An Overview of CPU, its features and cooling methods

The specification of the CPU is mainly rated by the speed they have. This speed is rated in Hertz and is the cycle per second. So basically, a megahertz processor can do millions of instruction in a second while the gigahertz processor can do billions of instructions per second. Even though the speed is presented by the cycles but still, there are some other things as well which are responsible for the speed. These include the architecture of the CPU, cache size, the Bus speed and the capabilities that an operating system has. Now, the marketers of the manufacturers are trying their best to divert the attention from the fact that how fast the CPU is to the fact that what a CPU is capable of.

Socket Types:

CPU has had many changed sockets during the past several years. There are the most prominent and the important socks there, which are AMD and the Intel. These sockets have been evolved throughout the years and now are capable of doing many amazing things. These sockets and their performances are as follows;

Intel: LGA, 775, 1366, 1156, 1155:

The many years ago, the LGA 775 was introduced by Intel. It has many important characteristics which one should know. LGA means the Land Gird Array. It is basically the array of those little pins which are present on the socket. The CPU chip never contains pins and only the socket does. The name is given to it was due to the fact that it has 775 pins. LGA 775 is also called that T Socket. It was actually introduced by cancelled by Intel. But it's known for the name as well now. The late models of P4, Core 2 Duo and the Celeron processors have this chip in them. What came next to LGA 775 is the LGA1366. It contains the 1366 pins on it. It is much more complex socket than the LGA 775 and the early models of core i7 have those socket. Then another replacement was announced by the Intel and it was 1156. It is actually the replacement of 775. This technology created some revolution since it allowed the creation of new CPU which helps in integrating the North Bridge on the CPU. Hence it got the fast response time and the fast efficiency whenever it accessed some program. The latest processor socket by the Intel is the LGA 1155. It has total 1155 pins in it as the name indicates. One should know that it is the only socket supporting the latest generation of the Ivy Bridges and the Sandy bridges processors.

AMD: 940, F, FM1, AM3, AM2+, Am3+ and AM2:

The AMD processors are cheaper than Intel. The first socket introduced by the AMD was 930. It has 930 pins in it. The format of the pins is different than the LGA sockets. This one has the Pin Grid Array means the all holes are located on the motherboard. So the processor's face is actually zero. It is put on the motherboard and forced to the clock wise rotation and hence it gets locked there. This socket supports the DDR RAMS. The next big surprise was the AM2. It was also consisting of 940 pins but it never was compatible with the old 940 or the older versions. This socket can process with the DDR2 memory. The same time this socket was released another socket named F which has the similarities with the LGA socket was also released. Then the socket AM2+ after the AM2 was introduced. They were just the minor upgraded versions of the old AM2 socket. The processors of AM2+ are able to operate on the AM2 motherboard since that have the same roots. AM2+ has faster working and the good load management abilities. The AM3 is again a 940 pins socket and it is the replacement of the other Am models. There are some backwards compatabilitiess as well with this socket. Hence, only a BIOS upgrade is required since they all can work on the same type of motherboard/The AM3 of the AMD can allow the users to use the DDR3 memory type. Hence one can achieve some good performance and AMD always make some minor changes to the sockets they produce so that the old motherboard can become compatible for the new one and the people don't have to spend so much by changing everything for the socket. Now a 905 pins socket has also been introduced which is the AM3+ socket. AM3+ isn't supported to the old motherboards. But there are some motherboards which are old ones and support this socket. This socked is called FM1. So basically, all the sockets of AMD are the PGA ones and the only socket that isn't of this type is socket F.

Characteristics:

Every CPU has some certain characteristics due to which they are preferred. There has been a common perception that the faster a CPU is, more good it is. But now the trend has been changed and people have started to question those capabilities and the compatibilities of the CPU as well. Following are the few characteristics of CPU which are still very important;

Speed:

Mostly CPUs are rated by the speed they perform at. It is calculated in Hertz and the cycle per second so the gigahertz CPU is the best one. It means that the CPU can perform a lot faster since it can handle the billions of the work at a single second.

Cores:

Cores are the new trends in the CPU history. The core inside the chip is so important factor while buying a processor. The cores which are available are dual core, quad core, core i5 and the core i7. Now, the work is being done on the attest, core i8 as well which would be able to handle the speed and the work even lot better and faster.

Cache Size:

The next thing is the Cache Size. One should understand that the speed of the processor and the cores are not the only things which attract people. It's the cache size as well. No matter what core a CPU has, they all have their own cache sizes. The dual core processor has two cores and each core might have the L1 cache inside them. Also, they might have the L2 cache which would be shared by both cores collectively. The Sandy Bridge's series by the Intel, which is the Quad core, has total 4 cores inside it. These cores have their own l2 and l1 cache inside them. One would also find the L3 cache and hence so much computing capabilities can be provided to the CPU and the cores can work really fast. Cache memory is actually the really fast memory and it is the fastest among all the memories in the computer. They have the mist sued data stored in them. So, it is good for a processor to have this memory so that not much time can be taken to fetch this memory for the user.

Hyper threading:

Another term which is associated to the fast CPU is called the hyper threading. This term is also known as HTT. This thing works in a way that it takes on single CPU and makes it become two in the way that it seems that there are two processors and the CPU acts that way. This technique doesn't just double up the speed, but the performance is boosted up so dramatically. So, if the processor is waiting to get the memory retrieved from a memory, then the same time there is something else which can be done by the processor. If the performance is increased by the HTT, then the performance is boosted up quite quickly. Also, the many operating systems which are there are taking advantage of this HTT technology provided by Intel.

Virtualization Support:

The visualization technologies have improved and changed a lot from the past ones. It is that one could run several operating systems at the very same time on a server or a computer. Even though it lowered down the speed and the abilities, but it also provided the chance to work on various OS at the same time. The manufacturers have now integrated this technology to the processor. So instead of using some virtualization software, one can now easily use it through the processor. The Intel has given it named of Intel VT while AMD calls it AMD Virtualization.

Architecture (64 and 32 bit):

One can find the 32 bit and the 64 bit operating systems. Actually it is the amount of data that can be processed at some time. With the 32 bit and 64 bit, one referred to the registers, the processor and how much memory can be talked to at one single time. If a system is 32 bit, then it handles the memory with the 32 bit architecture and it might even use the wider data bus of 64 bit. Hence, if one takes a look at the bus among the CPU and the motherboard and it shows it to be the 64 bit, it doesn't really mean that it is 64bit, it might be still 32 bit.

Integrated GPU:

The graphical processing unit or the GPU is the technology which actually collects the information and passes it to the screen or the display so that user can watch it. It can be integrated on the chips located on the motherboard, but there might be lots of hardware which would have been required to do the same.

Cooling:

The CPU contains and produced too much heat during the process and it is very vital to have a good cooling system to get that heat out of the CPU. Following are the techniques using which one can get rid of the heat which can actually fry up the motherboard, graphic card or even the HDD itself.

Heat Sink:

This method is very commonly used for cooling up the system. One should know that this technique includes having the aluminium or some copper cover on the top of components which is hot. As the chips get really hot, the cove pulls up the heat and sends it out. Hence the system is cooled down. Also, I can have some small holes which help the heat ventilation as the air passes by. The surface area is pretty big and hence it allows the heat to pass through properly through those fins.

Fans:

Another common technique to cool down the PC is the usage of Fans. It is very important to have fans since they are the major source of the heat sink since they contribute a lot to throw out the hot air and put in the normal one. Many of the components have their own fans as well. Like many motherboards can have their own fans. Especially the video cards, are supposed to have the fans which they can control. The reason is, that they get hot so soon since they have to carry out some really extensive work when games are played. If the fans stop working even for some hours, the card can get pretty fried up and can cost a lot. There are always many fans of various sizes which work together to ensure that the heat is getting out of the system.

Thermal paste:

The thermal paste is also known as the thermal grease and it is designed specially to keep the good connection among the component and the heat sink. The problem is, that if the lots of processing are done, those components get very hot and the thermal paste should be there to get the heat sink take the hot air away and cool down the components.

Liquid Base:

The problem with the fans is that they are noisy and many people don't like such noise. So, the alternate f it is the liquid. Now the computers contain some coolants which ate in liquid form and they keep circulating through the system so that the components can stay off and they do not get burnt by the heat being produced in the system.

CPU is also called the brain of the computer since they contain the processors. The better CPU can provide some really good performance of the PC but there are something's which should be know The features and the specifications of the CPU and the components inside it plays the vital rule since they may change the performance of the PC from head to toe. One major problem with the best CPU is that they create too much heat so there has to be some proper cooling system so that the components working inside the CPU don't get fried up and cost some big amount to the user.