Topic 1.

1 Systems architecture
Sub topic 1.1.2 - CPU performance
Lesson 6-7 of 9 – How common characteristics of CPUs
affect their performance © OCR 2020
Contents
Topic Allocated time
Lesson 6 Big picture 5 minutes
Lesson 6 – Activity 1 10 minutes
Lesson 6 – Activity 2 10 minutes
Plenary 5 minutes
Talking through lesson 6 Slides 30 minutes
Lesson 7 – Big picture 5 minutes
Lesson 7 – Activity 1 10 minutes
Lesson 7 – Activity 2 15 minutes
Plenary 5 minutes

© OCR 2020
Lesson 6 – Big picture

• What are supercomputers?

• Why were supercomputers developed?

© OCR 2020
Learning objectives
• To be able to describe how common
characteristics of CPUs affect their performance:
– clock speed
– cache size
– number of cores.

© OCR 2020
Engagement activity

• What processing power does your

computer at home have? Typically?
• Are you aware of the processing power of
your mobile phone? Tablet?
• How is processing power measured?
• Guess at Processing Power of the
Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)
– Compare to iPhone 10
© OCR 2020
Keywords

• Processor • Clock speed

• MHz • Cache
• GHz • Core
• Hertz
• Instruction

© OCR 2020
Lesson 6 - Activity 1

• Factors that affect the CPU

© OCR 2020
Purpose of the Processor

• The processor is ‘the brains of a Computer

System’
• It processes data
• Carries out instructions (executes them)
• Processors have a clock speed measured
in Hertz
– Number of cycles per second

© OCR 2020
Processor speed

• Measured in Hertz (Hz), MegaHertz(MHz)

and GigaHertz(GHz)
• Typical speeds have spanned across MHz
and GHz
• 1GHz processor executes 1 billion
instructions per second
• 2GHz processor executes 2 billion
instructions per second
© OCR 2020
Processor - Cores

• Each processor has a ‘core’ in which

instructions are executed.
• Processors can be multi-core:
– dual core
– quad core
– 8 core.
• Each core executes instructions independently.
• Dual core may execute up to twice as many
instructions per second.
© OCR 2020
Processors – cache size

• Processors have ‘cache’. This is very fast

and usually a very small amount of
memory on the processor chip.
• The cache acts as an intermediary
between the processor and the main
memory.
• As programs are executing, the cache
holds commonly used instructions.
© OCR 2020
Lesson 6 Activity 2

• Produce a guide explaining the development of

the CPU over the last 20 years. Include
descriptions of processor:
– speed
– number of cores
– cache size.
• Within the guide explain the concept of Moore’s
Law.
• Find diagrams of different CPUs – label these.
© OCR 2020
Plenary
• Exit Pass – Describe one feature of file
management.
• Students think of an exam style question
on a sticky note. Pass the note to the left
each student has to answer the question.

© OCR 2020
Lesson 7 – Big picture

• What is a GPU?
• Why would you upgrade your GPU before
your CPU?

© OCR 2020
Clock speed

• There is an internal clock that happens on

the pulse.
• If the clock speed increases, the faster the
instructions are processed.

© OCR 2020
Learning objectives
• To understand how to estimate the best
performing CPUs

© OCR 2020
Multi-core processors
• Dual-core processor: it has two processors
linked together within the same integrated
circuit. It should have twice the processing
power but some software has not been
written with dual core processors in mind.
• Quad-core processor: it has four processors
linked together. It can still have the similar
issues to a dual core processor.

© OCR 2020
How it affects performance
• Clock speed
– Doubling the clock speed will double the number of
instructions executed per second.
• Cores
– Quadrupling the number of cores may quadruple
the number of instructions executed per second.
• Cache size
– Increasing the cache size will reduce the number
of memory to disk transfers and so may speed up
processing of these instructions.

© OCR 2020
Multi-core processors
If you had a quad core processor and it
could run four times faster, when might it not
be any faster than having a single or dual
core processor?

© OCR 2020
Multi-core processors
If you had a quad core processor and it could
run four times faster, when might it not be any
faster than having a single or dual core
processor?

• If the computer is running one program, it

may not be any faster as instructions still
have to be carried out in a certain sequence.
© OCR 2020
Lesson 7 – Activity 1

• Complete the worksheet on the

Performance of CPUs

© OCR 2020
Benefits of cache
• Level 1 cache is the data used frequently by the CPU
so it is available almost instantaneously. RAM is further
away from the CPU so is much slower to receive an
instruction or data from the cache.
• Instructions from the program and the data needed are
stored in cache, for use when needed. This will speed
the program up.
• Level 2 cache affects the performance of the CPU
greatly as this is closest to RAM and reduces wait time.
Whether the cache is on the CPU board will also affect
performance.
© OCR 2020
Lesson 7 – Activity 2

• Which computer would you buy?

© OCR 2020
How to work out cycles per
second
Dual core processor running at 2.3 GHz
with 4MB of L2 Cache
Look at the number of cores (Dual =2) X
Clock Speed (2.3GHz)
Answer: 4.6 billion cycles/second

© OCR 2020
 Plenary – Which one is faster?

1. Dual core processor running at 2.3 GHz

with 4Mb of L2 cache
2. Quad core processor running 1.5GHz
with 4Mb of L2 cache
3. Dual core processor running 2.7GHz
with 4Mb of L2 cache

Note: This is theoretically how to calculate, there are many other factors that affect performance
© OCR 2020
Plenary

• Questioning
• Produce one question and Mark Scheme
• Exit Pass – Describe the purpose of a CPU
• Exit Pass – Describe the effect of number of
cores/ cache size/processor speed on
performance

© OCR 2020
OCR Resources: the small print
OCR’s resources are provided to support the delivery of OCR qualifications, but in no way constitute an endorsed teaching method that is required by the Board, and the decision to use them lies with the individual teacher. Whilst every
effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the content, OCR cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions within these resources.
 
Our documents are updated over time. Whilst every effort is made to check all documents, there may be contradictions between published support and the specification, therefore please use the information on the latest specification at
all times. Where changes are made to specifications these will be indicated within the document, there will be a new version number indicated, and a summary of the changes. If you do notice a discrepancy between the specification and
a resource please contact us at:
resources.feedback@ocr.org.uk.

© OCR 2020 - This resource may be freely copied and distributed, as long as the OCR logo and this message remain intact and OCR is acknowledged as the originator of this work. OCR acknowledges the use of the following content:

Please get in touch if you want to discuss the accessibility of resources we offer to support delivery of our qualifications: resources.feedback@ocr.org.uk

© OCR 2020