Computer Hardware

Computer Hardware

1. Uses of / CPU - Central Processing Unit

   • Carries out 3 actions: Fetch > Decode > Execute
     • Fetch
       • Collects the data
     • Decode
       • This where the data that was fetched is decoded
     • Execute
       • This is where the action requested is performed
   • The brain of the computer
   • Attached to motherboard under heat sink
   • Handles all computer data
   • Cache Memory
     • Stores commonly used data, such as passwords
     • Can only store a very little amount of data
     • It is the fastest storage space when collecting data
     • Stores data that might used again
   • Clock speed and cores
     • Can complete millions of actions at once, becomes very very hot
     • Determines how quickly data is processed
     • It is measured in hertz (Hz)
     • The larger amount of cores increases the clock speed
       • It acts as a multiplier, if you had a quad core processor it would multiply the amount of hertz by 4
     • Processor Speed
       • 1 Kilohertz (KHz) = 1024, 1000 cycles per second
       • 1 Megahertz (MHz) = 1048576, 1000000 cycles per second
       • 1 Gigahertz (GHz) = 1073741824, 1000000000 cycles per second