Systems Architecture
3 subtopics
This topic is about what sits inside a computer and how it actually runs a program. You need the purpose of the CPU, the fetch-execute cycle, and what the ALU, control unit, cache and registers each do, including the MAR, MDR, program counter and accumulator.
The second half is about speed. Clock speed, cache size and number of cores all change how a processor performs, and the exam usually asks you to explain the effect rather than just name the factor. Embedded systems round the topic off: what they are and where you find them.
Questions here are often worth one or two marks for a definition and then four or more for an explanation, so knowing the name of a register is rarely enough on its own.
Revise with flashcards
All of Systems Architecture in one deck, for active recall.
Architecture of the CPU
The purpose of the CPU, its components, the registers of the Von Neumann architecture, and the fetch-execute cycle.
CPU performance
How clock speed, cache size and the number of cores affect the performance of a CPU, individually and in combination.
Embedded systems
What embedded systems are, their typical characteristics, and a range of real-world examples.