What the Heck's in Your Computer - Part 2: CPU

The CPU or central processing unit (shorthand is processor or microprocessor) is both the brains and muscle of your computer. It does all the heavy lifting when it comes to executing instructions from your programs. In other words allowing them to run and do what you need them to. It is also generally the most expensive part in any computer. CPUs have come from a number of manufacturers over the years including IBM, AMD, and the best known and market leader Intel. In past years there was far more competition between companies making processors but Intel has emerged as the mainstream giant with only AMD as competition . CPUs are at the heart of many consumer devices such as smart phones, tablets and even cable set top boxes.

In the past buying a computer was as simple as numbers – more was better. So a 2.5 gigahertz (internal clock speed) processor was always faster than 1.5 gigahertz—easy. For computer CPUs there was a fundamental shift in design about 5 years ago. The manufacturers realized they could not continue to increase clock speeds because that was increasing power requirements and heat past the point that was manageable in most designs. The solution was to add cores – in other words put multiple processors on one physical chip. This turned out to be the answer to moving processing speeds forward – multiprocessing was the future. Operating systems and software would need to be released to support this so first windows Vista and now windows 7 uses this capacity. Consumers first saw this in the 32bit Intel core duo then the 64bit core 2 duo. Now we have the i3 entry level, i5 mainstream, and i7 processor which is really a family of processors using anywhere from 2 to 6 cores – each has varied amounts of cache ram – some with on board video processing and some without.

So I guess the point is buying a computer based on numbers alone is no longer the best method. To know exactly what a processor can do I’d advise checking a comparison guide like those found on the Intel web site or Wikipedia. If you prefer someone else do the legwork a sales professional will ask your current and projected uses for the system and then recommend a processor based on that. Someone doing basic internet and documents doesn’t need the latest, fastest and most expensive processor while someone editing HD video or multi-monitor 3d gaming or design very well might.

If you are looking for a new PC and have questions about the components for your system, the sales team at Northern are happy to assist.

Click here for Part 1: The Motherboard

Click here for Part 3: The Hard Drive

Click here for Part 4: The RAM

-Paul C, Service Bench Supervisor

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
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Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca  or service@northerncomputer.ca
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