Processors

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Processors More

• What you need to know when buying a new computer

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CPU, what is it?

• CPU acronym for Central Processing Unit
• is the portion of a computer system that carries
  out the instructions of a computer program, to
  perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and
  input/output operations of the system.
• The integral chip in all computers, and
  electronic devices (calculators, phones, tablets,
  TVs, cars, missiles, vacuum cleaners, etc.)

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CPUs in computers, brief history

• 1971 Intel releases the 4004, the worlds first
  microprocessor
• 1981 IBM releases the IBM 5150 Personal
  Computer, with the Intel 8080
• The name was later shortened to IBM PC
• 1985 Intel releases the 80386 Processor, the
  first 32 bit CPU.
• The first CPU in the x86 instruction set.
• All other CPUs since the i386 use the x86
  platform(YES, you can theoretically run Windows
  7 on a 386!)
• 1993 Intel releases the Intel Pentium (80586)

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What is in a CPU?
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Whats it look like?
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Current CPU Features

• Multiple cores for better multi-tasking
• High bus clocks between the CPU and all other
  devices
• Integrated graphics accelerators for video
  decoding
• Integrated memory controllers to reduce latency
  between RAM and CPU
• Many MegaBytes in cache for storing common
  instructions
• Low power consumption (as low as half a watt!)

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CPU Terms

• Instruction command given to a CPU to run a
  calculation.
• Cache (L1, L2, L3) memory built in to CPUs to
  store commonly used instructions.
• Instruction Set (MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow) list of
  common instructions pre-programmed in to a CPU.
• FSB Front Side Bus, the connection between the
  CPU and the Memory.

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What features CPUs have

• HT (Hyper Threading) Multiple data pipelines to
  a single core
• Turbo Boost Built in automatic overclocking of
  the CPU
• VT (Virtualization Technology) Improved support
  for running virtual machines.
• Unlocked (Black Edition) Core clock speed and
  FSB clocks are able to be changed in BIOS

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Numbers Game

• Processors have three big numbers
• Core count (1,2,4,6,8)
• Clock speed (Ghz)
• Cache size (MB)

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My Clock is faster than yours!

• During the P4 days, it was all about the Ghz.
• The P4 naming and performance rating was tied to
  the clock speed.
• AMD released their competing product with a P4
  equivalent speed rating
• Though lower in clock speed, AMDs CPUs
  consistently outmatched P4 at the same clock
  speed (2.1Ghz Athlon beat 2.1Ghz P4)
• P4 had a shorter data package per clock cycle so
  less data was being processed.

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Live Demonstration