3.9.1 Processor Concepts

Understanding CPU Components and Technologies

• Electric connections established with the motherboard bus connect the CPU to system RAM, storage devices, video interface, and expansion cards in expansion slots.
• Clock speed, measured in gigahertz, determines the rate at which the CPU can execute instructions, with faster clock speeds enabling more instructions per second.
• Synchronization of all motherboard-connected components, such as RAM, CPU, and expansion cards, requires support for the CPU’s clock speed by the motherboard.
• Overclocking involves pushing the CPU beyond its designed specifications to gain a marginal performance increase, but it can lead to increased heat, electricity consumption, reduced lifespan of components, and potential system instability.
• CPU cache, made of static random access memory (SRAM), stores frequently accessed information from system RAM, significantly boosting performance.
• Multi-core processors with multiple processors within the same CPU package dramatically improve system performance by executing more than one instruction at a time.
• Multithreading allows a single core within a CPU to execute two instructions simultaneously, further increasing system performance, especially when implemented within a multi-core CPU.
• Intel's hyper-threading technology, introduced in 2002, allows one physical core to appear to the operating system as two processors, processing two instructions simultaneously and providing about a 20 percent increase in performance.
• GPUs, specialized for display functions, are located on plug-in cards, in a chipset on the motherboard, or integrated with the CPU on the same chip.
• Virtualization enables the installation and simultaneous running of multiple operating systems on a single physical machine, allowing the consolidation of multiple servers onto a single hardware platform.
• Virtual machines in virtualization appear as self-contained and separate physical systems, allowing for the efficient use of resources and management of multiple server platforms.
• The text provides detailed explanations of CPU components, technologies, and their impact on system performance, including clock speed, overclocking, CPU cache, multi-core processors, multithreading, hyper-threading, GPUs, and virtualization.