AQA 7517 4.7.3.7: Factors affecting processor performance
The free BugBot lesson that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
At GCSE (F9.5) you learned that clock speed, cores and cache affect performance. At A level you need the full list of factors with the reason each one matters, and three ideas that modern processors are built on: pipelining, the choice between CISC and RISC instruction sets, and parallel processing with multicore processors and GPUs.
- Factors affecting performance
- Pipelining
- CISC and RISC
- Multicore and parallel systems
- GPUs
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- A9.8 Performance, pipelining and parallel processors Computer architecture
Cores, cache, clock speed, word length and bus widths; pipelining; CISC and RISC; multicore systems and GPUs.
Try it on a robot
The task from A9.8 Performance, pipelining and parallel processors, running here. Change the program and press Run.
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