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In computing and computer science, a processor or processing unit is an electrical component (digital circuit) that performs operations on an external data source, usually memory or some other data stream. [1]
A modern consumer CPU made by Intel: An Intel Core i9-14900KF Inside a central processing unit: The integrated circuit of Intel's Xeon 3060, first manufactured in 2006. A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer.
The first single core processor was the Intel 4004, which was commercially released on November 15, 1971 by Intel. [4] Since then many improvements have been made to single core processors, going from the 740 kHz of the Intel 4004 to the 2 GHz Celeron G470.
In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. [1] A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an implementation of that ISA.
A CPU socket is made of plastic, and often comes with a lever or latch, and with metal contacts for each of the pins or lands on the CPU. Many packages are keyed to ensure the proper insertion of the CPU. CPUs with a PGA (pin grid array) package are inserted into the socket and, if included, the latch is closed.
In a hotly-contested marketplace AMD and others released new versions of multi-core CPU's, AMD's SMP enabled Athlon MP CPU's from the AthlonXP line in 2001, Sun released the Niagara and Niagara 2 with eight-cores, AMD's Athlon X2 was released in June 2007. The companies were engaged in a never-ending race for speed, indeed more demanding ...
A common trait observed among processes associated with most computer programs is that they alternate between CPU cycles and I/O cycles. For the portion of the time required for CPU cycles, the process is being executed and is occupying the CPU. During the time required for I/O cycles, the process is not using the processor.
Example components were CPU, tape drives, hard disks, card-readers, and printers. Computers that predominantly used peripherals were characterized as I/O bound . Establishing that a computer is frequently CPU-bound implies that upgrading the CPU or optimizing code will improve the overall computer performance.