factors affecting cpu performance

• Clock speed

  • The clock is a signal that synchronises tasks
  • The clock has a clock cycle known as a ‘tick’. each tick, cpu is able to process one or more instructions.
  • clock speed (hertz) -> The more clock ticks there are, faster rate that instructions can be processed (FDE cycles)
  • overclocking = speeding up clock
  • can cause long term damage to the CPU (working harder, producing more heat)
  • Today, processors commonly run at a rate of 3 gigahertz (GHz) to 5 GHz, which is 3 billion to 5 billion pulses or cycles per second.
• Cache size

  • Cache is a small amount of high-speed random access memory (RAM) built directly within the processor. It is used to temporarily hold frequently and recently used data and instructions
  • Cache also has a significantly faster read/write speed than RAM, making it much quicker to retrieve instructions from there instead of from memory (RAM)
  • The bigger its cache, the less time a processor has to wait for instructions to be fetched.
• Number of cores

  • A processing unit within a CPU is known as a core. Each core is capable of fetching, decoding and executing its own instructions and has its own cu, alu, acc and registers
  • Multiple core processors mean they have multiple separate processing units that can fetch, decode and execute instructions atthe same time
  • The more cores a CPU has, the greater the number of instructions it can process in a given space of time. Many modern CPUs are dual (two) or quad (four) core processors. This provides vastly superior processing power.