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A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the most important processor in a given computer. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program , such as arithmetic , logic, controlling, and input/output (I/O) operations.
See also References External links A Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) A dedicated video bus standard introduced by INTEL enabling 3D graphics capabilities; commonly present on an AGP slot on the motherboard. (Presently a historical expansion card standard, designed for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard (and considered high-speed at launch, one of the last off-chip parallel ...
If based on the von Neumann architecture, they contain at least a control unit (CU), an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), and processor registers. In practice, CPUs in personal computers are usually also connected, through the motherboard , to a main memory bank, hard drive or other permanent storage , and peripherals , such as a keyboard and mouse .
The control unit (CU) is a component of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) that directs the operation of the processor. A CU typically uses a binary decoder to convert coded instructions into timing and control signals that direct the operation of the other units (memory, arithmetic logic unit and input and output devices, etc.).
Mode protection may extend to resources beyond the CPU hardware itself. Hardware registers track the current operating mode of the CPU, but additional virtual-memory registers, page-table entries, and other data may track mode identifiers for other resources. For example, a CPU may be operating in Ring 0 as indicated by a status word in the CPU ...
Invalidate Internal Caches. [e] Modified data in the cache are not written back to memory, potentially causing data loss. [f] WBINVD: NFx 0F 09 [g] Write Back and Invalidate Cache. [e] Writes back all modified cache lines in the processor's internal cache to main memory and invalidates the internal caches.
An opened ATX case, front towards right. Components pictured include a microATX motherboard (top), a CPU (beneath the Cooler Master fan), a GPU (middle), and an SSD (right). The power supply is housed in the compartment at bottom. A computer case, also known as a computer chassis, is the enclosure that contains most of the hardware of a ...
Machine code is generally different from bytecode (also known as p-code), which is either executed by an interpreter or itself compiled into machine code for faster (direct) execution. An exception is when a processor is designed to use a particular bytecode directly as its machine code, such as is the case with Java processors.