Week 5 Clear

As we delve deeper into the technology we know and love, it's important to realize just how intricate computers really are. Now, you might be saying to yourself, " Why exactly do I need to know every inner-working of my computer?" It's quite simple; the better you understand the technology you utilize on a daily basis, the more efficient and effective you become at utilizing such technology. One of the most integral parts of a PC is the processor. A common name for a processor is the "brain of the PC." This goes to show that pretty much any process (hence the name processor) works through the processor in order to work properly.

Let's explore deeper into the mind of computers. The CPU or computer processing unit follows the orders of a running program in order to receive the necessary results the person is trying to receive. A processor has a cycle called a machine cycle; this cycle occurs in a series of steps to make one line of instuctions from a program complete. The machine cycle consists of four parts: fetch, decode, execute and store. Originally, when PCs were introduced decades ago, PCs would go through this process step-by-step, which would cause PCs to take a while to load programs and execute various tasks. CPUs have multiple components that work on each step of the machine cycle, which was the initial cause for slow processing. Now, CPUs utilize a technique called pipelining; pipelining is the basic idea that if there are multiple components working on various steps of a cycle, when one is finished, instead of waiting for the other components to be finished with that instruction, it can continue onto its next instruction. This saves time and alleviates some frustration an individual may have when waiting for a computer to finish a given task. Below is an example of pipelining.

Although pipelining may be fast enough for some, there are now processes far more advanced such as parallel processing. Parallel processing involves utlizing multiple processors on one motherboard. These processors work together to execute various processes or programs at once. Parallel processing is a faster alternative to the utilization of just one processor, much like a car having one engine with NOS as a booster of energy. In last ten years, parallel processing is capable with just one CPU, but it must be built as a hyperthreading cpu, dual core processor, or quad core processor. Hyperthreading utilizes one CPU but it shows on the computing system as two; it also increases performance by about 30% if there is support and application software in place. A dual core works even better than hyperthreading with two distinct processors with 50%-80% higher performance than a cpu with only one processor of similar clock cycle. A quad core processor works even better than a dual core processor working 50%-80% faster than a dual processor. Utilizing a quad core processor will overwhelming make your computer run faster.

References:

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