Processor

The central processing unit (CPU) is the core of the computer, so to speak its main brain, that component that performs the bulk of the computer’s work. They usually call it simply a processor, and sometimes because of its flint basis, “stone”.

Processors have been developing for a long time and quickly in stores, now most of them can not be found. In view of rapid development, naturally a lot of models and technologies have appeared, to disassemble them completely is a very big topic, so I will try to describe briefly.
The description of processors is often replete with various technologies, such as a set of instructions, for example, the MMX family, the SSE family, the 3DNow family! etc. Actually, these instruction sets are more likely to be interesting to programmers, and most (necessary) are present in processors today. You can also often see some architecture ads (mostly incomplete), such as 32bit or 64bit, these are various architectural solutions meaning that the processor can work with 32bit or 64bit data, but at the moment 64bit supports all processors on the market (so it doesn’t matter much), unfortunately, not all software is adapted yet, but this is a matter of time.

In general, for the processor, the main parameters can be called: clock speed, architecture, performance, number of cores, process technology used, power consumption, cache size.
Clock frequency is generally for most people not related to the production of computer equipment, it’s just a kind of static figure, which in some cases can indicate performance, the more the faster, but the higher this parameter, the usually higher heat dissipation (which in turn, it can become a problem, but only if heat is released a lot), and it is worth noting that in the “bare” form this parameter shows little, architecture, the number of cores, etc. are more important, that’s why steam introduced emp performance, unfortunately, find it in a store or see on the price list is almost not real.
Architecture – there are a lot of architectures and to understand them you need to have a lot of knowledge, but in short, this is the internal structure of the central processor.
Performance is a parameter that indicates the final performance of the central processor, you can only find it on the Internet, consultants often just do not know this parameter, although it more accurately indicates how powerful the processor is. Measured in the flop (FLOP), because of the great importance, you can often see the performance in terraflops, although this measure of performance is far from ideal.
The number of cores – at the moment, most processors are multi-core, from 2 to 6 cores in the processor, and over time there will only be more. But the mere number of cores does not lead to an increase in CPU performance, for example, 2-core Intel processors successfully compete and can outperform 4 or 6 AMD processors in performance.
The technical process used – in fact, this figure shows the dimensions of the processor element (transistor), the benefit of this information is as follows, with a decrease in the technical process, the final processor performance increases (since there are more transistors), as well as, as a rule, energy consumption and, accordingly, heat dissipation are reduced. And of course, the smaller the process, the newer the processor.
Power consumption is a processor parameter that shows both power consumption (in Watts) and heat dissipation, both of which are important! You need to know energy consumption in order to calculate the required power for the power supply, as a rule, it is 60-100W, for desktop systems, for laptops the parameter is lower, but it is better to consult the seller than to take it yourself. Heat dissipation is needed more for manufacturers of cooling systems, but if you need to buy a new cooling system, you can just ask if it is suitable for this processor.
The volume of caches is generally an important parameter, but it’s not rare that it doesn’t even tell sellers anything, in fact it is the internal memory of the processor, it should not bother you. In general, there are several types of cache, level 1 cache (Level 1 Cache), as well as level 2 and level 3 (in the future there will probably be more), L1 Cache, and accordingly L2, L3, are abbreviated.
Consider the processor records from the price list:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz 9Mb Socket-AM3 BOX
AMD – Manufacturer
Phenom II X6 – lineup, in this case X6 shows the number of cores
1090T is actually a model
3.2 GHz – clock frequency
9Mb – level 2 cache volume (L2)
Socket-AM3 – shows which slot the processor is made for
BOX – boxed version, along with the processor in the box there is a cooler (cooling system
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.3 GHz 9Mb Socket-AM3 OEM

All the same, OEM – shows that this is an option for computer builders, i.e. not a boxed version and a cooler is not attached to it.