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Mr. C. Ncube and Mrs. Marabada (Introduction To IT Laboratory)

This document provides an introduction to CPUs and processors. It discusses the CPU, showing an image of an old AMD processor. It notes that processors have many electrical connections that require them to be mounted on a larger assembly. It also explains that newer processors have a metal cap to spread heat. The document then discusses CPU speed in terms of gigahertz and clock cycles. It notes clock speed is important but not the only factor in determining processing power. Finally, it covers cores, explaining that newer CPUs have multiple cores which provide more processing units to do work and improve speed.

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Clemence Munaki
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18 views

Mr. C. Ncube and Mrs. Marabada (Introduction To IT Laboratory)

This document provides an introduction to CPUs and processors. It discusses the CPU, showing an image of an old AMD processor. It notes that processors have many electrical connections that require them to be mounted on a larger assembly. It also explains that newer processors have a metal cap to spread heat. The document then discusses CPU speed in terms of gigahertz and clock cycles. It notes clock speed is important but not the only factor in determining processing power. Finally, it covers cores, explaining that newer CPUs have multiple cores which provide more processing units to do work and improve speed.

Uploaded by

Clemence Munaki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to IT - CAC 1203

Mr. C. Ncube and Mrs. Marabada


(Introduction to IT Laboratory)

1
The CPU/Processor

A view of the top of a processor


Little grey piece in centre is actual CPU
Image of an old AMD Sempron 2800+ processor 2
There are so many electrical
connections on the tiny processor, it
has to be mounted into the larger
assembly otherwise the interface
connections/contacts would have to be
approximately the size of a human hair
and would not be reliable in the real
world

3
ee

newer style processors have top of die


covered by a thick metal cap to spread the heat
effectively increases CPU surface for thermal
coupling to the heatsink baseplate

4
CPU Speed
speed is generally specified by the operating
frequency of the processor
if speed is 3GHz (gigahertz), it means that
the 'clock' (not related to the time of day) is
switching on and off at 3,000,000,000 times a
second
While clock speed is important to the relative
processing power (how many things it can do per
second), it's not the only aspect that determines how
fast a processor is.

5
Cores
Ever heard a discussion about the processing
speed/power of a computer?
Ever heard about someone say that their pc is
a dual core, quad core.?
They refer to the number of processing units that
there are in the CPU
Newer consumer-oriented processors have as
many as 8 cores and server processors have
as many as 16 cores in a single CPU module

6
more cores mean, there are more
engines to do work which makes the
processor faster

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