The processor is considered the heart of the computer. It is an extremely sensitive and very complex device and is sometimes referred to as a microcomputer, because it carries out all the important operations. What this important computer module is responsible for? Mainly for the speed of his work. It is expressed in hertz, the basic unit of frequency. One hertz is equal to one beat per second. For the sake of comparison, let's look at the human heart, which on average beats with speed 70 beats per minute, that is, about one hertz. The processor works with a frequency, e.g.. 3GHz (3 a gig of hertz),which means 3 billions of times per second! Such intensive operation of the processor warms it up to quite high temperatures, therefore, various methods of cooling processors in computers are used.
1. Processor definition.
Processor (CPU – Central Processing Unit oraz GPU – Graphics Processing Unit) is a sequential digital device, whose task is to retrieve data from memory, interpreting them and executing them as orders. Processors perform a series of simple operations selected from the set of the computer's basic operations, previously specified by the processor manufacturer as its instruction list.
2. Parameters and construction.
Processors, also known as microprocessors, are made as integrated circuits enclosed in a hermetic casing (it often has gold-plated leads, which are used for their resistance to oxidation). The heart of each processor is a single crystal of silicon, on which a series of semiconductor layers were applied by means of photolithography, which, depending on the application, form a network of several thousand to several billion transistors. They are joined with ordinary metals such as aluminum or copper.
The basic feature of this very important part of the computer structure is word length, that is, the number of bits, on which computational operations are performed. If e.g.. the word has 64 bits, it is said, that the processor is also 64-bit. Another important parameter is speed, with which the processor performs this computation. Depending on the processor architecture, this speed largely depends on the duration of one measure.
3. Multitasking and multi-core.
Nowadays, there are usually processors with a multi-core structure. The first multi-core processor, which appeared on the market, was Power 4 firmy IBM. Its appearance on the market took place already in a year 2001 That is 14 years ago. However, when it comes to multi-core processors of the x86 architecture, the first were the Opteron versions by AMD and the Pentium Extreme Edition by Intel, launched four years later in April. The latter company - Intel is famous for the very popular Intel Pentium D model, which was only dominated by Intel Core 2 Duo, which was built on the basis of the Conroe architecture (65 nm). CPUs have really high frequency cores, np 4,4 GHz – AMD A10-6800Kii7-4790k, however, there is no significant increase in clock speed with the next generation of multi-core processors. It doesn't, that the computation speed does not increase. It is raised due to the increase in the number of transistors and cores in innovative processors.
Both major producers, that is, AMD and Intel compete in creating better and better processors. Both companies now offer quad-core models ( Intel Core I5 and I7 and AMD Athlon II X4 or Phenom II X4 from AMD), as well as six-core ( Phenom II X6 and Core I7 9 × 0 series) designed for desktop computers. Octa-core processors introduced by AMD also appeared (would be FX ). There are also processors for server applications, they may have 10 (Intel Xeon) the 16 cores (AMD Opteron).
PC class computers in particular have in addition to the main processor (CPU) also auxiliary processors such as: image (GPU, the latest designs allow you to connect the CPU with the GPU in the APU), arithmetic coprocessors (over the years 90 generally integrated with the CPU) and sound processors.
As can be deduced from all this information, the processor is a very important element in the construction of the entire computer system. Technology will move forward like this over time, that it is not known what will be on such a small PCB, which holds so much power.