Computing Exam Questions (Architecture of the CPU)

Computing Revision Notes

Ann wants to purchase a new computer and is looking at two
models. The specification of the CPU in each computer is shown in
Fig 1

Fig 1:

Computer 1 Computer 2
Clock Speed: 1GHz Clock Speed:1.4GHz
Cache Size:2MB Cache Size: 2MB
No. of Cores: 4 No. of Cores: 2

When running a 3D flight simulator: computer 1 is likely to run faster
than computer 2. Using the information in Fig 1: identify one reason
for this.

Acceptable answers:

It has more cores.


Identify two internal components that are not in Fig 1 which could
improve performance of the computers.

Acceptable answers:

● RAM
● HDD
● SSD
● Graphics Card (GPU)

, Explain one reason why the cache size affects the performance of
the CPU.

Acceptable answers:

● Data is transferred faster
● It is faster to and from cache than transferring to and from
RAM- which makes CPU more efficient.


Identify four events that take place during the fetch-execute cycle.

Acceptable answers:

● An instruction is fetched from memory.
● The instruction is then decoded.
● The decoded instruction is then executed so that the CPU
performs continuously
● The process is then repeated
● The Program Counter (PC) is incremented.
● The instruction is transferred to the MDR.
● The address of the instruction to be fetched is placed in the
MAR.


The table has five components of a computer, and four statements.
Tick one or more boxes in each row to identify which component(s)
each statement describes.



Statement MAR MDR Cache PC RAM
It stores a single address
It stores frequently used inst