What Are the Differences in Computer Processors?

With the ever-growing market of today's computer industry, it is oftentimes a chore to keep up with every model and type of hardware released. Computer processors or CPUs are no different in regards to either frequency of release or degrees of difference. However, with a little knowledge under your belt, you will quickly find that there is an underlying dynamic to computer processors that can aid in comparing them.

History

The original computer processors available for the consumer market were manufactured by the Intel corporation. They were of the 808x family and had processing speeds of up to 10 MHz.

Function

Computer processors receive and output data after carrying instructions out on the data. The manner in which they do this can be very different, however, between different processor types.

Types

Nearly all computer processors in today's market come in families. That is the first differentiating quality. For example, Pentium, Celeron and Itanium are all examples of processor families from Intel today.

Size

One of the most often overlooked specifications is that of the process size. The process size describes the size of the transistors used within the processor. Today's current leading technology possesses a 45 nm process size and can fit 800 million transistors on one CPU.

Warning

Due to electrical leakage and resistance, all CPUs build heat at amazing rates. For example, the latest Core i7 offerings from Intel produce 135 Watts of heat as waste. Due to this, it is of great importance that proper thermal management be implemented with any CPU during operation.

Resources

• AMD - Processor Specifications Comparison
• Intel - Processor Specifications Finder