Factors Affecting Processor Performance

Question 1

How does clock speed affect processor performance?

Answer 1

• The clock speed is a key factor in the performance of a computer.
  It controls the process of executing an instruction as well as fetching data in another cycle. Clock speed has increased regularly in recent years.
• Modern computer devices run at a clock speed in excess of 2.5 GHz, or 2.5 thousand million times a second. - Computer performance can easily be increased by purchasing a faster device. However, the faster the device the more heat it produces and so additional cooling is necessary to prevent CPU damage.

Question 2

How does number of cores affect processor performance?

Answer 2

System performance can be improved by increasing the number of processors; this can be achieved by using a multi-core processor.
A multi-core processor has more than one processor incorporated into a single chip; therefore, using a dual-core processor will provide two processors on one chip, which will operate faster than a single-core processor

Question 3

How does cache memory affect processor performance?

Answer 3

Cache is high-speed memory that is fitted close to or on the processor.
Programs run faster using cache memory as it can be accessed faster than main memory; also it stores regularly used data and instructions to further improve performance.

Question 4

How does word length affect processor performance?

Answer 4

Most modern processors use 32-bit or 64-bit word lengths; the performance of a processor improves with an increase in word length, providing that the word length and data bus are the same size.
So, using a 64-bit word length with a 64-bit bus will allow 64 bits of data to be handled in one clock pulse.

Question 5

How does Address Bus Width affect processor performance?

Answer 5

The width of the address bus affects the amount of memory that can be read from or written to; therefore, allowing more memory to be installed on the system or embedded device.

Question 6

How does Data Bus Width affect processor performance?

Answer 6

The width of the data bus directly affects how much data can be carried in one fetch operation.
Where the processor uses a 64-bit data bus, it obviously carries more data than a 32-bit data bus, so the processor can work faster. Where word size and data bus width are the same size then data transfers can always be carried out in one single process, which improves performance.