Chapter 3: The CPU Flashcards
Clock Speed
The frequency of a component rated in cycles per second and measured in hertz
Motherboard Bus Speed
Base clock of the motherboard generated by a quartz oscillating crystal on the motherboard
Internal Clock Speed
Internal frequency of the CPU
Base Clock x Multiplier = Internal Clock Speed
Socket
Electrical interface between the CPU and the motherboard (ZIF)
Zero Insertion Force (ZIF)
When no pressure or force is involved during installation
Pin Grid Array (PGA)
Sockets that accept CPUs that have pins covering the majority of their underside that are lock into place by a retaining arm
Land Grid Array (LGA)
Sockets that use lands that protrude out and touch the CPU’s contact points; Better power distribution and less chance to damage CPU
CPU Cache
High-speed memory that reduces the time the CPU takes to access data by using static RAM (SRAM)
L1 Cache
Built into the CPU core and gives fast access to the most frequently used data
L2 Cache
Usually built on to the CPU (on-die); Not as fast as L1, but still more frequently used data than the data from DRAM
L3 Cache
Comes in the largest capacity and has the most latency; Usually on-die
Hyper-Threading (Intel)
Enables a single CPU to accept and calculate two independent sets of instructions simultaneously, simulating two CPUs
HyperTransport (AMD)
High-speed, low-latency, point-to-point link that increases communication speed between various devices (such as the CPU and the northbridge)
Multicore CPUs
Physically contain two or more actual processor cores in in one CPU package; Calculate two or more instruction sets simultaneously, one instruction set per core
Thermal Design Power (TDP)
Rated in watts, it signifies the amount of heat generated by the CPU, which the cooling system is required to dissipate when operating with a complex workload
