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The
Processor
Your
computer’s processor, also known as the CPU, is the
main ‘brain’ or processing engine of your
computer. The speed of your processor determines the
overall quickness of your computer.
The
processor is the small square chip positioned on the
motherboard, usually hidden by a large heatsink and
fan. The other components in your computer all
interact with each other through the processor. Let me
give you an example.
You
type the letter A on your keyboard. This sends a code
to the keyboard controller, which in turn transmits
this to the processor. The processor identifies the
keyboard controller signal as a letter A, and then
does two things. It sends a notification off to the
memory bank that a letter A was typed, and at the same
time sends a coded signal to the video card. The video
card picks up the coded signal, converts it into the
shape of the letter A, and then sends the finished
letter to the monitor, where it appears for you to
see. This process happens extremely quickly, the speed
largely determined by the capacity of the processor.
Today
processors speeds have greatly increased from what
they were even 10 years ago. Processor speeds are
measured in ‘cycles’, a cycle being from when the
processor receives a coded signal, until it is ready
to receive another signal. For example, a processor is
said to be 2.8Ghz, which is 2,800,000,000 cycles per
second. When we say a processor is 700Mhz (or 0.7Ghz),
we are saying the processor can do 700,000,000 cycles
per second. This is fast! It would be like you moving
a piece of paper from one hand to the other
700,000,000 times per second!
Another
factor in processor speed is the way it has been
manufactured. There are two main manufacturers of
processors, Intel and AMD. Many folks have various
opinions about which processor is better, but
realistically both processors are excellent, provided
you use them for what they are best designed for.
The
Intel processor is designed to do solid processing,
due to it having a large amount of memory built-in.
This memory, known as the L1 and L2 cache, increases
the capacity within the processor to ‘remember’
where it is up to in its tasks. This type of processor
is ideal for large number crunching, such as in
finance software, office programs, and where large
amounts of information are being searched for, as in
databases.
The
AMD processor is built differently from the Intel. The
AMD’s have access to 4 times the amount of memory
than do the Intel’s, and thus are able to move large
chunks of information quickly. This makes them ideal
for graphic intensive software, such as games, photo
editing, and website development. In AMD’s the cycle
speed is not as high as the Intel’s, but in terms of
performance, are comparable to the Intel’s.
For more information,
you are welcome to contact us on 0419 790 071, or
email us at info@mcsyarraman.com.au, or visit our
site.
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