Processors And Memory

Part 1 - Processors In general

There are so many types of processors on the market today that it can be quite confusing to wade through them all, especially for the beginner. All chips are not created equal, and each chip has its own specific characteristics that make it unique.For instance, a chip of the same generation (type and model) may operate at double or triple the speed of others. Fierce competition between chipmakers lays the groundwork for new technological innovations and constant improvements.

Different manufacturers design and build processors to varying specifications. You should be sure that the processor type and model that you choose is compatible with the operating system that runs on your computer. If the processor is not 100% compatible with the installed OS, the computer will not operate at it's best or may not work at all.

Even though there are so many differences in specifications of processors, there are a few things that they all have in common. Without knowing the proper terms and vocabulary, even thinking about purchasing a new processor can make even advanced users nervous. In this section you will familiarize yourself with processor and memory terms.

Processor Terminology

Processors are known by Many names, dpending on their function(s)

• Integrated Circuit - IC - Also known as the Microchip, Silicon Chip, computer Chip, or just Chip. It is the miniturized Electronic Curcuit that has been manufactured on to a thin silicon semiconductor. All processors are based on IC Technology
  


• Central Processing Unit (CPU) - also known as Processor for short, is what actually does the computing. It is the Brains of the computer that interprets all the comands, and the part that is responsible for everything. Nearly all digital equipment have a CPU, wheater its a calculator, or a Super Computer. It may be one chip, or consist of thousands of different chips and other parts.
  


• Microprocessor - The Single Chip CPU for devices. This is what your Pentium / AMD Athlon chip actually is.
  


• Compex Instruction Set Computer - CISC - A Microprocessor which has a great many number of of instructions for operations. Instructions vary in complexity, number of Clock cycles required to execute. In the Intel Pentium / AMD Athlon Chips era have milliions of instructtions, and are CISC Chips. CISC Chips are also found in Graphics Cards for GPUs, Audio Processors, and even Chipset Controllers
  


• Recuced Instruction Set Computer - RISC - A Microprocessor which has a generally small number of internal instructions, which take the same amount of time (Clock cycles) to execute. Examples of RISC based processors are SPARC, MIPS, PowerPC, RS/6000. Most Minicomputers and Mainframes tend to have RISC chips. Specialised RISC chips are used in Addon cards or many small electronic devices.. (like calculators)
  


• Graphiical Processing Unit - This is the Processor on your Graphics card, and is what allows your for all the fancy displays used in games. It has specialized functions that are only for graphics, so there is not much load on your main procesor
  


• Arithmatic Processor - Also kown as the Math-CoProcessor. In Older Systems that Predated the Pentium Chip (like the 8086, 286, 386, 486) Most applications did not require High end mathematics. In order to keep the complexity of the chips and costs low, many complex mathematical instructions were placed on a Second chip calld a Math Co-processor. Thiis chip was an optional Addon, and most applications did not take advantage of them. Spreadsheets and accounting software were written to detect and take advantage of the Math-CoPro. Applications for CAD and many Scientific Applications like Mathlab in fact Requierd a Co-processor to bee installed. In Todays Processors, these instructions are paret of the Floating Point Unit - FPU within the Microprocessor
  


• Application-Specific Integrated Circuit - ASIC - Chips that have been designed for very special Functionality. Commonly overlooked ASICs are GPUs, Motherboard chipsets. Hard Drive Controllers, Cryptographic Processors, RAID Controllers, and many other peripherials (including Printers) comomnly use ASICs.
  


• System On a Chip - SoC - As the name says, a Full system, including Memory, and all required parts. Today, this is common in smaller devices, however, we're not too far from having machines more powerful than Some of todays High end servers totally fit on one chip in the not so distant future.