● the motherboard – printed circuit board (PCB) holding main components of the system
● central processing unit (CPU) – arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), control unit, registers
● memory (RAM, ROM, including Flash memory)
● graphics/sound/video hardware
● heat dispersal systems – fans and heat sinks
● storage devices – solid state, optical and magnetic
● how internal components of a computer affect performance and user experience
● comparison of different specifications of internal components
● how the features of the central processing unit and graphical processing unit affect performance and user experience:
o clock speed
o caches
o multiple processing cores o heat, power consumption
● how the features of mobile devices affect performance/user experience: o System-on-a-Chip (SoC)
o CPU and GPU
o battery life
● comparing how mobile systems are different from traditional platforms
● how the features of memory and storage devices affect performance/ user experience:
o memory (cache and RAM)
o storage devices (solid state, optical and magnetic media)
● the role of computer buses in carrying data between the internal components of a computer.
Links to Learning Outcomes |
Links to Assessment criteria |
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Learning aim B: Understand how data flows between internal components of a computer and is processed to provide information |
Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.