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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.
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.
Because computer parts contain hazardous materials, there is a growing movement to recycle old and outdated parts. [66] Computer hardware contain dangerous chemicals such as lead, mercury, nickel, and cadmium. According to the EPA these e-wastes have a harmful effect on the environment unless they are disposed of properly.
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]
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 ...
A modern CPU also tends to include an interrupt controller. It handles interrupt signals from the system bus. The control unit is the part of the computer that responds to the interrupts. There is often a cache controller to cache memory. The cache controller and the associated cache memory is often the largest physical part of a modern, higher ...
The combination of an x86 CPU and an x87 coprocessor forms a single multi-chip microprocessor; the two chips are programmed as a unit using a single integrated instruction set. [61] The 8087 and 80187 coprocessors are connected in parallel with the data and address buses of their parent processor and directly execute instructions intended for them.
The instructions are usually part of an executable program, often stored as a computer file and executed on the processor. The x86 instruction set has been extended several times, introducing wider registers and datatypes as well as new functionality.