CPU - Central Processing Unit

CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. CPU is the brain of a computer. There are two manufacturers that make CPUs for personal computers. These are Intel and AMD. Apple make their own processors for their computers, but in older Macs you may find CPUs made by other companies. Until recent time Intel processors were used in Mac computers.

CPUs can be of two types. They can be either LGA or PGA type. PGA stands for "Pin Grid Array". If one of these pins is snapped, then entire CPU can be thrown away. LGA stands for "Land Grid Array". Each connector in a CPU is a tiny connector in a form of dot, therefore LGA processor type is less fragile than PGA type.

It is important not to touch a CPU connectors with fingers. Finger oil can damage a CPU. When a CPU needs to be handled, then it can be grabbed by its sides.

A CPU is good at calculating numbers, but it does it so quickly. A CPUs allows us edit word documents, play video games or edit spreadsheets.

Over the years CPUs went through process of improvement, so older CPUs are slower then newer ones.

AMD processors are compatible to Intel processors in major functions, however both Intel and AMD processors have their unique functionality. To take advantage of it, the operating system needs to support those features.

Processors can have multiple cores. A single core is not a physical, but logical separation of operations.

CPUs vary in processing speed. Speed of processor is measured in giga hertz. However it is not only needed to look at the speed of a processor in hertz, but it is also important to look at microarchitecture used. Usually newer microarchitecture has improvement that CPUs using it can execute operations more efficiently.

Caching is another feature of CPUs that need to be mentioned. Caching is way to store results of the operation for quick retrieval without performing costly operation to perform this operation. Caching can improve performance of a CPU. There are different levels of CPU cache. It usually ranges from level 1 to level 3. Level 1 cache is the smallest and the most efficient. The size of cache increases with each level, but the speed decreases.

Some of the CPUs have integrated graphics. This graphics is good for general use, however computer gamers need a dedicated video card with a dedicated graphical processor.

A single microarchitecture of a processor type can be applied to all processors in that iteration. A single microarchitecture can be used for different kinds of processors within that microarchitecture type.

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