Arvin Gabriel T.

Eugenio
BSIT 1-2 COMSCI 1210 LAB A

3 main components of CPU:

The 3 main components of the CPU are the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit (CU), and
the Registers without any of these components, the CPU wouldn't function as they are the fundamental
building blocks that enable a computer to perform its tasks. The first main component is the Arithmetic
Logic Unit which acts as the mathematical part of the brain for the CPU that is used for calculations and
logical operations. It can add, subtract, multiply, divide, compare numbers which are used in
spreadsheets and perform bit-wise operations like AND, OR, and NOT that are used in binary. While the
ALU does the math and operations for the CPU, the Control Unit which is similar to the human brain
does is to control the way input and output devices and the other main components the ALU, Registers.
An example of its function is opening an application in which the control unit first fetches instructions
from the program's files, decodes them, and directs other components to execute them step-by-step. It
also has a role in fetching data from RAM and managing different processors. Lastly, the Registers are
small amounts of memory located within the CPU. They are temporarily stored device that are present
in processors and instructions that the ALU and CU use before cache.

Source:

https://www.thecrazyprogrammer.com/2021/06/components-of-cpu.html?expand_article=1

Discuss the different register sizes

Different register sizes like 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit basically determines how much data a
CPU can handle at once. So, the more bits, the better the processing power and memory capacity of the
system. Back in the 70s and 80s, CPUs were stuck with 8-bit computing which can only deal with 8-bit
code. The 16-bit doubling the processing ability of an 8-bit system and letting us code up to 16 bits.
Systems like MSDOS and early Windows use 16-bit. A 32-bit computing which also doubles the previous
one like coding up to 32 bits which could handle up to 4GB of RAM. The 64-bit computing can process 64
bits which can surpass the 4GB barrier of RAM usage. Modern versions of Windows, Mac, Linux, and
other computer operating system uses 64-bit.

Source:

https://www.exploringretrocomputers.com/post/bit-computing