Processor

· Processor is the brain of your computer.

· Some key concepts

–Clock : In a computer, clock speed refers to the number of pulses per second that sets the tempo for the processor.

– Cache

∗ A small but fast memory area.

∗ Levels of cache exists.

– Bus (FSB and BSB) : Collection of wires connecting different devices.

– Pipeline : Implementation technique where multiple instructions are overlapped.

· 32/64 bit processors

– The amount of data a processor can process in a clock cycle.

· Clock speed and overclocking

– BUS SPEED x MULTIPLIER = CPU SPEED (Clock)

· Which processor is faster?

– 100MHz x 10.0 = 1000 MHz

– 133MHz x 7.5 = 997.5 MHz

Some commercially available processors

· Pentium I-IV

· Celeron

· Athlon

· Duron

· Cyrix C3

· Itanium (64 bit)

· Opteron (64 bit)

· How do you pick a processor for your system?

– Performance & Cost

· How to measure performance?

– Clock speed is one measure of computer “power”, but it is not always directly proportional to the performance level.

– The type of microprocessor, the bus architecture, and the nature of the instruction set, all make a difference.

∗ examples : P4 3.06 GHz, P4 3.0B GHz, P4 3.0C GHz

– Check for bus speed and cache size as well.