Note AcademyNote Academy

Central Processing Unit (CPU) Architecture

4.1

What the syllabus asks of you

  • Show understanding of the basic Von Neumann model for a computer system and the stored program concept
  • Show understanding of the purpose and role of registers, including the difference between general purpose and special purpose registers
  • Show understanding of the purpose and roles of the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit (CU) and system clock, Immediate Access Store (IAS)
  • Show understanding of how data are transferred between various components of the computer system using the address bus, data bus and control bus
  • Show understanding of how factors contribute to the performance of the computer system
  • Understand how different ports provide connection to peripheral devices
  • Describe the stages of the Fetch-Execute (F-E) cycle
  • Show understanding of the purpose of interrupts

Read the notes first

Chapter 4: Central Processing Unit (CPU) architecture

Open the notes →

Drill this topic

All 18 questions on Central Processing Unit (CPU) Architecture, untimed — answer on paper, then mark yourself against the mark scheme.

Start drill →

Make a worksheet

Choose the years and how many questions, then print it with the answers on separate pages.

Make a worksheet →

18 questions

These are structured questions, answered in working rather than by picking an option, so they are not listed here one by one. The drill above puts each in front of you with its mark scheme to check against.