Cpu

It is hard to imagine that there is any other processor than Intel. There is a processor called AMD (advanced micro devices) currently leading in the silicon race for the fastest processor at an affordable price. No longer shall Intel lead the market when AMD makes its name superior.

A CPU is a microprocessor that is generally constructed with millions of tiny switches called transistors that are imbedded in silicon. The outer shell is ceramic with gold pins protruding out of the processor to make a connection with the motherboard. The function of the processor is to take the data from memory, (a storage device) or an outside controller like a keyboard, joystick, or scanner. This is determined in the program by sending messages to the processor in binary language. Binary language is sent to the processor commanding the transistors to flip on or off, (on equals one and off equals zero).

The processor is placed on a motherboard with a bus speed of that to match the processor. This allows the processor to go as fast as the wires making up the bus can handle. This means the less resistance in the wire the faster your system can run. The bus is measured in megahertz (MHz) and is connected to the memory for the processor to store in memory. The faster the operation can occur the better the system operates.

The CPU has a clock speed that tells you how many operations can happen in one second. A CPU’s clock is found by multiplying the processor megahertz by 1,000,000. If you have a 500 MHz processor then the operations will equal 500,000,000 per second. The operation, is the individual commands sent by the program. The faster the processors bus and clock speed the faster FPU’s (floating point units). This is the mathematical part of the processor. This allows the binary to work faster.

Now that the processor has been explained. Why is AMD is better. In the beginning, AMD made CPU’s (central processing units) in the second IBM compatible desktop systems ever developed. There are now three competitors in the processor race; AMD, Intel, and Transmeta Crusoe (not yet on the market). The relevance of this is that Intel’s Processor will still be the most expensive CPU with no extras. Intel has had problems in the past as Kam, from the UK says, “It wasn’t until the Celeron fiasco that people started to see through their overpricing/shoddy products.” This forced the worlds leading computer manufacturer (Compaq) to start making their systems with the AMD processor.

In 1994, Intel Pentium had a FPU bug. www.computerhope.com/help/cpu.htm says “This bug evolved the Pentium incorrectly performing floating-point calculations with certain number combinations, with errors anywhere from the third digit on up. This issue can occur on 120MHz and above Pentium computers”. The FPU scare is enough to make a person not want to purchase Intel products again. They’re more than just the FPU bug, There is also a security scare. Intel’s Pentium III processor put individual number tags on each chip that could search the programs on a system when a person goes online. Zdnet at www.zdnet.com reviews the scare as being an invasion of privacy!

The Invasion of privacy issue as talked about above can be a huge problem for several reasons. It can irritate people who are already irritated with the problem of an insecure Internet. Also, it can get people in trouble with the law, for copy-right and pirating of software. It’s kind of like a little tattle tail that sits over your shoulder and monitors every little thing that a person does. The problem with this is people would not want to buy a computer with a little tattle tail in it. This was what gave AMD its second big break in processor history.

In Intel’s mind this gave them the initiative to start building better more reliable chips without the privacy bug CPU’s like the Pentium III’s later model processors. This processor comes closer to the AMD Athlon’s speed, price, and reliability. AMD K7 Athlon with its 200MHz-bus speed does not let the Intel Pentium III compare with its 133MHz-bus. The increased bus speed increases the bus bandwidth. (Like a pipe and fluid flowing through it, the bandwidth can be slowed down. The factors are the media or wires that transfer the information). Also doubling the speed of the Intel brand processors and creating a bandwidth from one point six to three point two gigabytes per second. This is fast compared to Intel’s bus speed of point five three to one gigabytes per second.

Mickey Smith of Denver Colorado say’s “ABSOLUTELY! I’ll buy the Athlon. It’s a better product, period. And, true to ZD publication bias towards Windows & Intel, you just had use the term “squeaked by in performance” to intro. Read any legitimate review, (tomshardware.com for instance) and you will see that the K7 substantially outperforms the PIII in every area, including benchmarks optimized for Intel products. Well-Done AMD!” if you where to go to this site you would find the most current information on the CPU race to 1GHz. Their AMD is still at the top due to the Kryotech technology that adopted the AMD K6. They continued to use AMD K7 Athlon processors.

Kryotech is a CPU cooling case that helps in over clocking the CPU to higher levels, a means to make the processor perform at higher levels than they are supposed to. Brent Kerby, Silvino Orozco, Thomas Pabst from Kryotech states, “Afte