CPU (Central processing unit)

CPU (Central processing unit)

1. Definition: the brain of the computer

   • CPU is the abbreviation for central processing unit. sometimes referred to simply as the central processor, but more commonly called processor, the CPU is the brain of the computer where the most calculations take place.

2. Factors that Affect performance

   • Clock speed
   • Number of cores
     • Each core is like a small CPU inside the main CPU. The more cores you have allows your CPU to do multiple things at once making it respond faster and that'll also make your computer run faster.
     • The more cores you have allows you to do multiple things at once. For example if you're playing a game and you have the internet in use in the background and you have a single core CPU your CPU will have to split its time between the two tasks. So if you had a dual core processor and would allow multiple tasks to all run at equal speeds.
   • Cache speed

3. How it works

   • The CPU gets given instructions it then decodes it and then executes this instruction. This process is refered to by three key words: fetch decode and execute

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