1.1-System Architecture

PROCESSOR
1. Has clock speed
  1. number of cycles per second
  2. measured in hertz
    1. MHz-GHz
2. Brains of the computer system
3. Executes/carries out instructions
4. Has cores in which instructions are executed
  1. Dual Core-Quad Core-8 Core
MAIN MEMORY
1. RAM-Random Access Memory
  1. Holds data and instructions that are currently in use by the processor
  2. Located on the motherboard
  3. Directly accessible by the processor
  4. All data/instructions are lost once power is turned off.
2. ROM-Read Only Memory
  1. Instructions are permanently etched onto a ROM chip.
  2. When power is turned off-instructions still remain on the ROM chip.
  3. Bootstrap loader is held in ROM- gives the instructions to start up an operating system
SYSTEM BUSSES
1. A bus is set of parallel wires connecting two or more independent components of a computer system in order to pass signals between them.
2. The system is separated into 3 different busses
  1. The data bus
    1. The address bus
      1. The control bus
        Control signals are sent along the control bus
        E.g. Memory Read, Memory Write
        This instructs which data will be travelling to/from memory
      2. Carries addresses from the processor to the main memory
      3. It is one direction
      4. The processor generates an address
      5. All data/instructions are returned on the data bus
    2. Carries data/instructions from the main memory to the processor.
    3. Bi-Directional
    4. Data can be read or written
SECONDARY STORAGE
1. Hard Disk Drive
2. Solid State Drive
3. Flash Memory
4. DVD-R
5. Blue-ray

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1.1-System Architecture

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	Created by Shauna Smith over 6 years ago