I need someone to explain what all this means?

Question

I am running an eMachines W3503 Desktop with Windows XP Media Edition. I have upgraded the DDR Ram to 2GB so it runs smooth and fast.

I mostly use this PC for Internet browsing but I occasionaly use Adobe Priemiere 3.0 to edit home movies. This software is quite a resource hog but it is outstanding to use.

My question is about my processor. It is an Intel Celeron D Processor 356 with 64-bit Technology with Intel® EM64T
(3.20GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache)

What does all this mean? Like 512KB and L2 cache? And what is 3.20GHz mean?

Also...I am NOT using this PC for gaming in any way. Is this processor suited for Internet browsing and Video Editing? It has not let me down yet...but what are your opinons?

Answer 1

The machine you describe is well suited for applications your plan to use. The 3.2GHZ is the speed of the processing engine itself (3.2 BILLION CYCLES PER SECOND, these days a relatively fast value). The 533MHZ is the speed at which the memory chips are accessed (again, these days pretty fast relative to other systems on the market), and the 512KL2 cache is how much REALLY-FAST built-in the CPU chip buffer is available for processor to memory (today 512K is the minimum and found on CELERON chips, and 2Meg is the more common found on more expensive CPU chips). They ONLY comment I offer is the L2 cache is a bit LOW for certain applications which you MIGHT find yourself using in the future. The CELERON is a value-priced CPU chip from Intel and thus you have the 512KB cache. It also has a data transfer bus that is HALF AS WIDE of it's more expensive Pentium brother.

You didn't mention the VIDEO CARD, but I am guessing that since it was purchased as a Media Center machine, that you have some form of reasonable video card included (As opposed to an integrated video chip on the motherboard), If you do have an integrated video chipset on the motherboard, you may want to opt for a new 7600GS or equiv video card (about $100 these days) to help with some of the more complex video editting tasks if it becomes an issue.

Bottom line is I doubt you will have any problems in the applications YOU plan to use. It is a fast machine, well suited with lots of memory.

Answer 2

Most pc's at home are sometimes called 'wintel' pc's. W from Windows and intel from the CPU (Central Processing Unit, the heart of every computer) who's used from the compagny Intel. By Intel (www.intel.com) you can exactly see what type (and often capabilities) your Celeron D 356 really is. Intel has soooo much different CPU's that it's impossible to know them all.

64 bit technology is for you a difficult to understand 'thing', it means that a word (word = the technical name in Information Technology) is 64 bit while until not so long ago at home only 32 bit was used. In general 64 bit means that you can do more like using more memory BUT also the BIOS must support 64 bit or you work with 32 bit.

EM64T is a case from DELL to support 64 bit CPU's, look at DELL, www.dell.com

A CPU can do NOTHING or you need to give a kind of pulse, the more 'pulses' a second the more the CPU can do in a second. Your CPU gets 3.2 billion (3.2GHz, GigaHertz) pulses a second. Be careful, the speed of the CPU is not only important!!! A Celeron CPU is a 'small' CPU while a Dual Core CPU is a big CPU often a more modern CPU can do more at lower speed (pulses) than an older CPU at high speed!!!

FSB = Front Side Bus with a speed of 533 MegaHertz, the FSB transport data between the many pc components. The same pc with 533 MHz FSB is slower than another with 677 MHz FSB. The latest I know of is 1333 MHz FSB.

Last years all pc's have a Second (2) Level cache, this is a special piece of memory build in in the CPU or another component (the closer to the CPU the faster, maybe 95% of the PC's in use have the L2 cache build in the CPU). This cache is to load already the predicted next serie of commands for the CPU to make the CPU faster. 512KB means 512 Kilo Byte.

An in depth answer how everything works, etc... is a whole book.

Answer 3

3.20GHz is the clock speed of the processor. A processor can carry out one calculation per 'tick' and your processor is 'ticking' at 3,200,000,000 'ticks' per second.

FSB stands for Front Side Bus. This determines the speed at which data can be passed from the main system memory to the processor.

512KB L2 cache. Cache memory is a small amount of additional memory on the actual processor. This enables the processor to store a small amount of data that it thinks it will need to work on next. This speeds up your computer, as the processor does not have to wait around doing nothing while data is being fetched.

It sounds to me as though your system is quite adequate for what you are using it for. You are probably not pushing it very hard while you are browsing the Internet, but I am sure the additional memory you have installed makes it much quicker when doing your video editing.

Mav

Answer 4

In simple terms,

the 512KB l2 cache is a smaller but faster memory that the cpu has direct access to.

the 3.2GHZ refers to the clock speed/rate of the cpu. The speed in which the cpu performs a basic operation.

FSB is front side bus; the speed in which the cpu interacts with other devices.

Video editing does take a lot of processing sometimes. If you have no problems with the video editing or other operations then the computer is fine. It should be adequate for any program. Of course, there are better cpu's out there than a celeron but if it satisfies your needs then don't worry.

Answer 5

You have a machine that is fine for what you are doing.

3.20GHz is the clock speed of the CPU in terms of cycles per second. So that's 3.2 milliion cycles per second. This is a pure calculation of how fast the CPU can operate but it is not a true representation of how fast it actually performs in your PC. That is because lots of other factors enter in that affect the CPU's bottom line speed.

The 512KB is 512,000 bytes of RAM available in the secondary cache that is built into your CPU. Cache is memory cabability built into your CPU that it can access faster than it accesses the RAM on you motherboard.

533MHz is the speed in cycles per second of the FSB (Front Side Bus). In computers, the front side bus (FSB) or system bus is a term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the central processing unit (CPU) and other devices within the system such as random access memory (RAM), AGP video cards, PCI expansion cards, hard disks, the memory containing the system BIOS, etc. Think of the "bus" as a pipe that carries information back and forth to the various components and hardware in your system.

Simply speaking these are all measures of the various speed capabilities of the components in your computer.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

OK I will try to ans er this the best I can OK.The 512 KB l2 cache is referring to shared memory on your computer 3.20GHZ is the speed that your processor runs witch is a good one I am be wrong but the 533MHZ FSB I think is the pin set of your processor I think on that one.Now even tho it says that it runs at 3.20 GHZ on the processor speed some computers have a built in cooling that makes your processor run a little slower than what it says it does but this processor should work just fine for what ever you want to do with it.Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Well, as for the 512KB - that's how much memory your computer has, the more memory - the more space, the more space you have, the faster things run. It's a good idea to pop another 512KB in there to give yourself a gig. That should do it, vidoe games require alot of memory, if your not using one, you'll be fine with what you have. Also defragmenting the system also helps with speed. Don't be scared of that big long word, it's a simple term for cleaning up the hard drive. Does this help?

Answer 8

Answers 2 and 3 are on the mark...Well written and technically correct. Go with them.

Answer 1 is way off the mark. That person is ill informed about the differences between RAM, hard drive space, and L2 cache functions. At one point she confuses KiloBytes (KB) with MegaBytes (MB) KB = 1000 bytes; MB = 1,000,000 Bytes, and GB (Gigabyte) = 1 billion bytes. So, doubling 512 KB will - 1 MB, not one GB as she claims.