what are computer processors?

Question

what are computer processors and does a higher GHz mean that it's better? what's the difference between a higher and lower GHz? what are the benefits?

Answer 1

Processors are probably best described as the brains of the computer. They handle all the instructions programmers create.

High GHz does NOT necessarily mean faster processors. There are a variety of things that processor makers do that can affect the speed of the processor. Putting memory on the processor itself (as opposed to the sticks of RAM in your computer) can help speed it up. Allowing the processor to interpret and "guess" what the next instruction will be can speed it up. AMD has been making processors for some time now that have GHz speeds much lower than Intel and yet they perform much faster than an intel of comparable GHz. Intel has been redesigning their CPUs lately to that, even though the GHz is lower, they perform faster than older processors of higher GHz.

The GHz is, strictly speaking, a measure of "ticks" in a second - 2.4 GHz means the computer "ticks" 2,400,000,000 times in a single second. You could say that it can do 2,400,000,000 simple math problems every second. But CPUs now, using various other techniques, can actually do 2, 3, 4, or more things per tick, so now, a 2.4 GHz CPU that could do 2.4 BILLION things in one second might be able to do 9.6 BILLION things in one second...

For more information, read up on CPUs at Wikipedia

Answer 2

CPU - Processor
Abbreviation of central processing unit, and pronounced as separate letters. The CPU is the brains of the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as the processor or central processor, the CPU is where most calculations take place. In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system.
On large machines, CPUs require one or more printed circuit boards. On personal computers and small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor.

Two typical components of a CPU are:

The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and logical operations.
The control unit (CU), which extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them, calling on the ALU when necessary.