Latest Processors Blog

Since the 1960s processors or CPUs as they are commonly known have gone through a rapid phase of transition. This transformation of the CPU has come about due to the invention of certain technologies such as transistors and semi-conductors, leading to smaller and smaller electrical components.

Many features affect the speed at which the processor is able to complete its tasks. Features such as the front side bus or computer bus, the clock speed, the type of socket used for the CPU, the amount of cache and external factors such as the cooling system that has been implemented to cool the CPU.

The CPU communicates with the other components in the PC through the front side bus or computer bus, the faster that it can communicate with the other components the faster it can receive and process tasks. The speed of the bus can depend on a few factors including the type of socket used to connect the CPU, one of the fastest bus providing sockets available is Socket 7.

The clock speed of the processor is probably the most important factor governing the overall speed of the CPU, but that is not to say this is the only thing that should be considered when purchasing a CPU. The greater amount of Hz the processor can sustain the faster it can process a task. A modern technique called parallelizing helps the CPU to perform more than one task at a time and thus speeds up the time it takes the CPU to multitask, a feature similar to this is called Hyper-Threading by Intel.

The cache of the CPU is also an important feature for increasing speed of the machine. The cache stores files and makes them readily available to the processor for quick access. This allows for a more efficient processing unit.

I briefly touched on this earlier with socket 7 but I will explain a little more here. Each processor has a different type of connecting base, called the socket. The socket is the way in which the processor connects to the motherboard and as such as there are many types of sockets, there also need to be many types of motherboards that other connectivity to the processor. Different sockets provide different speeds of communication and when buying a processor the motherboard will also need to be considered.

The cooling system that is attached to the CPU will also affect the performance. Processors are designed to operate within a certain temperature range and as such if there are not within this range do not operate optimally. As the CPUs get very hot cooling is an important feature of any PC. An effective cooling system will incorporate a heatsync applied directly to the CPU along with a fan system to remove heat from the heatsync.

Andrew Johnson is an expert in electronic products. If you would like further information about varieties of processors or are searching for a reputable computer retailer please visit http://www.ebuyer.com