A good way to understand how a processor works is to imagine that your job is to tell a thousand people how to do their jobs. The faster you can do that, the faster everyone works. Computer processors, or chips, operate in a similar fashion. A processor provides the instructions that multiple applications and processes need to perform their jobs. The faster it does that, the faster a computer operates. Faster computers often translate into increased productivity and efficiency. Computers onboard Apollo 11 in 1969 were less powerful than a cell phone. Today, technological advances in chip manufacturing make it possible for computers with faster processors to run programs, play movies and blaze through complex calculations at remarkable speeds.
Processors and Other Computer Components
Your processor also communicates with other computer components, such as memory and the hard drive. Because these components work together, a slow hard drive could make an application run slowly even if your computer has a very fast processor. Random Access Memory, or RAM, stores information that applications need. Windows and other applications move data into memory and read it back continuously. If your RAM reads and writes data slowly, that may also slow your computer down.
Clock Speed
It may be tempting to buy a processor because it advertises a fast clock speed. However, clock speed, as Computer Shopper notes, “is only marginally useful in gauging how ‘fast’ a CPU really is.” That’s because a chip’s architecture, cache and other factors also influence your computing speed. Clock speed refers to the number of cycles that a processor executes per second. A cycle is a unit of measurement during which a processor executes instructions. If you see a processor that has a rating of 3.1 GHz, it operates at 3.1 billion cycles per second.
Cores vs. Speed
A processor’s core count can be more important than its speed. You may have seen the terms dual-core or quad-core when reviewing processors. A dual-core chip consists of two processors while a quad-core chip contains four. You’ll find a quad-core chip useful if you like to run multiple applications at once or run programs designed to take advantage of four cores. Like their single-core counterparts, multi-core processors also perform faster when they have higher clock speeds.
Buying Tips
Whether you’re on a budget or you have extra money to spend, it’s important to shop for processors carefully. PCMag tells readers to purchase as much processing power as they can fit into their budgets because it’s not always easy to upgrade to a newer processor. Store technicians can offer purchasing advice if you visit electronic stores, while online review sites can help when you shop online. If you can visit a store, try out computers they have on display and see how fast they operate when you work with sample applications that you may use at work.
