What is Processor ?
A processor is a small chip that resides in computer. It's basic job is to receive input and provide the appropriate output.
The processor is made up of many components, but it has three important sub units.
Main facets of processor :
A processor is a small chip that resides in computer. It's basic job is to receive input and provide the appropriate output.
- Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU) : The ALU is an electronic circuit used to carry out the arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Logical operations like greater than, less than, equal to etc.
- Control Unit : Its main functions are to control the transfer of data and information between various units and to initiate appropriate actions by the arithmetic-logic unit. The control unit fetches instructions from the memory, decodes them, and directs them to various units to perform the specified tasks.
- Memory Unit : Once the CPU has carried out an instruction, it needs the result to be stored. This storage space is provided by the computer’s memory. Data provided by the input device, and the result of that processed data is also stored in the memory unit.
Main facets of processor :
- Socket : It is a type of physical connection between processor and motherboard. It is responsible for transmitting energy to the processor.
- Core : The more cores we have the more functions it can execute simultaneously with out overloading our system.
- Clock : It is responsible for defining the frequency that our processor will use to execute one task, it is measured by hertz.
- Cache : It is a type of memory where the most accessed data that can be processed, identified and stored. It is able to execute the action faster because it is more readily available.
- Hyper threading : It''ll decrease the idle time to load data using multiple threads. These are more of a structural entities rather than physical, so it is a technique to run efficiently.
- GPU : GPU stands for graphical processing unit. It'll process the graphics and manages all animations/graphics in user interface.
- In the above picture the intel processor named i3 which is (4150) 4th generation, dual core, clocked at 3.5GHZ which is 3.5 billion cycles per second.
- From generation to generation the technology is improving which is the transistor size is becoming less as 10 NM,14 NM,20 NM etc.