Today, one of the first questions asked when purchasing technological devices such as smartphones or computers is “What is the processor?” It is possible. You can find the answers to the question of what is a CPU, which is a processor that develops more and more in parallel with technology and offers performance, in this content.
CPU, short for “Central Processing Unit”, is actually the central processing unit that can be defined as the brain of an electronic device. Although it is generally known as a hardware used in computer types, it actually takes place in almost every electronic system. For example, dozens of electronic devices such as dishwashers, washing machines, televisions, and electronic devices in factories have CPUs, also known as processors.
Core Components of CPU
The CPU, which has a special architecture in itself, has many units for processing. The most important of these are:
- Control unit where all commands are executed,
- Transmission paths (bus), which are connected with other units,
- Address bus, which is the memory cells necessary for the CPU to write or read each piece of information,
- The data bus (data buses) where bidirectional data flow is provided,
- Control buses that manage other units and provide synchronization,
- Recorder providing temporary storage between memory input/output ports,
- Counters that determine the order in which the data will be used,
- Entry/exit buffers, which act as a door for communication with the outside world,
- The arithmetic logic unit in which operations such as addition and subtraction are made.
How the CPU Works
The CPU is the basic hardware unit that controls the data flow between the units as well as the operation of the units in an electronic device and undertakes the task of generating new data by evaluating the existing data. The CPU is actually circuits created by assembling semiconductor units called “transistors”. While the first produced CPUs had an average of 2000 transistors, today there are over 1 billion transistors on advanced CPUs. The electrical signals on these circuits contain all the operations that the computer will perform. These operations work using the binary number system 0 to 1. In other words, when there is no electrical signal, the absence of a signal in the circuit is expressed as “0”, and the presence of an electrical signal is expressed with “1”. The area occupied by each 0 or 1 in the electronic device is called a “bit”.
CPUs enable all units connected to the system to work through control systems, just as the human brain manages all other systems. CPUs that process the commands sent to them and send them to other peripherals are responsible for performing the following 3 basic operations:
- Thanks to the arithmetic logic unit in its own structure, it performs both logical and mathematical operations.
- It allows to change the places of the data in the memory area.
- It starts new tasks by taking action according to the commands sent to it.
For example, a calculator CPU performs the desired operations according to the entered numbers and displays the result on the screen. In other words, it evaluates the data it receives without changing the value that each number represents for itself and produces new data.
What is CPU Speed?
All elements in a CPU have the ability to work with clock strokes. The so-called clock speed indicates how many cycles per second it can make. In other words, the expected performance from a CPU with a clock speed of 200 MHz is that it can cycle 200 times in itself.
Clock pulses are produced by the “Clock Generator” chip on the motherboard with which the CPU works. There are very delicate crystals on this chip, and the vibration of each crystal creates the clock beat.
CPU manufacturers follow different ways to increase the speed of hardware. The first of these is to concentrate on the production of a single processor model and increase its speed as much as possible. The second way is to reduce the physical size of the CPU and reduce the amount of voltage required to control overheating. Thus, thanks to the advantage of reducing the heat created by the CPU, the core speed also increases.
The fast running of the CPU by itself is only effective for operations performed within it. The CPU’s own operating speed is higher than that of other peripherals and communication lines, but it keeps up with the speed of peripherals in order to synchronize when communicating. This shows that for a CPU to actually run fast, other units other than itself must also be fast.
