Processor Specifications

Processor specifications :
No. of Transistors
Buses
CPU Speed
Number of Registers
Cache memories
 Processor specifications
• Processor:
A machine that processes something.
• Specifications:
A detailed description of the design and materials
used to make something.
• Processor specifications:
A detailed description of the design of a processor
Number of Transistors
TRANSISTOR
Transistors are the basic building blocks
that regulate the operation of computers,
mobile phones, and all other modern
electronic circuits.
Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a microchip
doubles about every two years, though the cost of computers is
halved. 1 In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel,
made this observation that became Moore's Law.
(1) February 1999: Intel released the Pentium III processor. Pentium III is a 1 × 1
square silicon with 9.5 million transistors, manufactured using Intel’s 0.25-micron
process technology.
(2) In 2000, Pentium 4 Willamette, the production process is 180nm, the number of
CPU transistors is 42 million.
(3) January 2002: The Intel Pentium 4 processor is launched, and high-
performance desktop computers can achieve 2.2 billion cycles per second. It is
produced using Intel's 0.13-micron process technology and contains 55 million
transistors.
(4) March 12, 2003: The Intel Centrino mobile technology platform was born on
notebook computers, including Intel’s latest mobile processor, the Pentium
M processor. The processor is based on a new mobile-optimized micro-
architecture, produced using Intel ’s 0.13-micron process technology. It contains 77
million transistors.
(5) May 26, 2005: Intel's first mainstream dual-core processor, the Intel Pentium D
processor with 229,999,999 transistors using Intel's leading 90 nm process
technology.
(6) July 27, 2006: The Intel Core 2 dual-core processor was born. The processor
contains more than 290 million transistors, uses Intel's 65-nanometer process
technology. It is produced in several of the world's most advanced laboratories.
(7) January 8, 2007: To expand sales of quad-core PCs to mainstream buyers, Intel
released the Intel Core 2 quad-core processor and two other quad-core server
processors for desktop computers with a processing power of 65 nanometers. The
Intel Core 2 quad-core processor contains more than 580 million transistors.
(8) The Corei7 980X launched in 2010, the production process is 32 nm, and the
number of transistors is 11,699,999,999.
(9) The Corei7 4960X launched in 2013 has a manufacturing process of 22 nm and
a transistor count of 1.86 billion.
The number of transistors does not
necessarily correlate to
more processing power, however, with
more transistors, the processor can
perform increasingly more complicated
instructions than before.
Buses
In general:
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry many
passengers. It is used for transportation.
A Computer BUS
A bus is a communication system in computer
architecture that transfers data between components
inside a computer, or between computers.
DB (Data Bus),
AB (Address Bus),
CB (Control Bus).
Data Bus
The data bus is 'bi-directional'
Data or instruction codes from memory or input/output
are transferred into the microprocessor.
The result of an operation or computation is sent out
from the microprocessor to the memory or input/output.
Depending on the particular microprocessor, the data bus
can handle 8 bit or 16 bit data.
Address Bus
• The address bus is 'unidirectional', over which the
microprocessor sends an address code to the memory or
input/output.
• The size (width) of the address bus is specified by the
number of bits it can handle.
• The more bits there are in the address bus, the more
memory locations a microprocessor can access.
• A 16 bit address bus is capable of addressing 65,536 (64K)
addresses.
Control Bus
The control bus is used by the microprocessor to send

out or receive timing and control signals in order to
coordinate and regulate its operation and to
communicate with other devices, i.e. memory or
input/output.
CPU Speed
A computer’s speed is heavily influenced by the CPU it

uses. There are three main factors that affect how quickly a
CPU can carry out instructions:
Clock Speed
Cores
Cache
clock speed
CPUs can only carry out one instruction at a time.
It might seem like CPUs can perform many instructions
simultaneously, since it is possible for you to do
homework, read instant messages and listen to music at the
same time. However, the CPU is able to carry out
instructions at such speed that it can seem like it is
simultaneous.
The speed at which the CPU can carry out instructions is
called the clock speed.
This is controlled by a clock.
clock speed
With every tick of the clock, the CPU fetches

and executes one instruction.
The faster the clock, the more
instructions the CPU can execute
per second.
 The clock speed is measured in
cycles per second, and one cycle
per second is known as 1 hertz.
This means that a CPU with a
clock speed of 2 gigahertz (GHz)
can carry out two thousand million
(or two billion) cycles per second.
• A CPU is traditionally made up of a processor with a single core. Most modern
CPUs have two, four or even more cores.
• A CPU with two cores, called a dual core processor, is like having two
processors in one.
• A dual core processor can fetch and execute two instructions in the same time it
takes a single core processor to fetch and execute just one instruction.
• A quad core processor has four cores and can carry out even more instructions in
the same period of time.
• The main downside of using quad core processors is that they are more
expensive to design and make, and they also use more power than single or dual
core processors.
• Another disadvantage is that the instructions have to be split up to decide which
core will execute them and the results have to be merged together again at the
end, which slows the processor down a little.
Cache
• A cache (pronounced ‘cash’) is a tiny block
of memory built right onto the processor.
• The most commonly used instructions and data are
stored in the cache so that they are close at hand.
• The bigger the cache is, the more quickly the
commonly used instructions and data can be brought
into the processor and used.
Number of Registers
• The register section/array consists completely of
circuitry used to temporarily store data or program
codes until they are sent to the ALU or to the control
section or to memory.
• The number of registers are different for any particular
CPU and the more register a CPU have will result in
easier programming tasks.
• Registers are normally measured by the number of bits
they can hold, for example, an "8-bit register" or a "
32-bit register".
Cache memories
• A CPU cache is a hardware cache used by the central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the average
cost to access data from the main memory.
• A cache is a smaller, faster memory, closer to a processor
core, which stores copies of the data from frequently used
main memory locations.
• Most CPUs have different independent caches, including
instruction and data caches, where the data cache is usually
organized as a hierarchy of more cache levels.

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Processor specifications :

The control bus is used by the microprocessor to send

A computer’s speed is heavily influenced by the CPU it

With every tick of the clock, the CPU fetches

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