What is a CPU? Processor simply explained

The CPU is one of the essential core components in a PC or smartphone And represents the central unit of the device. In the following article you will learn what a CPU is exactly, details about the structure and what the speed of a CPU says about you.

1. The CPU as a central unit

The term CPU stands as a abbreviation for Central Processing Unit and means translated about central processor unit. On PC systems, the CPU together with the mainboard forms the essential basic structure in computer structure and is supplemented by other components such as power supply, RAM, graphics card, drives, etc.

The CPU sits on the mainboard in a CPU base. The plinth differ from CPU manufacturers to CPU manufacturers and are also not compatible within the family of manufacturers. Before buying a CPU and a mainboard, you must therefore ensure that the two components are compatible with each other.

2. Building a processor

A CPU consists in a simplified manner of different building blocks, which can vary depending on the manufacturer and model:

• CPU-Register
  The CPU register is a particularly fast memory by storing the data for the calculation.
• Arithmetic-logical unit
  The arithmetic-logical unit (Arithmetic logic unit, aluminum) performs the arithmetic and logical operations, almost a calculation.
• Steering
  The control unit or the control unit (Control Unit, Cu) coordinates communication between the RAM and the other elements within the CPU.
• Data buses
  The information within the CPU is transferred via the data buses.

Many CPUs also have other components such as co-processors for certain computing tasks, virtualization or integrated components such as the GPU for graphic display. Processors are produced with a structural width of 10 to 14 nanometer technology and come to 5 billion and more transistors (circuits) with different levels.

What is a GPU?

The term GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit and describes the The main processor of the graphics card. In recent years, primarily for gaming PCs for playing 3D games, these have become more and more efficient and also play an important role in mining bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

3. Data on the speed of a CPU

The moor law, named after Gordon Moore, who set up the thesis in 1965 that the CPU performance doubled every year was actually valid for a long time. In the meantime, the development is a bit slower and currently needs 18 months for the computing power.

The Tact of a CPU is given in Hertz (Hz) And over 5 gigahertz (GHz) in high-end models. Still, he says Pure CPU clock nothing about the performance of a CPU out of. Compared to older CPUs, newer models are equipped with more cache memory and seeds, so that With the same or low bars, a modern CPU can work much faster than an older CPU. In addition, the manufacturers have moved many functions to the CPU on separate chips on the main board in order to achieve an even higher performance.

Another criterion for the computing speed is the number of kernels. Basically one can say that The more cores a CPU provides, the more computing tasks can be processed in parallel. However, this fundamental statement must be put into perspective if the programs and the operating system do not efficiently handle the calculation works and use it evenly. For the reason the Kerne divided into the operating system again and displayed as logical processors.

You can have the utilization of logical processors displayed in the Task Manager from Windows by switching the graph presentation to logical processors via the context menu.

4. Intel and AMD are very common in the desktop segment

For the Windows PC area, both Intel and AMD are the market leaders and depict all CPUs in the home segment. The shares of Intel and AMD in the Windows users used on the online sales platform Steam in June 2021 were divided into approx. 72 percent Intel and 28 percent AMD. AMD and Intel, on the other hand, play no role for the smartphone market. Here Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung and other providers split the market among themselves.

There are currently 4 to 6 kernels standard in the mid -range segment. You can display the data for the CPU used with free PC diagnostic tools such as CPU-Z or the special tools of the CPU manufacturers (Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool or AMD AMD Ryzen Master).

In the picture you can see a current 6-core CPU from AMD with all the essential information.

5. The selection of the right processor

The market of various CPUs from Intel and AMD is currently a real jungle and is also difficult for experienced users to look through the processor name due to many abbreviations. The reason is that both manufacturers currently offer various processor generations that differ significantly in the structure, clock, clock and number of cores and, if necessary, internal graphics unit.

Which CPU and thus choosing the platform (currently AMD AM4 or Intel LGA1200) you choose a home PC depends largely on the purpose. A 4-core CPU of both manufacturers is sufficient for an office calculator with the typical tasks Office, Web and Streaming.

However, elaborate 3D games not only need a fast graphics card, but also a powerful multi-core CPU. For a gaming PC, you should therefore consider buying a CPU with at least 6 cores. However, note that here Graphics card and CPU in a balanced ratio have to stand. It makes no sense to marry a cheap graphics card with a very fast, expensive CPU and vice versa. There are numerous guides on the Internet to choose the right processor and graphics card, while websites such as PC Games Hardware with databases for the many CPUs and graphics cards, individual tests and construction suggestions for your own computers are a good source of information.

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