Hardware specification 2

• Hardware specification


  Explains the speed, memory and overall performance of the computer system
• Understanding the hardware specification is very important especially when purchasing a new computer
• Central Processing Unit (CPU) / Processor


  The two main things you should know are the speed and the type
• Main companies that produce CPUs

  • Intel
  • Advance Micro Devices (AMD)
  • Centaur Technology
  • Elbrus
  • Transmeta Corporation
• CPU


  The "brain" of the computer
• How the CPU works

  1. Clock ticks

  2. Instruction carried out

  3. More instructions carried out as clock ticks faster
• Processor speeds


  • Measured in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz)
  • MHz means you can execute approximately 1 million instructions per second
  • Depends on what the computer system is used for
• In recent times, most PCs are distributed with a speed of 2 GHz or more