System Architecture 1.1

System Architecture 1.1

1. Central processing unit

2. Central processing unit

   • The processor is "the brains of the computer"
   • It carries out instructions and executes them
   • Processors have a clock speed measured in Hertz which is the number of cycles per second
   • 1 Ghz is the same as one billion instructions per second
   • each processor has a core which instructions are executed
     • processors are multi core this means they can be dual -core, quad-core and so on this a dual core carries out 2 times the amount of instructions and a quad-core carries out 4 times the amount of instructions
   • Processors have a cache- this is very fast and usually a very small amount of memory on the processor chip
     • programs are being executed, the cache holds instructions
   • What affects performance?
     • Clock speed