Computer Performance

Computer Performance

1. Clock Speed

   • What?
     • Clock speed is measured in Hz (hertz)
     • The clock speed of a CPU is the number of fetch decode cycles that can be carried out every second.
   • How?
     • The higher the clock speed, the more instructions that can be carried out per second meaning the performance of the computer will be improved.

2. Cores

   • What?
     • Independent processors in the CPU.
     • Run the fetch decode cycles simultaneously.
     • Dual core means 2 independent processors and quad core means 4.
   • How?
     • The more cores, the more instructions the CPU executes every second making the performance of the computer will be improved.

3. Cache

   • How?
     • If there is a larger amount of cache memory storage, a larger number of frequently used instructions can be stored. This means that more instructions can be accessed quickly, which will improve the performance of the computer.
   • What?
     • Cache memory is faster and more expensive than RAM
     • Cache memory stores frequently-used instructions.
     • Cache memory is a small amount of memory which is either inside the CPU or closer to the CPU than RAM.

4. RAM

   • How?
   • What?