of the cache

13. Is cache memory volatile or non-volatile?

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